Prince Jackson posed in the press room at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas. Image: AP/Invision/Richard Shotwell
Prince Jackson — the eldest among the three children of the late Michael Jackson — spoke up about Harry Styles being labeled as the “new King of Pop,” and stated that he believes the title should be reserved only for his dad.
Rolling Stone UK magazine earlier addressed Styles as the “new King of Pop” in its October and November issue, a moniker that did not sit well with Prince.
Our October / November cover star is @Harry_Styles ✨
How does he make all of it look so easy — even when it definitely isn’t?
Read the interview and see the cover shoot: https://t.co/5guRhvgLrn pic.twitter.com/nVUoUAgGCZ
— Rolling Stone UK (@RollingStoneUK) August 22, 2022
Prince stressed that while he commends the British singer’s talent, Styles and Michael underwent different circumstances to achieve their standing in the entertainment industry. Prince said this in an exclusive interview with Entertainment Tonight on Sunday, Oct. 30.
“There’s so many technological, social factors that I think went into the earning of the title ‘King of Pop,'” Prince said. “I don’t see it as a slight to anybody else’s career because they’ve had their own length of achievements, but the ‘King of Pop’ is a unique achievement, because he broke boundaries in countries that didn’t have the same infrastructure that they do now.”
“He was popular on a global basis — at one point the most famous person in the world. And for all these reasons, and his music, the ‘King of Pop’ is a title that I just don’t think could ever be taken,” he added.
In a separate interview in “Good Morning Britain,” Prince maintained that Michael “will always be the King of Pop” and that the adversities he faced were not the same as those experienced by artists of this generation.
“Harry Styles is an incredible artist. He’s got his own genre and he’s definitely an amazing artist,” Prince stated. “But the ‘King of Pop’ was a moniker that really my dad earned in a time that the access to information and the access to popularity and fame wasn’t as easily accessible as it is today.”
“So when you look at from where my father started to where he ended, versus where all these other people started to where they ended, it’s just night and day of a difference,” he continued.
Aside from Prince, Michael has two other children: Paris and Prince Michael Jackson, who is known by the nickname Blanket. EDV