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Smooth Criminal
Lead vocals: Man
Taal: Engels
Smooth Criminal is een nummer van het album Bad van Michael Jackson uit 1987. Het nummer werd in november 1988 op single uitgebracht.
Tussen de snelle beats door zingt Jackson over Annie, een vrouw die werd aangevallen in haar appartement door een inbreker. Het refrein "Annie, are you OK?" werd geïnspireerd door Resusci Anne, een dummy. Resusci Anne is een oefenpop die wordt gebruikt bij reanimatietraining in Engelssprekende landen. Tijdens de opname van het album Bad volgde Michael Jackson een reanimatieklas en hij besloot om een verwijzing te verwerken in een van de nummers.
"Smooth Criminal" is a song by the American singer Michael Jackson, released on November 14, 1988, from his seventh studio album, Bad (1987). It was written by Jackson and produced by Jackson and Quincy Jones. The lyrics describe a woman who has been attacked in her apartment by a "smooth criminal".
The music video for "Smooth Criminal", which premiered internationally on MTV on October 13, 1988, is the centerpiece of the 1988 film Moonwalker. The 1930s setting and Jackson's white suit and fedora pay tribute to the Fred Astaire musical comedy film The Band Wagon. In the video, Jackson and the dancers perform an apparently physically impossible "anti-gravity lean".
"Smooth Criminal" reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the sixth top-10 single from Bad. It reached number two on the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart. It was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It reached number one in Belgium, Iceland, the Netherlands, and Spain.
Retrospective reviews have praised "Smooth Criminal" as a standout track on Bad and one of Jackson's best songs. Rolling Stone wrote that it was "his best blend of R&B groove and rock edginess, and a turning point in his shift toward darker, harder-edged material". It has appeared on numerous greatest hits albums and was performed on all of Jackson's solo tours. "Smooth Criminal" was re-released in 2006 as a single as a part of Jackson's Visionary: The Video Singles boxset. In 2001, a version by Alien Ant Farm became an international hit.