"Billie Jean" was the first short film made for 'Thriller,' the biggest-selling album of all time. The short film for this No. 1 single, directed by Steve Barron, made history as the first video by a black artist to receive heavy rotation on MTV, and was later ranked by the network as one of the 100 greatest music videos of all time.

Michael Jackson's short film for "Billie Jean" was the first of three short films produced for recordings from Thriller, which continues its reign as the biggest selling album of all time with worldwide sales in excess of 105 million as of June 1, 2016 and in December, 2015 became the first ever album to be awarded triple diamond status by the RIAA for US sales alone. The ""Billie Jean"" single reached No. 1 in 10 countries in the spring of 1983, including seven consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 - becoming the second-highest selling single in America that same year.

"Billie Jean" was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on April 4, 1983, and Platinum on February 4, 1989. The song won two Grammy Awards for Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance - Male, as well as an American Music Award for Favorite Single - Pop/Rock and was also named the Single of the Year on The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll in 1983.

The short film featured a paparazzo attempting to photograph Jackson as he danced through an urban landscape. A specially created set featured steps and sidewalk tiles that lit up underneath Michael's feet. It is here that fans first saw some of Michael's best-known dance moves, such as spinning and landing on his toes. Many of Michael's steps and mannerisms in the video would become forever associated with The King of Pop.

When the chorus hit.he sprung into this dance that was unlike anything I'd ever seen, director Steve Barron recounted of Jackson's choreography in the video. "It was just extraordinary, instinctive. He pulled it all together and turned it into what we saw.The camera literally steamed up, the eyepiece steamed up, because of my heat from what I was seeing." Barron also recalled the crew breaking into spontaneous applause after Michael finished dancing.

The "Billie Jean" short film made history as the first video by a black artist to be played in heavy rotation on MTV, then in its second year. In 1992, the short film was inducted into the Music Video Producers Hall of Fame. MTV ranked "Billie Jean" as the 35th greatest music video of all time in 1999, one of three entries of Jackson's on the chart alongside "Thriller" and "Beat It."

🎵 L Y R I C S 🎵:
She was more like a beauty queen from a movie scene
I said, "Don't mind, but what do you mean I am the one
Who will dance on the floor in the round?"
She said I am the one
Who will dance on the floor in the round
She told me her name was Billie Jean as she caused a scene
Then every head turned with eyes that dreamed of being the one
Who will dance on the floor in the round

People always told me, "Be careful of what you do
Don't go around breaking young girls' hearts" (hee-eeh)
And mother always told me, "Be careful of who you love
And be careful of what you do (oh, oh)
'Cause the lie becomes the truth" (oh, oh), eh-eh

Billie Jean is not my lover, uh
She's just a girl who claims that I am the one (oh, baby)
But the kid is not my son (ooh!), uh
She says I am the one (oh, baby)
But the kid is not my son
(Hee-hee-hee, hee-hee-hee, ooh!) no, no

For 40 days and for 40 nights, I was on her side
But who can stand when she's in demand? Her schemes and plans
'Cause we danced on the floor in the round (hee)
So take my strong advice
Just remember to always think twice
(Don't think twice!) Do think twice! (Ah-hoo)
She told my baby we'd danced 'til 3:00, then she looked at me
Then showed a photo of a baby crying, his eyes were like mine (oh, no)
'Cause we danced on the floor in the round, baby
(Ooh, hee-hee-hee)

People always told me, "Be careful of what you do
And don't go around breaking young girls' hearts" (don't break no hearts)
But she came and stood right by me
Just the smell of sweet perfume
This happened much too soon
She called me to her room, hey

Billie Jean is not my lover (hoo)
She's just a girl who claims that I am the one, uh
But the kid is not my son
No-no-no, no-no-no-no-no-no (hoo)
Billie Jean is not my lover, uh
She's just a girl who claims that I am the one (oh, baby)
But the kid is not my son (no, no)
She says I am the one (oh, baby)
But the kid is not my son
(No, hee-hee)

Hee! Hoo!

