If you have been on social media, specifically TikTok, a new dance trend to an underrated song by the King of Pop has been all over your feed.
Several TikTok users and content creators alike have participated in a dance challenge similar to that of an HBCU majorette routine, to the sultry song “Liberian Girl” by Michael Jackson.
The song was featured on the artist’s 1987 album Bad and re-released as a single in 1989. The song has regained renewed popularity due to the viral trend, with several people all over TikTok sharing their attempts at dancing to the song.
Despite its resurgence on social media, many may not know the story behind “Liberian Girl,” and how the underrated song became one beloved by the women of Liberia, and the music video featured powerhouse artists of the 1980s.
The song was first recorded in Dec. 1983 and intended for the Jacksons’ Victory album, but did not make the cut. According to Michael Jackson Wiki, the track was eventually re-recorded in 1986 during sessions for the Bad album at Hayvenhurst, the Jackson family home in California.
Jackson said in a previous interview that when he wrote it, he wasn’t thinking of any specific person.
“I wrote that at my house, in the game room. I guess I was playing pinball or something. And the song just popped in my head. I think I ran upstairs and put it on tape. And it became Liberian Girl,” he said.
The song was praised for being a richer, sultry and soulful ballad on love and admiration.
The song also received global acclaim, especially from women from the country of Liberia. Many viewed it as a powerful representation of themselves.
In 2009, Margaret Carson of Liberia told The Washington Times: “When that music came out … the Liberian girls were so astonished to hear a great musician like Michael Jackson thinking about a little country in Africa. It gave us hope, especially when things went bad … It made us to feel that we are still part of the world.”
The music video was directed by Jum Yukich and was released in April 1989. It featured several of the superstar’s celebrity friends, including Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Whoopi Goldberg, Quincy Jones, and many countless others.
