Now I'm a Star

Lauryn Hill, Live at the Apollo when she was only 13 years old, singing "Who's Loving You Now".

She won the crowd over... the star was emerging.

Keep It In the Closet

I forgot until just now that I ran into it again how inspired I am by this video. MJ was making a statement about his sexuality and confronting rumors with this song. The visual choice to keep it sepia-toned, and based around a simple black-and-white color scheme (including the actors-- Michael, at this point was "white", while Naomi Campbell's skin tone is a rich darkness) allowed Michael's performance and the camera work to do the mind-bending work. The video does an inspiring job of conveying the idea that surface-level simple "black and white" ideas such as gender, sexuality, or race are often more complicated and fluid than expected.

Plus, the song is inexplicably enjoyable.

MJ x EL Collabo

Awesome moments like these are what made the circus today worth it all...

All Hail the King

20twenty Tees put these rad legacy tees together. It's a beautiful thing.

(via Lateboots)

Memories of Michael

I've lived in many places around the world and America in my short lifetime. When you move that much, sometimes it can be hard to relate to those around you. Being in a new place and presenting yourself for the first time can be nerve wracking, especially because others might view you as a threat. After a while, you learn that there are some common denominators you can mention to ease into being in a new situation. Everyone loves movies. Everyone loves food. Everyone loves music. And everyone loves MJ. I have literally bonded with people in every city, every country I've been to, over P.Y.T, or Beat It, or Remember the Time. I've danced to Rock with You at clubs in NYC, at bars in the South, at beach parties over seas. Michael became the global soundtrack for more than just a generation, for a state of mind. If you wanted to feel familiar, feel at home, and feel understood, nothing was better than a Michael cut.

Michael was the true essence of an entertainer. He revolutionized the way music sounded, the way we moved to that music, and the way that music came alive on the big screen. His videos were so much more than mass productions (although they certainly were those as well), they were a unique synthesis of story and sound. Of visual and auditory. Not many people-- on the big screen, the small screen, or any other screen-- can achieve the type of visual and cinematic legacy that MJ did through his various videos.

Often misunderstood, hated, and mislabeled, we have to remember that we never really knew what was going on in his life and had limited access to the person he truly was. From what we do know, he was a dedicated man who devoted himself to his family, his craft, and his fanbase even when the world turned on him. I will always mark moments in my life with his music, simply because his music means that much to me and I know I'm not alone in that.

Here's a clip of Michael performing Wanna Be Starting Something, partly because I never got to see him live, and...well, finding embedding codes was a nightmare.