She says I am the one, uh
But the kid is not my son
No-no-no, hoo (oh)
Billie Jean is not my lover
She's just a girl who claims that I am the one (you know what you did to me, baby)
But the kid is not my son
No-no-no, no-no-no-no

She says I am the one (no)
But the kid is not my son (no-no-no)
She says I am the one (you know what you did)
She says he is my son (breakin' my heart, babe)
She says I am the one

Yeah, Billie Jean is not my lover, uh
Yeah, Billie Jean is not my lover, uh
Yeah, Billie Jean is not my lover, uh
Yeah, Billie Jean is not my lover, uh (don't call me Billie Jean, hoo)
Billie Jean is not my lover, uh (she's not at the scene)
Yeah, Billie Jean is not...

Written & Composed by Michael Jackson
Produced by Quincy Jones for Quincy Jones Productions
Co-Produced by Michael Jackson for MJJ Productions, Inc.
From the album Thriller, released November 30, 1982
Released as a single January 2, 1983

THE SHORT FILM
Director: Steve Barron
Primary Production Location: Los Angeles, California

Album Artist: Michael Jackson
Album(s): Thriller, HIStory - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE - BOOK I
Written by: Michael Jackson
Music genre(s): Pop
Released: 1983
Decade for first release: #1980sMusic

#MichaelJackson #Thriller #BillieJean #Pop #1980sMusic #classicHits

Official Music Video for "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson

Experience the enchanting collaboration between Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Wuh Oh in their latest track "Hypnotized." This dynamic duo brings together their unique sounds to create a mesmerizing pop anthem that captivates listeners. With its infectious beat and stunning visuals, "Hypnotized" is sure to be a standout hit in 2025.

🎵 L Y R I C S 🎵:
You always knew how to creep into my head
Always finding ways to sleep in my bed
You have always kept me hypnotiz-ed
You will never have the key to my heart
Pay attention to the things that I said
I had told you I was sick of crying
When you gave me promises of paradise then
Took them back again before my eyes

Verses 1 & 2:
Here we go, at it again you see this
Position is not for me and
It just wasn’t meant to be the
Decision is mine to leave you so

Pre chorus 1:
I’ve grown so tired of the mind games you play
So warm in the night yet so cold in the day

Pre 2
I’ve seen the light and I’m moving along
It never was right and I’m done with your wrong

Album Artist: Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Wuh Oh
Album(s): Perimenopop
Written by: Jonathan Shave, Sophie Bextor, Uzoechi Emenike
Music genre(s): Pop
Released: 2025
Decade for first release: #2020sMusic

#SophieEllisBextor #WuhOh #Perimenopop #Hypnotized #Pop #2020sMusic #newMusic #HouseRemix

Discover the captivating sounds of Sophie Ellis-Bextor in her latest track "Taste." This vibrant song showcases her unique style and lyrical depth, making it a must-listen for fans of pop music. With a blend of catchy melodies and engaging visuals, "Taste" is set to be a highlight of 2025's music scene.

🎵 L Y R I C S 🎵:
You've got it
You know you've got it

Baby, I don't know what goes into your recipe
It just works for me
You've got it
Maybe I won't analyze your sweet complexity
Leave it mystery
You've got it

Just like citrus
On my tongue
You know you've got it
Wake my senses
Like no one
You've got it

Taste
Your taste
Every flavor I love
You've got it

Taste
Your taste
And I can't get enough
You know you've got it
You know you've got it

You've got stars all year round
But only come from one and only
One and only
You've got it
I trust the way you pave the world
And I believe in what you show me
Show me
You know you've got it

Spice of life felt twice the fun
You know you've got it
Wake my senses
Like no one
You know you've got it

Taste
Your taste
Every flavor I love
You've got it

Taste
Your taste (you know)
And I can't get enough
You know you've got it
You know you've got it
You know you've got it

