Remember the Time: Why MJ is Still Interstellar

8-minute read                                                              Photo credit: Generated by House of Nyabinghi

 

Author: Bardot

 

INTRODUCTION:

 

Michael Joseph Jackson, aka MJ, is a cultural, fashion, social and spiritual phenomenon that truly felt like he came from the Afro-future. An energetic and mystical star that travelled back in time to teach us all something about the power of self-belief, manifestation, and magic. With excitement and anticipation building for the first major MJ biopic ‘Michael’ charting his extraordinary life up to the late 1980s, the loss of MJ’s interstellar spirit grows more relevant and urgent every year.

As the years speed through since his passing in June 2009, we can’t deny the obvious. While MJ defined artistry and music, he also defined an epoch in time where the convergence of Black cultural power, spiritual depth, symbolism, style, political and environmental fortitude, global reach, exhilaration and ‘big D’ energy were all tightly packed and locked into him. And him alone. One, 5-foot-9-inch African American man, with doe eyes wider than Bambi’s that reflected a soul as vast as the Indian Ocean.

Given the current backdrop of how the world is spinning today – on an incredibly dangerous axis due to Western-led bullying and warmongering again, colonisation, greed, lack of integrity and ethics in office, including supporting administrative/governmental teams, and a United States approaching its 250th anniversary in a country that’s about as united as K-Dot’s symbolic version of the American flag at Super Bowl LIX and so much more – MJ’s art feels like a compendium of creative instructions on how we should collectively respond to the growing socio-political madness we’re all seeing around us. So, here is a revisit of some (to be honest, the list was too long) of House of Nyabinghi’s favourite elements of MJ’s:

 

Iconic Style Moments:

His numerous embellished military jackets, worn with all the authority of a commander from an Afrofuturist Black civilisation and partnered with equally tailored high-waisted trousers, always highlighted his unique silhouette while never hiding his otherworldly star power.

Think of that February evening in 1984 where he won eight Grammys dressed like a Black radical yet blinged out like an elegant rapper (we didn’t even know what an elegant rapper was back then). The shoes, socks, glove, bracelet, jacket, shades, beauty, and aura were a lethal combination that lives on in the ecosystem of cultural and fashion style and artistic moments.

Everything MJ wore from his Jackson Five days to solo career - including the Captain EO science fiction film that was exclusive to Disney theme parks for 12 years - was engineered in a way for the sole purpose of him still being able to dance. Therefore, his wardrobe – with the ethos that he and his choreography were never separate disciplines in his world – was an intentional and unifying set of design and visual languages that spoke directly to his Blackness, artistry, and global identity.

From his mother, Katherine Jackson, to Bill Whitten, Kidada Jones, Michael Bush, Dennis Tompkins, Rushka Bergman, Zaldy and brand-name fashion houses, we must give credit and flowers to all the tailors, fashion designers and creative directors who truly brought his visions, concept ideas, and style to life.

 

Performance Clothing: Red Leather Jacket, Black Sequinned Cardigan, and Glove

THAT red leather jacket with red pencil-leg trousers, against a canvas of muted grey, rotting, matted and decaying zombies – some of which had the absolute cheek to body pop and lock to perfection despite being ‘dead’ for a while – was a sublime declaration of intent, at a time when MTV were still deliberately excluding Black artists from rotation on their 24-hour channel.

Deborah Nadoolman (Landis), the fashion designer for the Thriller cast's wardrobe, designed the famous red leather with inverted black stripe panel ‘V’ jacket to mean 'virile'. We really should start adding in the word ‘victorious’ alongside it, because the way MJ kicked down MTV’s doors with that 13-minute short film masterpiece, opening up the channel to playing the videos of Black artists while also ensuring that the Black Entertainment Channel (BET) received heavy syndication of his works either a few minutes after MTV aired one of his videos or within the hour, was a genius masterstroke for the culture.

Another favourite is THAT black sequinned cardigan, but not for the reasons you may instantly think. Was it stylish? Yes. It fitted him perfectly, also yes. Commissioned by MJ, absolutely not. That was sheer gut instinct, and he was right!

Legend has it that MJ teefed it from his mother’s wardrobe before going on stage to perform a live version of Billie Jean at Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, as he felt his outfit wasn’t quite complete and needed ‘something’. The thought of him rummaging through his mum’s wardrobe, stopping at said cardigan, trying it on and thinking, 'Yeah, this’ll do’, to then shifting the cultural landscape hours later by moonwalking across the stage with said black cardigan on, a black sparkly shirt, black pencil-leg trousers, white socks, old-school black penny loafers and THAT one white sequined glove – to hide the vitiligo that was now visible on his hand – catching all the magic and mystique and reflecting it back at us long after he left the stage.

