Billie Jean
The Andy Warhol Diaries“Billie Jean” appears in the account as the required music for dance tryouts. Everyone had to dance to Michael Jackson’s song, making it part of the audition routine rather than a track chosen for occasional listening.
The Song at the Tryouts
The requirement applied to the group as a whole: all the participants had to dance to “Billie Jean.” The diary does not identify who selected the song or describe the tryout’s other requirements, but it makes clear that the track was repeatedly used during the process.
Repetition and Its Effect
The narrator reports that the group had to hear the song seventy times during the tryouts and describes the experience as sickening. The number conveys how repetition changed the song’s role: instead of functioning simply as dance music, it became an unavoidable sound associated with the demands of the audition.