Your love so sweet, tastes so good to me (you know you've got it)
Your love so sweet, tastes so good to me (you know you've got it)
Your love so sweet, tastes so good to me (you know you've got it)
Just like citrus
On my tongue
You've got it

Taste
Your taste (you know)
Every flavor I love
You've got it

Taste
Your taste (you know)
And I can't get enough
You know you've got it

Your love so sweet, tastes so good to me
Your love so sweet, every flavor I love (you've got it)
Your love so sweet, tastes so good to me
Your love so sweet, and I can't get enough
You know you've got it

Album Artist: Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Album(s): Perimenopop
Written by: Jonathan Shave, Sophie Bextor, Uzoechi Emenike
Music genre(s): Pop
Released: 2025
Decade for first release: #2020sMusic

#SophieEllisBextor #Perimenopop #Taste #Pop #2020sMusic #newMusic

"Freedom Of The Night" by Sophie Ellis-Bextor is an empowering anthem that celebrates liberation and self-expression. Released in 2024, this track combines her signature pop sound with uplifting lyrics, encouraging listeners to embrace their true selves. With its infectious beat and catchy chorus, it’s a perfect addition to any playlist that aims to inspire and energise.

🎵 L Y R I C S 🎵:
Give into what she wants
Give into what she wants
Give into what she wants

Wake up
Put on your confidence like make up
Step through the mirror as the sun drops
Kiss the lights goodbye, yeah

By the dreams come true
Come to the other side

I can feel energy
I believe it's healing me
All I need is sweet release in the freedom of the night
Freedom of the night

I can feel energy
I believe it's healing me
All I need is sweet release in the freedom of the night
Freedom of the night

Give into what she wants
Give into what she wants
Give into what she wants

Don't check the clock
There's no time here
We're just spun in the web made of moonlight
Give me enough that my heart stop starts beats fast
I'm scared that it feels right

By the dreams come true
Come to the other side

I can feel energy
I believe it's healing me
All I need is sweet release in the freedom of the night
Freedom of the night

I can feel energy
I believe it's healing me
All I need is sweet release in the freedom of the night
Freedom of the night

Give into what she wants (give in to what she wants)
Give into what she wants
Give into what she wants (give in to what she wants)
Give into what she wants
All I need is sweet release in the freedom of the night (give into what she wants)
Freedom of the night (give into what she wants)

Ooh, when the moon is higher feels this way (give into what she wants)
Getting water me to rise again (give into what she wants)
When the moon is gonna rise again (give into what she wants)

I can feel energy
I believe it's healing me
All I need is sweet release in the freedom of the night
Freedom of the night

VIDEO CREDITS:

Directors: Sophie Muller & Theo Adams

Head of Production: Fiona Bamford-Phillips
Producer: Enrique Soares da Silva

Casting: Hammond & Cox
Casting Director: Thom Hammond
Casting Assistant: Rachael Menzies

1st Assistant Director: Chris Kelly
2nd Assistant Director: Edie Kelly
Runner: Krutik Patel
Runner: Ted Kelly

Director of Photography: Robbie Ryan
Focus Puller: Alasdair Baines
Camera Operator: Rory Power
DV Camera Operator: Ben Cole
Camera Assistant: James Ogram
Gaffer: Tom Nowell
Spark: Hayden Jones / Piotrek Tomasikiewicz
Spark: Piotrek Tomasikiewicz
Playback: Mickey Richards
Playback Assistant: Max Power-Richards

Sophie's Stylist: Lola Chatterton
Stylist Assistant: Morena Salasp / Florence Thompson
Sophie's Hair/Make-up Artist: Lisa Laudat
Hair/Make-up Assistant: Cindy Julian

DRESS LOOK:
Dress: custom @banglondon
Shoes: @louboutinworld

Tracksuit: custom
Shoes: @rogervivier
Bag: custom

Production Designer: Harrison Clark
Art Assistant: Rosie Fletcher / Alice Nutley / Gisela da Silva

