#xscape

Michael Jackson has been such a huge part of my life, but what he gave me goes so much deeper than music. He influenced the kind of person I want to be. He made me want to be softer with people, more understanding, more compassionate, and more aware that everyone is carrying something you can’t always see. There was so much humanity in the way he moved through the world, and even as a child, I felt that.

I still remember watching his live performance of Will You Be There when I was around 6 or 7 years old. English wasn’t my first language, and at that age I barely understood what he was actually saying. But somehow, I understood everything. It was the first song that ever made me cry. I remember feeling emotions I couldn’t even put into words back then. I felt his passion, his conviction, his heart in every note. I felt the pain, the love, the hope, all of it! It reached me in a place that didn’t need language to understand.

And what amazes me even more when I look back now is that I was just a little kid in Sudan. I couldn’t understand how this man, all the way across the world, someone I had never met and who lived a completely different life from mine, could reach me as if he were right there beside me. I couldn’t understand how someone so far away could affect me so deeply. But he did. Somehow, he reached straight into my heart without needing explanations. I felt him before I understood him.

Looking back now, I think that’s one of the most beautiful things about him. He didn’t just sing songs, he made people feel something real. Somehow, a little child who couldn’t fully understand the words still understood the soul behind them.

Throughout my life I’ve loved other artists too. I’ve admired them, connected with their music, and appreciated what they gave to the world. But I never carried any of them as close to my heart as I carried Michael Jackson. There was always something different about him. Something that felt deeper, more personal, almost impossible to explain.

I feel his loss on a daily basis. There are random moments where it hits me all over again that he’s no longer here, and I still cry. Years later, I still cry. And whenever I listen to Will You Be There, I’m suddenly not an adult anymore. I’m back to being that six year old child, sitting there with tears in my eyes, starting to understand what love feels like before I even had the words for it.

I’m so grateful that I grew up with him and with the values he carried through his art. That’s something so rare, to reach someone beyond language, beyond age, and straight into the heart. I’m so grateful for the impact he had on me and on so many others. And seeing the world continue to celebrate him makes me emotional, because beyond the music, beyond the performances, I truly believe he was a great man with a beautiful heart. His influence on me will always be one of the most meaningful parts of my life.

I will always be there

Chicago (Original Version) And the Remake on disc 1 are so FUCKIN Good that If Michael Jackson Were still alive and performed either one of these versions or any song from XSCAPE and I was there I would have been one of those people who'd Faint in Those videos of Michael Jackson Performing.