Michael Jackson - Billie Jean [Remastered In 4K] (Official Music Video) (24/192kHz)

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean [Remastered In 4K] (Official Music Video) (24/192kHz) Provided to YouTube by Epic Billie Jean · Michael Jackson Thriller ℗ 1982 MJJ Productions Inc. Released on: 1983-08-01 Composer, Lyricist: Michael J. Jackson Guitar: David Williams Drums: Ndugu Chancler Synthesizer: Greg Phillinganes Synthesizer: Greg Smith Synthesizer: Bill Wolfer Bass: Louis Johnson Synthesizer: Michael Boddicker Conductor: Jeremy Lubbock Producer: Quincy Jones Mixing Engineer, Recording Engineer: Bruce Swedien Performance Arranger: Jerry Hey Auto-generated by YouTube. "Billie Jean" is a song by American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson, released by Epic Records on January 3, 1983, as the second single from his sixth studio album, Thriller (1982). It was written and composed by Jackson and produced by Quincy Jones and co-produced by Jackson. "Billie Jean" blends post-disco, R&B, funk, and dance-pop. The lyrics describe a woman, Billie Jean, who claims that the narrator is the father of her newborn son, which he denies. Jackson said the lyrics were based on groupies' claims about his older brothers when he toured with them as the Jackson 5. Jackson's performance of "Billie Jean" on the TV special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever won universal acclaim and was nominated for an Emmy Award. It introduced a number of Jackson's signatures, including the moonwalk, black sequined jacket, and high-water pants, and was widely imitated. The "Billie Jean" music video, directed by Steve Barron, was the first video by a black artist to be aired in heavy rotation on MTV. Along with the other videos produced for Thriller, it helped establish MTV's cultural importance and make music videos an integral part of popular music marketing. The spare, bass-driven arrangement of "Billie Jean" helped pioneer what one critic called "sleek, post-soul pop music". It also introduced a more paranoid lyrical style for Jackson, a trademark of his later music. MTV initially refused to air the video for "Billie Jean", as the network's executives felt black music did not fit into its "rock"-centered programming at the time. Enraged by their refusal despite Jackson's success as a musical artist, Walter Yetnikoff, the president of Jackson's record company CBS Records, threatened to expose MTV's stance on racial discrimination: "I said to MTV, 'I'm pulling everything we have off the air, all our product. I'm not going to give you any more videos. And I'm going to go public and f*cking tell them about the fact you don't want to play music by a black guy.'" MTV relented and premiered the "Billie Jean" music video on March 10, 1983. After the video was aired in heavy rotation, Thriller went on to sell an additional 10 million copies. It was one of the first videos by a black artist to be aired regularly by the channel. Directed by Steve Barron and produced by Gowers Fields Flattery, the video shows a photographer who follows but never catches Jackson, as when photographed Jackson fails to materialize on the developed picture. Jackson dances to Billie Jean's hotel room and as he walks along a sidewalk, each tile lights up at his touch. After performing a quick spin, he jumps and lands, freeze framed, on his toes. Upon arrival at the hotel, he climbs the staircase to Billie Jean's room, lighting up each step as he touches it and illuminating a burnt-out "Hotel" sign as he passes it. The paparazzo then arrives at the scene and watches as Jackson vanishes under the covers of Billie Jean's bed, before the police arrive and arrest him for spying on Billie Jean. As the paparazzo is led away, he drops a tiger-print cloth that Jackson had left behind after polishing his shoe with it earlier in the video. (On both occasions, the cloth briefly transforms into a tiger cub.) Once the street is empty, the paving tiles again light up in sequence, reversing Jackson's earlier progress. Jackson's new look for the video, a black leather suit with a pink shirt and a red bow tie, was copied by children around the US. Imitation became so severe that, despite pupil protests, Bound Brook High School forbade students from wearing a single white glove like Jackson had on during the performance of "Billie Jean" at Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever. The short film was inducted into the Music Video Producers Hall of Fame in 1992. In a 2005 poll of 31 pop stars, video directors, agents, and journalists conducted by telecommunications company 3, the music video was ranked fifth in their "Top 20 Music Videos Ever". The video was also ranked as the 35th greatest music video in a list compiled by MTV and TV Guide at the millennium.