The Way You Make Me Feel Lyrics

With Michael Jackson’s passing there is a newfound desire to find meaning from everything thing he has ever written—even the mundane “The Way You Make Me Feel” lyrics have come under intense scrutiny. “The Way You Make Me Feel” was the third singe from 1987's “Bad.” Where songs like “Man in the Mirror,” “Bad” and “Another Part of Me” dealt with complex themes like paranoia, self-empowerment and social conciseness, “The Way You Make Me Feel” is happy pop song about a boy meeting a girl for the first time.

When “The Way You Make Me Feel” was first released, people began to speculate who the song was written for. Michael Jackson’s notorious lack or romantic attachment always seemed to make people wonder if there was someone special these songs were being written for and “The Way You Make Me Feel” wasn’t any different. The truth of the matter is the song was written for his mother after she asked him to write a song with a shuffling beat. The lyrics for the song grew around the beat and the rest is history.

Through the years Michael Jackson had written tons of songs about women, but “The Way You Make Me Feel” is the first video since “Thriller” to feature a love interest. In the video, Jackson sees a young woman walking down the street and is so moved by her beauty that he is moved to woo her through the art of dance. The highlight of the video comes of course when Jackson gets the girl in the end. When the video first aired, rumors swelled about Jackson’s relationship with Tatiana Thumbtzen, who played his love interest in the video. While the details of their relationship—if any existed at all—are shadowy at best, Tatiana Thumbtzen claimed that the pair had an affair but she was fired when it looked as if the relationship may go public on the VH1 special “Michael Jackson's Secret Childhood.”

Despite all the speculation, we have to admit there is no deep, secret meaning behind “The Way You Make Me Feel.” It’s just a simple pop song that tells the tried and true story of boy meets girl with a killer shuffling beat.