Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris Jackson had stepped out as a solo artist two years back with her debut album wilted, released in November 2020. From the first gentle strums of wilted‘s lead single “let down,” it was clear that Jackson was entering the music landscape as a confident and expressive songwriter, prioritizing a folk-aided sound and crafting the album with Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull.

But the ethereal, acoustic sound that wilted boasted was just the beginning. On Friday, October 28th, a few months after the release of her new single “lighthouse,” Paris Jackson will return with “just you,” a track that signals Jackson’s departure from wilted‘s contemplative sound and an embracing of ’90s-influenced slacker rock.

Her voice is no longer lithe and shrouded in reverb; it’s now front and center and commanding. She’s also recruited pop-rock connoisseur Butch Walker behind the boards, who helps provide more anthemic hooks and production for Jackson to operate within.

The whole sonic shift echoes many of Jackson’s pop contemporaries who’ve sought similarly nostalgic sounds, but both “lighthouse” and “just you” are statement pieces from the 24-year-old artist. She’s asserting her emotions finding moments to belt and yell and exercise her dynamic, raspy tone. For Jackson, however, she’s less concerned with what her new music evokes and more concerned with physically recreating it live.

Paris Jackson opens up on trying out new music

When she met with Consequence in New York City at the exclusive NoHo social club Zero Bond in late June and she was asked to name some of the other artists that influenced the new music.

Here is what she said:

It depends on which song you’re talking about. “lighthouse” specifically was inspired sonically by Weezer and Marvelous 3. There are some other songs that were inspired by Nirvana, one that’s inspired by Smashing Pumpkins and Soundgarden. One that’s inspired by The Cranberries, it’s all pretty late ’90s, early 2000s. That’s the whole theme of the whole record.

It’s not out yet, but there’s a song called “Band-Aid,” and that’s my favorite one because it’s lyrically untouched. Don’t get me wrong, I love working lyrically with other people, because most of the time, the people that I work with enhance it. But this one is very raw from my heart. That was originally supposed to be a folk song — like folk-y, Beatles-y, Bright Eyes. When I first wrote it, it was supposed to be “We Are Nowhere, and It’s Now” by Bright Eyes and we went fully Interpol, Nirvana. Just super grungy, super screaming. That was really fun to record. I blew up my voice recording that one, and now I perform it on stage and my throat feels it afterward!