Smooth Criminal

About

"Smooth Criminal" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson from his studio album "Bad". Online, the song has often been parodied, referenced and used in video edits, with several memorable lines from the lyrics also used as snowclones. In early September 2019, edits utilizing the song and a cutout image of Michael Jackson gained significant popularity on Instagram.

Origin

On October 24th, 1988, American pop singer Michael Jackson released "Smooth Criminal" as the seventh single from his seventh studio album "Bad."^[1] The song peaked at number seven position on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and later became recognized as one of Jackson's signature songs.

On October 13th, 1988, before the official release of the single, the music video for the song premiered on MTV. In the video, Jackson and several support dancers perform the "anti-gravity lean," one of Jackson's signature dance moves.

On November 19th, 2010, the music video for the song was uploaded to YouTube, where it gained over 260 million views in nine years. An HD version of the video, uploaded on December 29th, 2011, received over 59 million views in eight years (shown below).

Annie, are you ok?
So, Annie are you ok?
Are you ok, Annie?
You've been hit by
You've been hit by
A smooth criminal.

Alien Ant Farm Cover

On July 24th, 2001, American rock band Alien Ant Farm released a cover version of the song which achieved significant success.^[2] On October 7th, 2009, music video for the song was uploaded to YouTube, where it gained over 170 million views in ten years.

Spread

Online, both the song and the music video have seen extensive meme use, including multiple parodies and references both in memes and in mainstream culture, and memorable lines from the lyrics such as "Annie, are you okay?" and "You've been hit by, you've been struck by, a smooth criminal" used a snowclones.

On February 13th, 2019, Twitter user neuveuron tweeted "You've been hit by, you've been struck by truck," with the tweet gaining over 9,800 retweets and 29,900 likes (original tweet no longer available).^[8][9] A YouTube video based on the tweet, posted by YouTube user shonkywonkydonkey on February 2nd, 2019, gained over 1.4 million views in eight months (shown below).

Use on TikTok

In January 2019, #SmoothCriminal challenge based on the song gained popularity on TikTok. Participants of the challenge performed various signature Michael Jackson dance moves such as moonwalk and crotch grab and timed knocking on the door with the beat of the song.

Use on Instagram

On March 19th, 2019, Instagram user nitro.if posted an edit in which iCarly character Gibby landed on top of Michael Jackson, with the lyrics of the song changed to "You've been hit by Gibby" (shown below, left).^[3] The video gained over 2 million views and 219,000 likes on Instagram in six months. On September 5th, 2019, Instagram user retry.mp4 posted similar edit with Fat Yoshi landing on top of the singer which gained over 80,000 views and 24,100 likes in five days (shown below, right).^[4]

In the following days, multiple edits based on the song and featuring a cutout image of Michael Jackson were posted on Instagram, including notable versions by iwillsteamallthedankmemes,^[5] cursededits4u^[6] and succc.exe.^[7]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References