Finish the lyric: 'Billie Jean is not my...'

The lyric “Billie Jean is not my...” ends with “lover.” It is the central denial in Michael Jackson’s 1982 hit “Billie Jean.”

The song appeared on Jackson’s album Thriller and was released as a single in 1983. Jackson wrote and composed it, with Quincy Jones producing the recording. Its story concerns a woman who claims that the singer is the father of her son, while he rejects both the romantic and parental implication. That narrative gives the repeated line its dramatic force.

The song is sometimes confused with the real-life tennis player Billie Jean King, but Jackson’s lyrics do not refer to her. Jackson later said the song drew partly on encounters with fans, while the character itself is fictionalized. “Billie Jean” became one of his signature recordings, helped establish the visual importance of MTV, and won two Grammy Awards at the 26th ceremony in 1984.