As an only slightly biased mega fan, I have to begin this by stating the obvious, Michael Jackson is an icon.

There has been no one on the planet like this man. His career is unmatched and he maintained fame for practically his entire life.

Most of us are familiar with the fact that this man created Thriller, the best-selling album of all time. That tidbit alone should be enough to trump the idea of these newbies even attempting to breathe the same postmortem air as the man. For whatever reason, it doesn’t.

So let’s go further, shall we?

Chris Brown and The Weeknd are two modern artists who have been widely compared to MJ. Chris Brown is currently 26 years old, The Weeknd is 25. Both of these young men are accomplishing great things and are perfectly admirable in their own right. They are not without talent.

They are still not Michael Jackson.

Not even close. Why?

At 24, Michael Jackson released Thriller. At 24! He wasn’t a new artist. He didn’t have the buzz of the fresh-faced kid entering the business bringing all the people to the stage. He had been around for decades already and pulled in MILLIONS of people worldwide to his music, decades later.

He not only began this at 24, but he didn’t stop it there. His subsequent albums Bad and Dangerous pulled sick numbers; about 40 million and 32 million, respectively. You couldn’t turn on the tv or the radio and not be inundated by his image and likeness for a minimum of 10 consecutive years. There were imitators and legitimately very few people in the WORLD who didn’t know who Michael Jackson was before he even reached 30 years old. The man broke records even in the midst of all of his personal obstacles. Yeah, those were bad. 

But to compare this man’s voice, his performance, his stage presence, his dance ability, his ability to legitimately make thousands of white people faint at the sight of him? Sure there were other people fainting, but this black man had THOUSANDS of white people fainting before he even made a sound.


There’s no one touching that.

It is obvious the up-and-comers were influenced by this man. They obviously were, because who hasn’t been influenced by Michael Jackson since at least the 1980s?

They aren’t him. They aren’t the second coming of him. Quite frankly, it’s unfair to all parties involved to even put their names there. As they could never, ever, ever, EVAH be Michael Jackson.

The end.


Educator. Black. A woman. I’m an outspoken introvert. Consummate over-thinker. Sassy and simply complex with the courage of all of my convictions. I will debate you til the death and then hug you when it’s all over.  A millennial who feels there are few things better than the 90’s. On the greatest of days, I manage to get all of it on paper.