Movement Director: Polly Bennet
Assistant Movement Director: Amy Thornton

Medic: Sally Van Den Hout

Edit: Sophie Muller

Post: Rascal Post
Colourist: Dan Levy
Post Producer: Jai Durban

Mini Sophie: Harriet Rogers (Mum: Grace Rodgers)
Dancer 1: Sienna Rose Amer (Mum: Laura Amer)
Dancer 2: Freya Mansbirdge (Mum: Amanda Mansbridge)
Dancer 3: Sienna Velikova (Mum: Alexandra Velikova)
Dancer 4: Kylar Sempar (Mum: Shanie Riley)
Dancer 5: Xavier Joshua Beharry (Mum: Orlette Beharry)
Dancer 6: William Paul Gurney (Mum: Sarah Gurney)
Dancer 7: Millie Rose Young (Mum: Ricarda Young)
Dancer 8: Mia Raggio (Mum: Simone Raggio)
Dancer 9: Leon Ung (Dad: Tee Ung)
Dancer 10: Eva Burt (Mum: Vicky Burt)
Dancer 11: Kimara Mai Pettit (Mum: Louise Harrison)
Dancer 12: Skylar Blu Copeland (Mum: Jade Copeland)
Dancer 13: Olive Walter (Mum: Claire Walter)
Dancer 14: Mila Cohen (Mum: Kristine Cohen)
Dancer 15: Matei Ipati (Dad: Alexandru Ipati)
Dancer 16: Pippa Leathley (Mum: Shannon Leathley)
Dancer 17: Rhys Williams (Grandad: Les Cook)

Judge 1: Colin Stinton
Judge 2: Nando
Judge 3: Amy Thornton

MC: Ted Dogliani

Parent 1: Ira Mandela Siobhan
Parent 2: Sarah Hoare

Label: Decca Records
Senior Marketing Manager: Grace Emmett
Marketing Coordinator: Alexandra Photiou
Content Creator: Sam Moore

Social Media Manager: Zoe Saunderson

Sophie Ellis-Bextor is managed by Wallace Productions

A SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Jayne @ Rivoli Ballroom / Ollie @ Camera Works / Everyone at SP Locations / Jules @ Arlo & Mo Cafe / Andrea @ Comfort & Joy Caterers

Album Artist: Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Album(s): Murder In The Night
Written by: Richard Stannard, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Alexandra Denton
Music genre(s): Pop, Dance
Released: #2024
Decade for first release: #2020sMusic

#SophieEllisBextor #MurderInTheNight #FreedomOfTheNight #Pop #Dance #2020sMusic

The song Crying At The Discotheque would usually want a video recorded in - you guessed it - a disco or club, but I have been thinking so much recently about all my musician and crew friends who can't work at the moment, I thought a video where I film in as many empty London venues as possible would highlight all that's on hold at the moment.

I worked again with my favourite team for my videos, Sophie Muller, Robbie Ryan and Lisa Laudat, and we did all 7 venues in one day. It was strangely moving performing in those places to no crowd when I'd sang in them previously so full of life. I hope it brings home the gap in our culture at the moment.

Lyrics:
Downtown's been caught by the hysteria
The people scream and shout
A generation's on the move
When disco spreads like a bacteria
The lonely days are out
Behold the passion of the groove

The golden years, the silver tears
You wore a tie like Richard Gere
I wanna get down, you spin me around
I stand on the borderline

Crying at the discotheque
Crying at the discotheque

I saw you crying
I saw you crying at the discotheque
I saw you crying
I saw you crying at the discotheque

Tonight's the night at the danceteria
The joining of the tribe
The speakers pumping clear and loud
And the way you move is our criteria
Let the DJ takes you high
And tears of joy baptize the crowd

The golden years, the silver tears
You wore a tie like Richard Gere
I wanna get down, you spin me around
I stand on the borderline

Crying at the discotheque
Crying at the discotheque

I saw you crying
I saw you crying at the discotheque
I saw you crying
I saw you crying at the discotheque

The golden years, the silver tears
You wore a tie like Richard Gere
I wanna get down, you spin me around
I stand on the borderline

