Music[Review] Will You Be There — Michael Jackson’s Emotional Question About Love, Loyalty and Human Connection
I can't recall the number of times I've listened to this song, and I guess it's because I have listened to a lot of good songs, but that one is more than good. It always makes me stop and pause for some moments to ask someone uncomfortable questions about life. This song that was sang by Michael falls into that category.
Anytime I listen to it, I see it as a song beyond love. Because it's something about being present, as the title implies. About the type of hope left in me when everything seems to get going side ways. The present joy of the moment disappears. When the life I used to enjoy starts turning bad, and when the last hope I can fall back to is someone who will not abandon me.
I'll continue to call it evergreen music because Michael Jackson's put it in his "Dangerous," album which was released in 1991. And it was produced and written by him alongside Bruce Swedien, his co-producer at that time. The song was already doing well when it was released, but after it was featured in a movie titled Free Willy it reached a wider audience around the world.
The first time I listened to it, I could remember that it was how the song started that made me stay glued to the end before I even heard the voice of Michael. I was already carried away by the sound of the piano, the grand orchestra, and the beat. It was so calm, soothing, and comforting as if I were entering into a sacred atmosphere before Michael began with those deep personal conversations. I said personally because it felt so personal with his voice entering, which changed the mood of the music into something more intimate.
And one thing I'll say I like about the whole recording is the contrast. From the beginning of the music, which feels enormous, in a way that it looks too big for Michael's emotions only, but he eventually brought everything together by asking a question that got me: will you be there when life becomes difficult?
And to be sincere, I have asked that question at some point in life. And I'm sure others too might have. Because to me, going through the lyrics and listening to him, it is more than just asking for someone's affection. He also asked for everything that comes with it: loyalty, companionship, understanding, and comfort. Because all he was asking for is to be sure whether that person beside him will always be there in his vulnerable state when he seems alone, when his words alone start to fail him, and most especially, when he's in need of support.
And after I have listened over and over, there's something about those questions being asked by Michael apart from being an adult that looks almost childlike, and I'm saying that in a beautiful way. Because as adults, we all still need someone that will catch us and carry us up when we fall, just like when a child falls and the parents carry the child up.
I have listened to a lot of his songs, but this particular one felt like he sang it from a more exposed position rather than doing it like a pop star that already has everything figured out. He was singing it like someone who was asking and searching for reassurance rather than making a demand. And that was one of the reasons why I can't get bored listening to it because it has a lot of emotions in it. And I can't ignore how Michael's vocal was switching to make the impact of the song feel more while everyone backing through the song also their best quality.
And then there is the ending.
Like most songs will just end after the chorus or hook. Michael gave the ending something I will call a soft-spoken poem. And with that part he added and the questions he asked made the song's impact feel more like a conventional pop recording and more like something that was personal and from his mind.
The beauty that I have seen about this song is that different listeners can feel different things. Because when I first listened to it, it was like a prayer that he directed towards God, then it shifted to a song he wrote to a romantic partner. Some can say he wrote it to his friends, parents, or someone he lost. We all have different ways to interpret things. Because I have seen a situation when someone said they wrote something from a perspective, while those who received it said they got it from another perspective.
When this song was first released in the Dangerous album, I was not yet born, but that doesn't mean the message isn't relevant again; hence, my reason for calling it every green. If anything, it's still relevant because of the good lyrics that it contained.
In today's world, a lot of people are surrounded by people, yet they feel so lonely when everything becomes difficult. But Will You Be There will remain eternal because it will continue to speak to generations and more generations to come. That is how I see it.
Should I say I have a weakness for this song? I guess I do because after I stop playing or the music goes to the next, I sometimes find myself playing it over again, or I put it on repeat. And maybe that is the real strength of “Will You Be There.”
The song is filled with reality and didn't say everything would be easy. It simply threw a big question to me by asking if everything goes side way, will I still have anyone beside me?
And from the soft-spoken poem he said at the end, he wasn't talking about someone who has the perfect answer to everything or someone who has the solution to everything. But some are going to stay and comfort us when we are hurting. And with the way I have listened to this song by Michael, king of pop, I feel that is the heart of the music.
Scrolling through Hive while I was navigating it and searching for what to post after my introduction post and community suggestion I got, I can see across this community and also appreciate the light that Michael Jackson was to me and to others through his impactful music. May his music continue to shine on.
My rating for "Will You Be There" will be 100.
All pictures used are mine.