Paris Jackson has opened up about the raw intent behind her surprise double single, framing the project as a deeply personal dispatch rather than a polished memorial.
The 28-year-old singer and actress released “the breeze” and “just me & you” on August 29, her late father’s 68th birthday, through a shock announcement on her Instagram account. The tracks, recorded with Republic Records, arrived with a childhood photo of Paris as a baby and a candid statement about their true purpose.
“It’s not a tribute. It’s not a commemoration. It’s not a demonstration of any kind. It is a letter. It is a poem of the sonic variety. It is my honest experience — with love, loss, and para-social relationships vs a personal one,” she wrote on Instagram.
In an interview with Zane Lowe published August 31, Paris expanded on the unconventional structure she deliberately crafted for the release. “I’m so proud of this double single. I’m so proud of my coming into my own as a producer and coming into my own as a songwriter and also saying f— the rules, we’re not gonna have a chorus, we’re not gonna have a bridge,” she said. “The first one’s gonna be the letter, and the kind of spoken word, and the second one is gonna be some verses and a chorus with a weird instrumental thing at the end.”
The “Just Me & You” singer continued that the songs represent only a partial airing of her feelings, not a definitive statement. “But by no means does it feel like a complete message of, ‘well, this is all I have to say about this.’ It’s like I’m probably just gonna keep the rest of it to myself for now,” she added.
The lyrics of “the breeze” appear to address the absence left by Michael Jackson’s 2009 death, while “just me & you” confronts the pressure of public performance with the line “Got nothing to prove when it’s me and you.” Darker passages depict exploitation that persists beyond the grave: “Sucking on your bones is the final act / They ate you alive / Would you look at that? / Even in death, when there’s nothing left.”
Paris, the daughter of Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe, has been building her own music career while navigating the weight of her lineage. She is currently on her first headlining tour, the Zombies Tour, which has taken her across North America and included a slot supporting Taylor Momsen’s The Pretty Reckless.
The European and U.K. Leg of her tour is scheduled for this fall, where the new tracks may enter her setlist.