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Anime fans would remember that some form of homage, in acknowledgement of Michael Jackson’s work had been featured on a certain series, back in the 1980s. Such is the power of the King of Pop, whose songs sounded and still sounds spectacular in English (there’s one version in Spanish, if you dive deeper during his rehearsals for This is It).

So, of course, in recognition of Michael Jackson’s status, and riding the cultural wave that has been reignited thanks to the 2026 ‘Michael’ biopic, an Instagram content creator, who’s based in the US, but has Japanese roots, it’s only logical and most natural for her to promote Japanese culture. And one such way is to have translated covers from the original English (language) to Japanese.

Bearing the Instagram handle amandumb1 on Instagram, she released the Japanese cover, through a video reel with her face and voice, having a duration of about a minute. Throughout the short video (also crossposted on YouTube under ‘Shorts”), you can taste refinement, a characteristic of the Japanese and the Japanese language. However, in tandem with the gangster scene, as seen through Michael Jackson’s own official music video, shot during his career, she also builds suspense through her voice, creating that want where fans want more (than the short version).

In response to requests by fans in the comments section, Amandumb1 released a longer cover version worth two minutes plus, containing the addictive verse “You’ve been hit by a smooth criminal”. It would be a crime not to acknowledge her effort.

Amandumb1 has been posting (and perhaps crossposting) cover versions of different songs on her social media channels, including TikTok.

A Michael Jackson original, he intended for the song to be the most basic as possible, even if critics found the lyrics too simplistic.

The song is simply unforgettable for containing the dance routine in its music video, which includes the “anti-gravity lean”, thanks to anchors on the floor, which dancers’ shoes locked into. Michael Jackson himself was inspired by Fred Astaire’s previous work, which helped in the making of the song and the music video. Jackson himself was also inspired by a Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) certification course which he had taken, and thus helped form the basis of the hook “Annie, are you okay?” The training mannequin used for the course is widely known as “Resusci Anne”, and trainees are taught to ask “Annie, are you okay?” to check for a response from the unconscious. 

The gangster speakeasy scene came up after the initial concept of a Western musical did not translate well to give the desired effect.

The original “Smooth Criminal” was a chart-topper in European countries like Spain, Belgium and Netherlands.

In the original, there’s Michael Jackson’s fast-thumping heart and heavy breathing incorporated, thanks to the Holophonics system, a system in which the human auditory system acts as an interferometer. The sound characteristics of the Holophonics system are most clearly heard through headphones.

As a tribute to Michael Jackson, amandumb1 inserted her own “Ow!” towards the end of the two-minute plus video on YouTube.

To date, amandumb1 has garnered 19.6K views, through her Instagram reel alone, posted five days ago.