OPINION: Michael Jackson (still) rocks our world
Long after the headlines fade and the debates continue, the music remains - not as an answer, but as a lasting reminder of how powerful, complicated, and human a legacy can be.
As children, my cousins and I grew up with Michael Jackson's music. His music wasn't just something we listened to - it was something we lived. He made us dance, and we tried desperately to move like him, even though we knew we never could.
On 25 June 2009, I was a young boy sitting in front of the TV when the news broke: Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, had died.
Every news, entertainment, and music channel stopped everything to tell his story. His videos played on repeat — as the world struggled to come to terms with the loss of a global icon.
I had never seen anything like it.
My parents used to tell me about Princess Diana's death and how the world stood still. That day, I finally understood what they meant. Because the world didn't just pause for Michael Jackson, it mourned him.
It was overwhelming. Almost unreal. Larger than life.
But then again, so was he.
From 'Heal the World' to 'Thriller' to 'Rock My World', his music still pulses through our lives. The moment a song begins, something shifts - we move, we sing, we remember. Or, like me, I play his music on repeat, holding on to a feeling I can't quite explain.
We know the lyrics. We know the outfits. We know the dance moves.
But did we ever truly know the man?
When my colleague Chanel September and I went to watch 'Michael', the film about his life, at the Mall of Africa in Johannesburg, I expected the music. I expected the magic. I expected to dance in my seat from beginning to end, and I did. We all did.
But I didn't expect to feel what I felt.
Because beyond the glitter, the genius, and the global fame, there was a boy, a boy who gave everything to the world before he ever had the chance to fully grow up in it.
From a young age, he was performing for millions. He was forced to do so. And in that world of constant expectation, childhood became something fragmented - moments of normal life often sacrificed for rehearsals, tours, and the pressure of being exceptional before he was even an adult.
That's the part that stays with me: the sense that while he belonged to the world, he may not have always belonged to himself.
And yet, his legacy is not simple.
Alongside the admiration and the music that shaped generations, there were also difficult questions, controversies, and allegations that continue to complicate how people see him.
His story is not one-dimensional, and perhaps it never will be. That tension between genius and scrutiny, love and doubt, is part of why his name still provokes such strong emotion decades later.
Still, when you sit in a cinema and hear those opening notes, none of that feels distant. It feels immediate. Human. Alive.
That is the paradox of his legacy.
Michael Jackson is one of the most celebrated figures on Earth, and perhaps also was one of the most isolated.
Surrounded by crowds, yet often separated from ordinary life. Adored on a scale few will ever experience, yet carrying burdens most of us can hardly imagine.
Maybe that's why his music still moves us the way it does. It carries both brilliance and fracture. Joy and ache. Performance and something deeply personal beneath it.
Walking out of the cinema that night, I didn't feel like I had reached a conclusion about the late King of Pop. I felt something more honest than that; I felt the weight of having witnessed a life that was extraordinary, but also unresolved.
Maybe that's the point.
Some stories aren't meant to be neatly understood. They're meant to be felt, and MJ's is one of them.
Because long after the headlines fade and the debates continue, the music remains, not as an answer - but as a reminder of how powerful, complicated, and human a legacy can be.
And yes, we still dance. But maybe now, we also listen a little differently.
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