Yokopilled (for real)

Tonight's story is somewhat unique And calls for a different kind of introduction

first of all, the spoken voice, whilst being taken from an episode of the TV show the twilight zone, sounding like a news reader, likely linking to the same news stations who plagued Michael throughout his life and turned it into a sensationalistic 'story' for entertainment and mass consumption.

A monster had arrived in the village The major ingredient of any recipe for fear is the unknown

the 'monster' in this part Is likely a stand in for Michael, evoking the way that tabloids mythologized and distorted him and his image. This is also pretty similar to is it scary, and ghosts, where Maestro is also seen as a danger to the town/ village because they too view him as a monster . Fear being linked to the unknown also further proves this point, as this is the exact way in which Michaels image was tarnished during his lifetime. a perceived appearance of mystery and alienness, elusiveness and reclusiveness, somebody who many struggled to understand because they did not know how to, all of which breeds, as we now, speculation and 'fear'. The public fills gaps in understanding with terror and fantasy. That’s exactly how monsters are created in folklore, and how the myth of "Michael Jackson the monster"is also created.

“A nightmare, that's the case Never Never land, that's the place”

i've seen varying interpretations of this line, but to me, it is very clearly about what happened in 1993 with the allegations. 'case', to me, in this song, has always evoked a strong connotation with a legal case. Neverland, connotating to Neverland ranch, being the place, reinforces this idea. "thats the case" and "thats the place" being abrupt and report like have also always resembled headlines and the detached language of journalists, similar to those at the time, to me as well: here's the case, here's where its happening, here's the perceived monster. it is a "nightmare" outwardly, yes, but also for Michael himself, as it was one of the hardest periods of his life, being of course a time of immense public turmoil and scrutiny, but also the time where he was forced to go to rehab due to his dependence on painkillers worsening. even the use of the word "never" before Neverland could be Michaels pushback about the outward perception of Neverland-- that it was "never" the place the media made it out to be.

“This particular monster can read minds Be in two places at the same time”

this too has also felt bitterly ironic to me. yes, it is poking fun at the insane ways the tabloids would portray Michael, bordering on satirical tbh with how insane they were, but it also feels deeply connected to public perception of him after 1993. as well as being eerily prophetic. He is viewed, by some, as a master manipulator, a master at reading emotions and yes, apparently manipulating peoples minds (coughs. real ones know what i'm talking about.). I do not think this was Michaels original intention, but it does feel like he is poking fun at that notion. a similar sarcasm is also evoked by the line "be in two places at one time." -- he is dramatising the very real notions that the tabloids projected on to him. however, there is also a third interpretation, that, whilst not being the original intention of the line being put in the song, feels eerily prophetic. Certain claims about Michael Jackson, particularly those in LN (train station fiasco for example), famously require him to be in two places at the same time to have committed the crimes he was accused of-- essentially a time traveller. What was already a pretty genius line about the way the media wrote about him gains an even deeper and more ironic meaning whilst being looked at with a modern lense--- because people, to this day, are still making these outlandish bordering on satirical claims about him, arguably to a more outlandish degree as rather than being a dramatisation of the medias actions, it is, on paper, what has actually unironically been said about him. Another interpretation is that "two places at the same time" could refer to the split between Michael the myth and Michael the person-- one human being with multiple versions existing in the public consciousness.

“This is judgment night, execution, slaughter”

This sounds almost apocalyptic, like a public trial. Considering that again, this song was made in 2001 after the 1993 allegations , it too feels tied to moral persecution and media condemnation. "judgement" and trail by media, with consequences linking to death.

“The devil, ghosts, this monster is torture”

outwardly, it may seem like a point is being made about the monster causing torture, however, that is not the case. this monster is torture. this outward perception of being viewed as a 'monster', this false face that people so desperately want to associate with you, this monster that is not real but that you have created, is torture, perhaps linking to Michaels own experience of being viewed as such at the time.

“A human presence that you feel is strange"

And this, everybody, is the thesis of the song. notice how the speaker states that "you"(village people) feel the presence is strange, not that it actually is. the village sees the monster as a monster because they perceive him as strange, but it is never outright stated that he is, and to further contradict their viewpoint, this lines states that it is a "human" presence they feel is strange. Because, at the heart of this song, there is no monster. Just a false sense of one shaped by fear and speculation, a human being turned into a myth-- a clear link to everything we know of Michaels own life, and the separation from humanity that his appearance, voice, fame, isolation, scandal and eccentricity made people associate him with.

“A monster that you can see disappear A monster, the worst thing to fear”

this line if perhaps the most heartbreaking for a multitude of reasons. the literal sense of the public watching Michael slowly "dissapear' and disintegrate before their eyes in the years to come, particularly after the trial in 2005- watching him become frail and sick, eventually culminating in his passing. There too is the contradiction of "disappear" and "see" -- the most visible man on earth, who's fall is there for the world to 'see", yet nobody stepping in and taking real action. there also is the interpretation that he isn’t simply disappearing away, but, that he’s disappearing into the monster image itself. The constructed public figure consumes the real person-- hauntingly prophetic, as it could be argued that the truth of who Michael Jackson really was has been consumed by the image of the "monster" over the years. Perhaps it could also be read as Michael disappearing into the myth of himself. After all, we are still stuck with the question of: "who was Michael Jackson?" to this day, as myth making still seems to obscure that truth. and then, there is "a monster, the worst thing to fear." whilst it could be hinting at the fact that the media has turned Michael into the 'worst thing to fear.", this is not my only interpretation. instead, the persona of the 'monster', the false narrative of the monster, the loss of humanity, loss of self, all of this, which ironically seemed to latch itself onto Michael stronger then ever after this song was released, is the worst thing to fear.

and finally, we get to:

“What you have just witnessed could be the end of a particularly terrifying nightmare. It isn’t. It’s the beginning.”

louis: immediate 72 hour hold

actual claudia: ur a negro bed wench and a dumb bitch and i wanted to kill u

Claudia was… everything. I loved her unconditionally. All the noise, the chaos, the crisis of my former existence, silenced. The simple joy of her hand in mine. You had a daughter. I had a daughter.