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Analysis of Michael Jacksons Black or White
Collection of Information and Data
The song released in 1991 as the first single of an upcoming Dangerous album lasted for approximately three minutes, whereas the album version of the track included a one-minute introduction to the song. The introduction itself consists of a dialogue between a child and a father, with dad being notably irritated by the loud music sounds coming from his sons room. The conversation ends with the sounds of musical equipment tuning and the phrase Eat this! after which the first tunes of the song start playing. Such an opening serves as a shortened version of dialogue in the official music video and, thus, makes more sense for the recipients familiar with the video playback.
The genre of the song comprises an individual pop-rock style of Michael Jacksons songs and hip hop performed by L.T.B. Two primary music elements that draw the listeners attention are Michael Jacksons vocals central to the composition and Bill Bottrells guitar riff. The time signature of a song is 4/4 beat, with a BPM of 117 (Jackson, 2016). The arrangement of the song comprises the use of guitars, drums, bass guitar, and synthesizers, with the guitar being a major instrument that contributes the most value to the sound. The sound volume is forte, providing the overall vocal performance with an upbeat mood throughout the whole song.
In order to define the sense behind the song, it is vital to dwell on the artists background, as the concept of race and its interpretation in the context of Michael Jacksons lifestyle had been one of the most controversial topics both before and during the Dangerous release. Originally a Black performer, Michael Jackson was globally famous not only because of his artistic success but also due to his gradual transformation from dark to light skin (Smallcombe, 2016).
The truth behind the so-called bleaching process concerned the fact that Jackson struggled with a severe skin condition known as vitiligo (Allard & Lecocq, 2018). Thus, the singer preferred to use skin-whitening medications and creams in order to eliminate an uneven allocation of light skin areas on his body. While the situation was eventually explained, by the time of the Black or White release, there was not much information on the topic, and the audience required answers considering Jacksons attitude to his race and ethnicity.
The true meaning behind the lyrics is easier to understand with the help of music video as a primary supporting material. In the video, Michael Jackson celebrates diversity by dancing with representatives of various ethnic and racial minorities, and the final refrain is supported by playback of close-ups of people of different nationalities (Jackson, 2016). The song itself was highly appraised by the general public and eventually became one of the symbols of pop culture in the 1990s and 2000s.
Analyzing Lyrics
The primary theme of the song concerns the notion of social equality and racial equality, in particular. Being notoriously called a song describing racial harmony (Vogel, 2019), Black or White opens with the following stanza:
I took my baby on a Saturday bang
Boy is that girl with you?
Yes were one and the same
Now I believe in miracles
And a miracle has happened tonight.
These lines may be interpreted either as a dialogue or Michael Jackson quoting his previous interactions. Either way, the hero refers to an event of going out with a girlfriend on a Saturday night, whereas somebody is baffled by the fact that they are together. It would be reasonable to assume that the baby here stands for a woman of different racial and ethnic affiliation, presumably, white.
Although the 1990s were a pivotal moment in Black American history in terms of minority representation in pop culture, the implicit segregation between the white and black communities still existed, and Black people were not used to interracial dating due to trauma and communication gap surrounding the relationship (Willis, 2020). Moreover, the same issue exists even nowadays, with Black people being scared of embracing interracial relationships (Zaloom, 2020). For this reason, these lines may aim at bridging the racial gap and focusing on the similarity of being human, which is enough to identify people as one and the same.
The second stanza is a chorus with the following lines:
But if youre thinkin about my baby
It dont matter if youre black or white.
The hero refers to the question asked in the previous stanza, as he claims that he does not think about the persons racial or ethnic affiliation even when others find it difficult to believe to see an interracial couple having a good time. The primary message of the song may be conveyed with the help of the phrase It dont matter if youre black or white, as it serves as a manifestation of racial harmony and equality.
The third stanza has the following lyrics:
They print my message in the Saturday Sun
I had to tell them I aint second to none
And I told about equality
And its true either youre wrong or youre right.
The first two lines manifest Jacksons intention to prove everybody wrong by being a Black singer who is published in a Saturday delivery of the Sun Newspaper, as he wants to reassure everybody he is not second to none, as he tends to be equal. Such a message may be regarded as Jacksons willingness to show that his skin color does not by any chance make him better than any Black person, as he later mentions how proud he is of his roots in an interview with Oprah Winfrey (Knopper, 2016). The lines about equality may be interpreted as Jacksons claim that in a discussion about equality, there are no rights and wrongs because rating ones opinion higher than others ruins the overall essence of equality.
The next stanza may be rightfully interpreted as a manifesto of the Black community:
Im tired of this devil
Im tired of this stuff
Im tired of this business
So when the going gets rough
I aint scared of your brother
I aint scared of no sheets
I aint scared of nobody
Girl, when the goin gets mean
The hero claims that even when everything goes down, the exhaustion caused by inequality and oppression will eradicate the traces of fear for brother, which may be a collective image of the people reinforcing inequality, sheets, which may refer to the clothes of KKK, and, eventually, nobody.
The notorious hip-hop part of the lyrics comprises many insights into the meaning:
Protection for gangs, clubs, and nations
Causing grief in human relations
Its a turf war on a global scale
Id rather hear both sides of the tale
See, its not about races just places, faces
Where your blood comes from
Is where your space is
Ive seen the bright get duller
Im not gonna spend my life being a color.
The phenomenon of protection in the first line may refer to peoples eagerness to isolate their communities from minorities and, eventually, lead the world into a chaos of rivalry and mistrust. The rapper encourages people to hear both sides of the tale and pay attention to what racial minorities have to say because skin color is not a major attribute of ones personality. Eventually, L.T.B. states that he has seen the bright get duller, and this line may as well be an allusion to the skin transformation that happened to Michael Jackson, who tries to cherish his heritage without labeling it with color.
The next stanza states:
Dont tell me you agree with me
When I saw you kicking dirt in my eye.
These lines are somehow self-explanatory, as the hero voices his concerns over people who seemingly celebrate equality while implicitly judging people by their skin color and racial affiliation. The final stanza includes the following refrain:
Alright
Its black, its white
Its tough for you to get by
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Its black, its white
Its black, its white
Its tough for you to get by
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The phrase its tough for you to get by here may refer to people who cannot find a reasonable explanation of why they have to stop labeling people in terms of their differences and celebrate that they are one and the same instead. Indeed, it may be challenging for some people to think beyond the prejudice and stigma that exists for decades. However, the tone of this line probably makes it more appropriate when addressing people who willingly refuse to embrace equality.
Thus, having considered the historical context of the 1990s characterized by the emergence of Black culture as a rightful part of the American community and ongoing prevalence of racial discrimination in the social context, it may be concluded that Michael Jacksons Black or White is a personal contribution to the eliminating racial inequality and manifesting universal love and respect.
References
Allard, F., & Lecocq, R. (2018). Mickael Jackson: All the songs: The story behind every track. Hachette UK.
Jackson, M. (2016). Michael Jackson Black or White (Official video) [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Knopper, S. (2016). MJ: The genius of Michael Jackson. Simon and Schuster.
Smallcombe, M. (2016). Making Mickael: Inside the career of Michael Jackson. Clink Street Publishing.
Vogel, J. (2019). Man in the music. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
Willis, K. (2020). How 90s TV transformed black representation. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Web.
Zaloom. S. (2020). Black teens talk about dating in White communities. The Washington Post. Web.
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