Crying at the discotheque
Crying at the discotheque
Crying at the discotheque
The discotheque, the discotheque
Crying at the discotheque
Crying at the discotheque

Album Artist: Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Album(s): Songs from the Kitchen Disco: Sophie Ellis-Bextor's Greatest Hits
Written by: Bernard Edwards, Anders Wilhelm Wollbeck, Alexander Bengt Magnus Bard, Anders Erik Hansson, Nile Gregory Rodgers, Michael Dimitrios Goulos
Music genre(s): Pop, Dance
Released: #2020
Decade for first release: #2020sMusic

#SophieEllisBextor #SongsFromTheKitchenDisco #CryingAtTheDiscotheque #Pop #Dance #2020sMusic

So for Friday night, myself and my friends got rather board.
And as the resident "Things collector" i got 2 Maxtor touch sense 2 external hardrives. However those who were alive in 2000's know Maxtor went bankrupt and haven't made hardrives for a very long time.
One of these drive i got BRAND NEW, in box at a flea market. sadly time got to the platters first, i spent a few hours trying to reformat or partition them and all i got was write errors. I tried different utility's with no avail and decided to cut my losses, so i asked the boys what we should do with them? Immediately my friend had an idea, to bring out his 9mm and see how a hardrive would fair! We all took turns and they were pretty hard to hit (we made the mistake of drink soda before hand). We eventually landed some shots on the center of the drives and MAN it actually stopped 2 bullets!!!


going into this we all expected the disk to be unreadable after the fact, but didnt think the hardrives would stop a 9mm bullet!!

We then took the hdd's apart after are volley of bullets, and alot of the chips were damaged and all the platters were bent. But when we took off the top case, it looked so freakin cool i had to keep it

cross-posted from: sh.itjust.works/post/40679506

So for Friday night, myself and my friends got rather board.
And as the resident "Things collector" i got 2 Maxtor touch sense 2 external hardrives. However those who were alive in 2000's know Maxtor went bankrupt and haven't made hardrives for a very long time.
One of these drive i got BRAND NEW, in box at a flea market. sadly time got to the platters first, i spent a few hours trying to reformat or partition them and all i got was write errors. I tried different utility's with no avail and decided to cut my losses, so i asked the boys what we should do with them? Immediately my friend had an idea, to bring out his 9mm and see how a hardrive would fair! We all took turns and they were pretty hard to hit (we made the mistake of drink soda before hand). We eventually landed some shots on the center of the drives and MAN it actually stopped 2 bullets!!!


going into this we all expected the disk to be unreadable after the fact, but didnt think the hardrives would stop a 9mm bullet!!

We then took the hdd's apart after are volley of bullets, and alot of the chips were damaged and all the platters were bent. But when we took off the top case, it looked so freakin cool i had to keep it

Here’s a great hack sent in to us from [Simon]. He uses an e-paper photo frame as a weather map!

By now you are probably aware of e-paper technology, which is very low power tech for displaying images. E-paper only uses energy when it changes its display, it doesn’t draw power to maintain a picture it has already rendered. The particular e-paper used in this example is fairly large (as e-paper goes) and supports color (not just black and white) which is why it’s expensive. For about US$100 you can get a 5.7″ 7-color EPD display with 600 x 448 pixels.

Beyond the Inky Frame 5.7″ hardware this particular hack is mostly a software job. The first program, written in python, collects weather data from the UK Met Office. Once that image data is available a BASH script is run to process the image files with imagemagick. Finally a Micro Python script runs on the Pico to download the correct file based on the setting of the real-time clock, and update the e-paper display with the weather map.

Thanks to [Simon] for sending this one in via the tipsline. If you have your own tips, please do let us know! If you’re interested in e-paper tech we have certainly covered that here in the past, check out E-Paper Anniversary Counter Is A Charming Gift With Minimal Power Draw and A Neat E-Paper Digit Clock (or Four).

The video below the break is a notice from the UK Met Office regarding their data services.

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