Ciara is paying homage to Michael Jackson.
Videos by American Songwriter
In honor of the 40th anniversary of Thriller, Ciara takes fans inside the dance studio as she recreates some of Jackson’s famous moves. She channels the hip thrusts and fancy footwork he did in live performances of “Billie Jean,” along with some of the signature choreography from the iconic “Thriller” video. “MJ thank you for the inspiration you’ve given us all!” she writes in the caption accompanying the black-and-white video that shows her dressed like the King of Pop in a black jacket and pants, white socks, black loafers and a top hat.
She can also be seen dancing with Chris Brown. The two were scheduled to be a part of a tribute performance to Jackson during the 2022 American Music Awards on Sunday night (Nov. 20), but it was cancelled. “@ChrisBrown you’re a rare breed of this generation. Always fun to rock with you,” Ciara adds.
Watch Ciara’s video below.
Brown took to Instagram to air his grievances about the scrapped performance, writing “WOULDVE been the ama performance but they cancelled me for reasons unknown.” He also posted a video rehearsing the routine to his song, “Under the Influence,” which was going to open the tribute, leading into Jackson’s hit “Beat It.”
“Live shows change all the time, it’s the nature of this business,” Dick Clark Productions, the company that produces the AMAs, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, this element of the AMAs didn’t come together as we couldn’t align on the performance, to no fault of Chris Brown.”
Ciara and Brown previously collaborated on the 2009 song, “Turntables,” off her album Fantasy Ride and toured together in the mid-2000s. In a recent video posted by a fan, Ciara expressed interest in wanting to work with Brown again. “I just think that it could be amazing at the right time to both jam out together,” she said.
Jackson’s Thriller was released on November 30, 1982 and is the best-selling album of all time, selling a whopping 70 million copies across the globe. It produced several hits, including the title track,” Billie Jean” and “Beat It,” and was named Album of the Year at the 1984 Grammy Awards.
Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage
