There are a lot of concerns about the possibility of extraterrestrial life, both scientific and fun. One people like to ask, for example, is what pieces of culture we would choose to share with alien beings. When it comes to music, Chance The Rapper has declared his answer. On Twitter last night, he shared “the list of songs I will play for the aliens to get them to understand music and humanity,” and every track is by Michael Jackson (or The Jackson 5).
As you asked, I compiled the list of songs I will play for the aliens to get them to understand music and humanity. https://t.co/vLLNzInjor pic.twitter.com/kjyBXF4Nz2
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) November 12, 2020
Chance tweeted out each song title individually, and the list includes “Human Nature,” “You Are Not Alone,” “Remember The Time,” “Dear Michael,” “Never Can Say Goodbye,” “Got To Be There,” “She’s Out Of My Life,” “Will You Be There,” “Stranger In Moscow,” “Man In The Mirror,” “Heal The World,” “Blame It On The Boogie,” “Heaven Can Wait,” “I’ll Be There,” “I Can’t Help It,” “Cry,” “Keep The Faith,” “Lady In My Life,” “Another Part Of Me,” “Earth Song,” and “Music & Me.”
In 2019, Chance cited Jackson as his philanthropic role model, telling Forbes, “The greatest of all time […] most philanthropic musician is Michael Joseph Jackson. I think he donated over $600 million to charities and more afterwards… The only person I can really think of off the top when I think of charity that’s a musician is Michael Jackson. That’s how I’ve always thought about it cause most of the people that I grew up listening to were hip-hop artists and I don’t really remember there being a lot of… ‘Ye gave back to the people, but it was in a very different way. It was always through his music. I can’t really think of anybody else.”
He also noted recently that one thing that scared him at one point in life, among others, was Jackson’s “Thriller.”