Why a millennial-era Michael Jackson song struck a chord with India's Gen Z protesters

Beat me, hate me, you could never break me. Will me, thrill me, you can never kill me... All I wanna say is that they don't really care about us.

Three decades after Michael Jackson released They Don't Care About Us, the song has unexpectedly become one of the defining soundtracks of India's biggest student protests of 2026.

As demonstrations over alleged examination irregularities spread across the country, videos shared on Instagram Reels and WhatsApp Status repeatedly featured the song's raging verses. Users paired Jackson's lyrics with visuals of police action, street confrontations and students demanding accountability, before the track built towards its famous chorus declaring that those in power "don't really care about us".

When the protests ended on Saturday after the Centre accepted key student demands and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned, the movement left behind more than political developments. It also revived a protest anthem first released in the CD era, introducing it to a generation that discovered it through social media rather than record stores.

Why the song resonated

For many of the students appearing in these videos or sharing them online, They Don't Care About Us predates their birth by several years. Yet its themes of injustice, frustration and institutional failure closely mirrored the concerns driving their campaign over alleged paper leaks, examination reforms and accountability.

That connection explains why the song became a recurring soundtrack across protest videos. Time and again, users selected Jackson's rapid-fire opening verses to accompany scenes of demonstrations, police confrontations and growing public anger.

Its resurgence in India is also part of a much longer history. Long before it featured in the 2026 protests, the track had established itself as one of the world's most recognisable protest anthems.

A global protest anthem

Since its release, They Don't Care About Us has repeatedly resurfaced during moments of public unrest. It has been played at demonstrations against police brutality, racial discrimination and state repression in several countries.

The song gained renewed prominence during the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States following George Floyd's death in 2020. It also featured in anti-government protests in Brazil and Hong Kong, and has continued to reappear whenever demonstrators sought an anthem expressing anger over injustice and the abuse of power.

That enduring appeal traces back to the song's original purpose. Jackson wrote it as a statement against discrimination, injustice and the misuse of authority, giving it a message that has remained relevant across different countries and generations.

The controversy that followed

Released in 1996 as part of Michael Jackson's HIStory album, They Don't Care About Us was intended as a protest against discrimination, injustice and the abuse of power. However, the song soon attracted controversy after one verse contained offensive references that Jewish organisations considered antisemitic.

Jackson consistently denied harbouring antisemitic views. He said the lyrics were meant to reflect the language used against oppressed people rather than endorse it. As criticism intensified, he eventually agreed to re-record the disputed lines for later versions of the song.

According to former Epic Records executive Dan Beck, who worked with Jackson during the HIStory era, the decision came only after extensive discussions with record executives and advisers, who argued that the wording was causing genuine hurt regardless of its intended meaning.

The revised version replaced the controversial words. Even so, the episode remains one of the most debated moments in Jackson's musical career, while the song itself continues to find new meaning whenever public anger spills onto the streets.