Michael Jackson was praised as one of the "smart minds in the world" after fans were sent into a frenzy following the recent and successful release of his musical biopic. As the late icon's biggest hits experienced a major resurgence and fresh interest from a new generation of fans, one took to social media after listening to the 1987 classic, Smooth Criminal. In the lyrics, Michael talks about a woman who has been attacked in her apartment and repeats the iconic question: "Annie, are you okay?"

Almost four decades later, and 16 years after his death, fans have discovered the true reason why Michael repeated the phrase. Taking to X/Twitter with elation, one listener wrote: "I found out the meaning behind 'Annie are you okay' and I must admit Michael Jackson is one of the smartest minds the world has ever seen."

In the comments, the fan attached a clip from Michael's music engineer, Matt Forger, who explained: "She suffered a fate, as is described in the song, she was brutally attacked.

"Annie is the name for, if you take a CPR class, the resuscitation Annie is the mannequin doll that you practice CPR on. At one point, the brothers as a group, the presence of mind was we should give everyone CPR lessons."

He continued: "The principle of giving someone CPR is here. Is someone in distress? The first thing you need to do is evaluate are they breathing, are they conscious, can they respond?

"You go up to your subject, you say 'Annie, Annie, are you okay. Are you okay Annie?' This is how Michael's mind worked. It starts with a hook, that chorus, hook thing, and then he would flesh out a story that would fill in the verses of that song behind it."

Other fans were astounded by the revelation and praised the legendary musician in the comments.

One responded: "Turning a CPR training mannequin’s standard check-in into a global pop culture anthem is peak creative genius."

"It’s wild how something that sounds so simple has layers behind it. The way he could turn real-life references into iconic music moments is honestly genius," commented another listener.

A third was shocked and added: "Wooooow, all this time I was wondering who Annie was, and MJ was talking about a CPR dummy."