Yet again, we have another moment that remains one of the most studied and referenced accessories to this day and most likely beyond in both Black and Western fashion history.

 

MJ's Socio-Political and Environmental Vision

As I stated above regarding the world’s turbulence, MJ’s interstellar status, energy, and legacy don't so much as speak but instead shout urgently to our current times.

If any of us went outside and began playing They Don't Care About Us (TDCAU), how long before a crowd started joining in singing or car horns began tooting in solidarity, thinking the song is commentary about their nation, its government’s ills, and protesting the rising socio-economic strife that everyone is feeling? That’s the power of his more political songs. Everyone feels he is speaking personally on their behalf and in support of them.

The fact that TDCAU was about MJ’s observations on the indictment of systemic racism, state violence and the disposability of Black and brown lives – themes that have continued to resonate with devastating familiarity since June 2009, and we’re now in April 2026 – should be an embarrassment to every government and administration since then.

Coincidentally, as the United States prepares to celebrate 250 years of independence in July 2026, the absence of transformative civic leadership and the rolling back of hard-won civil rights protections make MJ's words feel less like history – or should that be 'History' – and more like a live news broadcast from the future. He saw it coming and said so, loudly, on record.

We also have Black or White, which challenged racial division and the politics of othering. At a time when his vitiligo was worsening but his voice was blacker than ever, the very act of MJ morphing into a literal black panther in the song’s supporting short film was so objectionable to the TV networks that they demanded edits. He stood on his principles and refused to apologise.

Then there is Earth Song. It remains one of, if not the most powerful environmentally conscious song ever recorded by a mainstream global artist. MJ was asking, “What about us?” plus many other questions that young people across the African diaspora (where environmental destruction continues to fall hardest on Black and brown communities worldwide) – and the wider world – climate activists and environmental justice movements are still demanding answers to today.

With all the UK taxpayer’s money, prestige, media sycophants and access at his disposal, has Prince Harry’s brother’s Earthshot Prize even managed to make as much impact in its last six years since launch? The simple answer is no.

Do I even need to say anything about Will You Be There or Heal the World? Spiritually uplifting and speaking to all of us as one, these songs echo a poignancy about the strength of humankind that radiates even brighter, in the light of the astronauts on Artemis II and their safe return to Earth from their recent excursion [I use that term very loosely] to the dark side of the moon.

 

What MJ Left for the Creative Culture

Without a doubt, MJ remains one of the most important visionary, and necessary cultural figures of the 20th and 21st centuries whose entire package feels immortal.

Like a real-life Disney prince, by the time he physically left us, his vault was full of artistry, music, iconic wardrobe pieces, intricate choreography, short films, iconography, drawings, books, poems, speeches, a shrewd business acumen roadmap, pop culture moments and prophecies. All elements that cover his visual, spiritual, and political identity.

His overall blueprint acts as an open invitation to keep reaching beyond the stars so that we remain an unapologetic visionary in full command of our creative freedom.

To that extent, every generation of Black creatives currently living carries something of what MJ crystallised: the permission to believe in yourself, showing the world that you are a powerful manifester who can create the life of your dreams irrespective of where you started and that our Black imagination belongs at the absolute centre of global culture and never at the margins, for our art can’t ever be controlled or contained.

The biopic ‘Michael’ has a worldwide distribution deal and key release dates include the following nations in 2026: UK on 22 April, Australia on 23 April, China and USA on 24 April, South Korea on 13 May, Russia on 28 May, and Japan on 12 June.

We shall remember the man, his music, and his magic.

 

Final Note of Observation

There is no doubt that the mainstream media will swing into action with their coordinated negative reviews of the film, more articles about the ‘MJ’ caricature / pantomime villain that they created, including the racist 'Wacko Jacko' name derived from the Jacco Macacco monkey that was popular in England in the 19th century, and other allegations.

But make no mistake, while distracting people with their dehumanising of MJ like it was an international sport for decades, these were also the same mainstream media groups who allegedly, in some facets, and at the same time, helped circle the golden carriages around specific high-profile individuals for decades to protect and deflect from their corruptive, insidious and predatory behaviours. Men like the disgraced and jailed financier with the large files, plus Prince Andrew and the currently imprisoned Harvey Weinstein – who were all friends, we might add – and on and on it goes.

Let me say it again: the same mainstream media who today, have more vitriol for Harry and Meghan than King Charles III’s wayward brother, Prince Andrew.

Do we all Remember the Time? Yes, we do!

 

Coming Soon

The new 'Black Empire' collection inspired by the book Black Empire by George S. Schuyler, the iconography of Michael Joseph Jackson and House of Nyabinghi's 10 Word Story initiative.

 

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