Paris Jackson is the daughter of the most famous pop star who has ever lived. She’s 22 years old — twice as old as her father was when he and his brothers released “I Want You Back” — and she has just come out with her first-ever debut single. When the child of a famous musician releases a piece of music, it’s impossible not to look for similarities between the two. This time, you won’t find any. If her first single is any indication, Paris Jackson does not sound even one bit like Michael Jackson.
Next month, Paris, who previously starred in the xx’s “I Dare You” video, will release her debut album Wilted. Today, she’s shared “let down,” its first single. Yes, Paris Jackson doing the lowercase-song-titles thing. No, “let down” is not a Radiohead cover. Paris wrote “let down,” and the Manchester Orchestra frontman Andy Hull produced it. The music is slow and strummy, and Paris’ voice is quite thin. The lyrics, meanwhile, are doomed-romantic teenage stuff: “Head hanging down/ Shredded evening gown/ Eyes painted black/ A tragic paperback.”
The “let down” music video goes in on the gothic-romance thing, nodding toward horror cinema without ever really evoking her father’s “Thriller.” Instead, the whole storyline takes place at an old-timey fancy-dress ball that turns bloody. Watch it below.
Wilted is out 11/13 on Republic Records.
