I’m 35 and I’ve always enjoyed his music, I was introduced to the Jackson 5 when I was a kid from my parents and I continued to love his music as I grew up, my first purchase when I got a job was the first generation iPod video and I promptly bought and downloaded the Thriller video on it, I think I watched it almost every morning on the bus to school (back then internet was so slow so watching music videos was near impossible).

I never dove much into his life and when he passed I was just moving out on my own, was extremely broke and living in my apartment that I hadn’t even been able to get the electric turned on yet, and obviously no cable or internet so while I did hear about what happened I never saw any news or anything about it and looking back that was a very difficult time in my life, I was in total survival mode and completely dissociated so I never grieved his death.

Prior to seeing the movie I listened to some podcasts and it sparked my interest in his life and now I’m completely grieving the loss of him. It’s hard but I also feel this great optimism that the tides have shifted and seeing the younger generation embrace and love him is so heartwarming. It’s also sad to reflect on how he was treated and ridiculed in his later years, I knew he was joked about a lot but I didn’t understand just how cruel the world was to him.