NEW YORK (US) – For Paris Jackson, her musical influences when growing up with dad Michael revolved around music ranging from Motown to classical music, however, the style she has embraced for her first album is alternative and folksy.
The 22-year-old musician is cool with the possibility that a few may not like her album, and she says that she is okay with that. She said she has quit trying to please other people.
“I’ve kind of reached the point where I’ve realized that someone is always going to have something negative to say…So I might as well be myself,” Jackson told.
“I hope people like it but if they don’t, that’s ok,” she added.
“wilted,” released on Friday, marks the debut solo album by Paris Jackson, who was brought up by her grandmother after the sudden death in 2009 of Michael Jackson.
The album’s 11 tracks has titles including “let down,” “repair” and “collide,” reflect the turbulent life she has had, from being a bereaved 11-year-old, with an adolescence marked by mental health and drug issues, to young adulthood.
“Everyone has gone through heartbreak and pain in some form or another. If my music makes one person feel acknowledged and heard, then I’ve done my job,” she said.
Jackson, who plays acoustic guitar, has been successful as a model and has also worked as an actress. But she says creating music has “always been a really healthy outlet for me.”
She said that she grew up listening to a wide range of music, “There was soul and R&B and blues and jazz and the Motown stuff… My father also played a lot of classical music around the house, movie soundtracks, even the radio Top 40.”
“But the vibe I’m kind of going for now, along with keeping the folk roots, is a little bit more alternative and I’m taking from bands from the early 2000s,” she said.
Asked what she thought her father would say about the new album, she said. “If I had to guess, it would probably be something along the lines of ‘I love you and I’m happy that you’re happy’.”
