Before the world knew his name as an actor, before the trailers broke the internet, before MJ fans everywhere lost their minds watching him moonwalk across a cinema screen, Jaafar Jackson was just a young musician backpacking through Pakistan, eating biryani, and telling university students that this country was nothing like what western media made it out to be.
That was February 2020. And most of us completely missed it.
The Trip Nobody Talked About Enough
Jaafar, the son of Jermaine Jackson and nephew of the King of Pop, landed in Pakistan on what was supposed to be a week-long cultural tour, made possible by his childhood friend Omar Sheikh and British-Pakistani entrepreneur Zeeshaan Shah of the China-Pakistan Investment Corporation. He was 23 at the time, fresh off releasing his debut single Got Me Singing, and still very much building his identity as a musician rather than a cultural phenomenon.
He visited Islamabad first, stopping by NUST and COMSATS to meet students. Then Lahore, where he explored the old city, visited Badshahi Mosque and Lahore Fort, and met the Punjab Governor. Then Karachi, where he interacted with students at the University of Karachi, NED University, and Indus Valley School of Arts.
At every stop, he said the same thing. Pakistan was completely different from how the west portrayed it. The people were warm, generous, full of hope. He was amazed by the hospitality. He said he looked forward to coming back and doing a show.
He also, for the record, loved the biryani. Could not remember what it was called. Just knew it was spicy rice with chicken and that he wanted more of it.
The Artist Nobody Saw Coming
What makes this trip interesting to look back on now is where Jaafar was in his life at that point. He had grown up playing golf, not performing. His father handed him a Jackson 5 song at age 13 and told him to learn it in two weeks. That moment changed everything. He started going to the studio, started taking music seriously, and by 2020 he was quietly building a career as a singer and songwriter.
Nobody was calling him a movie star yet. Nobody was predicting that he would one day carry an entire Hollywood biopic on his shoulders. He was just a young man with a famous last name, trying to find his own voice.
And Then Came Michael
Fast forward to April 2026, and the world looks very different for Jaafar Jackson. The biopic Michael, directed by Antoine Fuqua and released on April 24, has already crossed $217 million at the global box office in its opening weekend, the biggest opening ever for a musical biopic. Jaafar plays his uncle, the King of Pop, in his very first acting role. He had never appeared in a film before this.
The performance has stunned audiences. Variety called it electrostatic, writing that Jaafar nails the look, the voice, the moves, and the mixture of delicacy and steel that defined who Michael was. One Chicago viewer said there were moments where she genuinely thought she was watching MJ on screen. The film follows Michael’s rise from his Jackson 5 days through to the 1988 Bad World Tour, covering his creative breakthroughs, his complicated relationship with his father Joe Jackson played by Colman Domingo, and the relentless pursuit of greatness that defined his life.
Critics have been divided. The film holds a 38% on Rotten Tomatoes but an A- audience score on CinemaScore. Fans are showing up in MJ outfits, crying, dancing, going back for second viewings. If you are a diehard fan, you already know the critics do not always get it.
For those of us who remember that 2020 trip to Pakistan, there is something quietly full-circle about watching Jaafar go from a young musician telling Islamabad students he loved their country, to the man who brought the greatest entertainer of all time back to life on the biggest screens in the world.
He said he wanted to come back to Pakistan and do a show someday. Given where his career is headed now, do not rule it out.
