Song Analysis "Earth Song" by Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson was an American singer, dancer, and songwriter who was born named Michael Joseph Jackson. Not only that, because of his musical contributions, Michael Jackson was dubbed "King of Pop." His music is stunning, energizing, and forceful. "Earth Song" is one of Michael Jackson's most powerful and emotional songs. This was the song that he released, and it sent out a lot of amazing signals to everyone who saw it. You can tell what the song is about just by looking at the title: it's about the Earth. His song and music video shows him singing outside with many views including both manufactured and degenerated nature, as well as scenes of industries. In his music video, he also includes some few aboriginal characters. His song video features an unusual story: it opens with images of animals in a safe habitat, then turns to a damaged forest that looks to be still on fire as Michael sings within it. He then shows animals that have died and creatures that have been victims of human violence. After that, clips of conflict are shown, including a smoke-producing manufacturing area. Most of these movies are shown again at the end of his music video, but this time in reverse, illustrating that all of these human acts may be reversed. Michael Jackson brings attention to a common global issue by using his platform and audience to make people aware and remind the world about issues that we keep ignoring.

The song "Earth Song" by Michael Jackson clearly addresses the problems of pollution, climate change, and human damage. This is proven by the subject of his video clip as well as a review of his song lyrics. “Did you ever stop to notice All the blood we’ve shed before” he asks at the start of his song, and while it may seem that he is talking about conflicts, his main point is the blood we are losing from the Earth. This is illustrated in his music video, where we see aboriginal people looking up at a tree as it slowly falls down with melancholy emotions on their faces as he sings these lyrics. Humans fighting each other is made up again later in the song when he sings the lines, “What about all the peace That you pledge your only son…” We see scenes of war and a tank driving through this section of the music video, representing the wars that mankind has fought. The term "peace" is used to tie this scene together, as Michael Jackson is aiming to remind the audience of humanity's continuous yearning for peace in the globe, despite the fact that we continue to kill each other and start wars. We can almost see a conflict between humans and nature in the music video, with humans representing negative forces and Michael Jackson representing the environment. This conflict is most noticeable during Michael Jackson's intense moment of holding on to two trees while a strong gust of wind pulls him. He's screaming at backing vocalists during this time. The backing vocalists sing "What about us" and Michael Jackson responds with "What about...", each time mentioning a different topic negatively touched by human forces, such as animals, seas, forests, children, and so on. This scene in the music video is crucial since it can be seen from two sides. To begin, the background singers can represent humans yelling "What about us," illustrating the egoism of humans who only care about themselves and want to comfort themselves in everything available, while Michael Jackson dismisses and reminds the humans that they are not alone in the world and that the lyrics mention a topic that has been negatively affected. The backing vocalists could also be used as a scream in harmony with Michael Jackson. Whatever issue he brings up following his "What about...", the backing vocalists push it by repeating "What about us," instilling guilt, shame, pity, regret, and other emotions in the human listener. His use of human emotion as a card is a strong one, as emotions control a person's mental process. Emotions triggered by Michael Jackson's song "Earth Song" and music video create mental processes that make viewers understand Michael's aims and motifs from his music.

"What about children dying (What about us) Can't you hear them cry?" Michael Jackson says at one point. However, he states in the opening of the song, "Did you ever stop to notice All the children dead from war?" Both of these lyrics are strongly massage to human feeling, as the words, together with the clip's pictures of a broken bicycle and children playing, create a deep sad mood in the viewer. It allows an adult audience, even those who have children, to reflect on how important children are to them and what they represent to them, as well as how they would feel if they lost them, knowing that this has happened to many other sad families. It responds to human feelings in this type of audience scares and inspires peace by showing the world's dangers of war and violence. When it comes to one of the great themes of the song and music video, governments and workers, especially those in the manufacturing industry, are a primary target of this song. Michael Jackson does a great work of illustrating the damage that industries have caused and continue to create as a result of their massive pollution production. Governments are criticized and punished for their failure to effectively control industrial levels of pollution. Michael Jackson's song mentions aborigine people as an impacted population as a result of industrialization and human labor, but it also talks directly to them. Michael Jackson wants to show and inform them that they are not alone, and that there are individuals out there who understand what they are going through. Native communities and aboriginals who are cut off from the majority of society today and breathe the smells of deforestation, conflict, and pollution. Michael Jackson does a good job of including these people, and by doing so, he represents togetherness and peace.

In the song "Earth Song" by Michael Jackson, there is some figurative language in it. There are three figurative languages ​​in the song "Earth Song", including metaphor, hyperbole, and personification. A metaphor is a statement that compares two things that are not alike. The lyrics that contain metaphor are "what about killing fields?" - Michael is talking about the fields where wars take place; "the heavens are falling down"- as if everything good is coming to an end and there is nothing good ahead for us; and "we've turned kingdoms to dust"- In this lyric Michael is referring to the animal’s habitats, the forest we have burnt down and the animals that we have killed to make stuff for our pleasure.

 

Hyperbole is an exaggeration that is created to emphasize a point or bring out a sense of humor. The lyrics that contain hyperbole are "all the blood we've shared before" - we haven't exactly shared blood but he is referring to the war and the tragic events that have occurred and all the victims that died or were injured; "I used to glance beyond the stars" - you can not glance beyond them but he is saying that he used to stare into them deeply as if looking beyond them looking for something better; and "I can’t even breathe" - the pollution in the air is taking over and making it hard to breathe.

 

Personification is the attribution of human characteristics to non-living objects. Using personification affects the way people imagine things, and it sparks an interest in the subject. The lyrics that contain personification are "the crying Earth the weeping shores" - the earth is crying because of all the destruction we are causing and all the pollution that is being washed away into the ocean and pushed onto shores; and "it’s our planet's womb" - where our planet was born from - the heart and soul of the earth

Reference

Jackson, Michael Joseph, director. Michael Jackson – Earth Song (Official Video). YouTube, Michael Jackson, 16 October 2021, https://youtu.be/XAi3VTSdTxU

Jackson, Michael Joseph. “‘Earth Song.’” genius, Quoted on 16 October 2021, https://genius.com/Michael-jackson-earth-song-lyrics