A mere eight days after releasing her first album in six years, Paris Jackson returned with two more surprise tracks. The new songs “the breeze” and “just you and me” materialized Saturday, Aug. 29 to coincide with the birthday of her late father, Michael Jackson.
“it’s not a tribute. it’s not a commemoration. it’s not a demonstration of any kind,” Jackson wrote in a statement accompanying the new songs. “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 produced both songs, co-writing “the breeze” with Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull and “just you and me” with Hayden Karchmer, also known as the Hill Country Devil. Adding further context to the new tunes, she sat for an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, which premiered in full on Monday.
“I’m so proud of this double single,” Jackson told Lowe. “I’m so proud of my kind of coming into my own as a producer and kind of coming into my own as a songwriter. And also saying, ‘Fuck the rules. We’re not going to have a chorus. We’re not gonna have a bridge. The first one’s gonna be a letter, like kind of spoken word, and the second one is gonna be some verses and a chorus with a weird instrumental thing at the end. So that was really cool. But by no means does it feel like a complete message, like, ‘This is all I have to say about this.’ I’m probably just going to keep the rest of it to myself for now. But I’m not saying this is it.”
The double single follows the Aug. 21 release of HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE, Jackson’s follow-up to her 2020 debut album Wilted. She worked on the album with veteran producer Linda Perry, describing it as “a collision of sound, experience, and emotion.” Jackson is currently in the midst of a tour alternating between headline shows and supporting the Pretty Reckless.
