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Justin Timberlake · S1 E4
The Michael Jackson Obsession
The moonwalk, the spin, the pose — an 8-year-old studies the king
1989, a living room in Shelby Forest, and an eight-year-old presses rewind on a VHS tape for the two-hundredth time. On the screen, Michael Jackson glides backwards across the stage at Motown 25.
Michael Jackson performing Billie Jean at Motown 25 in 1983. The moonwalk happens at 3:35. This is the single performance that rewired Justin's brain, the moment he stopped wanting to sing and started wanting to perform.
From Singer to Performer
Before this tape, Justin wanted to sing. After it, he wanted to own a stage. Singing is standing behind a microphone. Performing is commanding every square foot of the room with your body, your eyes, your timing.
“I think it's the first idea that I ever got about doing something on my own.”
— Justin Timberlake, on watching Michael Jackson perform (Oprah's Master Class, 2014)
The Mirror Sessions
Justin begins studying Jackson with the intensity of a graduate student. The glove, the military jackets, the way Jackson never breaks eye contact with the camera. He practices in front of the bathroom mirror for hours, lip-syncing to Bad and Smooth Criminal. His mother comes home to find furniture rearranged so he can rehearse full routines.
TAP TO REVEAL: What did choreographers notice about Justin years later on the *NSYNC tours?
Rock with You
The smooth, groovy side of Michael Jackson from 1979's Off the Wall. Listen to the falsetto and the rhythm. You can hear the direct line from this song to Justin's Rock Your Body twenty-four years later. Same bounce, same silk, same joy.
Which performance did Justin rewatch obsessively on VHS as a child?
1992, Lynn sees an ad in the Memphis newspaper for a national TV talent show holding auditions. She loads her eleven-year-old into the car.
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