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EmailWhy Beyoncé is the only plausible heir to Michael Jackson’s sparkly glove.
The two weeks since Michael Jackson’s death have been awash in tributes and testimonies to the man and his music. Yet the tide of nostalgia and revisionism that has gripped the entire planet obscures a nagging truth: The very idea of superstardom may have died with Michael. After all, so many of the eulogies have focused less on Jackson’s iconic music than on his extraordinary fame, his status as ruler of a kingdom called Pop. He won this crown with a fusion of precocious talent and gleefully bizarre antics—the thrilling 1983 moonwalk at the Apollo Theater and the shocking 2005 baby-dangle in Berlin contribute equally to the idea of Michael as spectacle.
Dayo Olopade is Washington reporter for The Root.
