Bad Album Michael Jackson Songs

[Gaetane Eary]

Michaelis the first posthumous album by American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson. It was released on December 10, 2010, by Epic Records and Sony Music Entertainment. Michael is the first release of all-new Michael Jackson material since Invincible in 2001 and the seventh overall release since Jackson's death in 2009. The album was produced by Theron "Neff-U" Feemster, John McClain, Giorgio Tuinfort, Teddy Riley, and Brad Buxer, among others, and features guest performances by Akon and Lenny Kravitz.

Michael debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 albums chart and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the United States. It produced four singles: "Hold My Hand", "Hollywood Tonight", "Behind the Mask", and "(I Like) The Way You Love Me", accompanied by music videos. "Hold My Hand" was a Billboard Hot 100 top 40 hit and has been certified Gold in the US.

Announced on November 12, 2010, Michael initially featured 10 tracks.[2] "Breaking News" was the first song from the album to be released and was available for radio airplay. According to Sony, the song was recorded in the home studio of Jackson family friend Eddie Cascio in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey in autumn 2007 and had been "recently brought to completion."[3][2][4]

In the years prior to his death, Jackson was reported to be working with contemporary hitmakers such as singer-songwriter Akon and producer RedOne.[5] The first official single from Michael, "Hold My Hand", was a duet with Akon recorded in late December 2007 at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.[6] Co-writer Claude Kelly told HitQuarters that it was the song's theme of friendship and togetherness that had struck a chord with Jackson.[7] A handwritten note from Michael belonging to his Estate indicated his desire that "Hold My Hand" be the first single on his next project. However, in its unfinished state, the song leaked on June 30, 2008.[8] Before the release, Akon stated that the final version would have more of Jackson's vocals. The song was released globally on Monday, November 15 at 12:01 am EST.[9][10]

Prior to the album's release, a lawyer for Jackson's father Joe stated that Jackson was a perfectionist and "would never have wanted his unfinished material to be released".[11] Jackson collaborator will.i.am said it was "disrespectful" to release the material, as Jackson was not able to approve it.[12]

Musically, Michael contains a mixture of styles, including R&B, pop, rock, dance, hip hop, funk and gospel.[13][14][15][16][17][18] Thematically, the album features "inspirational, uplifting anthems" and "melodic, sweetly sung ballads" alongside more pointed songs levelling criticism at the news media, Hollywood and society in general.[19] Jackson wrote or co-wrote five of the seven tracks.[16]

The majority of the songs on the album were written and recorded during the Invincible (2001) era and onwards to the This Is It (2009) era. The album also contains two songs that were written during the Thriller (1982) era: "Behind the Mask"[20] and "Much Too Soon".[21] The latter features Australian musician Tommy Emmanuel on guitar.[22] The song "(I Like) The Way You Love Me" previously appeared on The Ultimate Collection (2004) as an unreleased track, under the title "The Way You Love Me", but was re-arranged for Michael with additional vocals.[23] The song "Best of Joy" is one of the last that Jackson recorded during his lifetime and was rewritten and recorded by him in November 2008 at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, California, the year prior to his death.[17][24][25]

The album cover artwork, a 2009 commissioned oil painting by African American artist Kadir Nelson, features two putti (one black, one white) placing a crown on Jackson's head against a mural depicting the images of the singer at different stages in his career.[3] Nelson said that Jackson approached him several years ago to create a project detailing his life and career. The project stalled but was revived in 2009 by one of the estate's executors, John McClain,[5] who had worked with Michael's sister Janet during her time at A&M. "Michael wears a golden suit of armor and stares at the viewer as he is crowned by cupids," Nelson said. "He places his hand over his heart and looks directly at the viewer, a symbol of Jackson's big heart and strong connection to his fans and music. A monarch butterfly sits on his shoulder, another symbol of Jackson's metamorphosis as a singer and entertainer, as well as a symbol of royalty. His musical history unfolds behind him."[5][26] The original Sony publicity release of the album cover featured the Prince symbol in a bubble next to the tiger's head, which sparked discussion on the internet as to whether Prince was involved with any of the new songs. The official response from Prince's camp was "No permission was granted", and the symbol was subsequently removed from the cover on all official Sony websites.[27]

"Breaking News" was the first song from the album to be unveiled. On November 5, 2010, a video teaser for the song was released on Jackson's official website. It opens with a montage of various television journalists reporting breaking news about Jackson, followed by the musical introduction of a song.[28] The montage refers to the tabloid stories and legal troubles that plagued Jackson in the years leading up to his death.[29] On November 8, the full length version of the song was released,[30] and made available on MichaelJackson.com for one week.[3] The premiere of the song launched the public controversy about the authenticity of the vocals that plagued the album all the way through its promo campaign and ultimately resulted in lower than projected sales.[31][32] The rumored single of another controversial Cascio song, "Monster", was subsequently cancelled.

The album's first single, "Hold My Hand", was released on November 15.[9][3] The filming of the official video began on Saturday, November 20, in Tustin, California. A casting call was posted on Jackson's official website, stating that the filmmakers were "looking for his fans of all ages who want to be a part of this iconic event."[33] On November 30, the final version of "Much Too Soon" was unveiled, and it was announced that the song would be streaming on iTunes Ping for one week.[34] On December 3, talk show host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres premiered the song "Hollywood Tonight" on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.[35] On December 6, talk show host Oprah Winfrey premiered "Keep Your Head Up" and "Monster" on The Oprah Winfrey Show.[36] On December 7, the final version of "(I Can't Make It) Another Day" was unveiled on iTunes Ping for one week.[37]

On December 8, the entire Michael album was released on Jackson's official website for preview.[38] On Friday, December 10, a 29,070-square-foot (2,701 m2) poster depicting the Michael album artwork was erected at the Rectory Farm in Middlesex, which broke a Guinness world record for the largest poster in the world, making it Jackson's fourth entry in Guinness World Records and the first record he broke posthumously. The poster, made of PVC and weighing one ton, took engineers three hours to install and was located less than 3,000 meters from one of Heathrow airport's main runways, making it viewable by all planes arriving and departing. The poster stayed at that location until December 23, after which it traveled via sea-container into continental Europe, where it was toured and displayed.[39] Sony Music had a listening party for the album at Roseland Ballroom on December 13.

"Hollywood Tonight" was the album's second official single,[40] released in Italy on February 11, 2011[41] and in Poland on February 14.[42] The third single, "Behind the Mask", was released in France on February 21.[43] The fourth and final single, "(I Like) The Way You Love Me", was released as a digital single in South Korea on January 18 and was formally released to Italian[44] and Chinese[45] radio stations in July 2011.

The authenticity of the vocals on the tracks "Breaking News", "Keep Your Head Up", and "Monster" is disputed.[46] The tracks, along with nine other unreleased songs leaked online, which are "Stay", "All Right" (aka "Everything's Just Fine"), "Black Widow", "Burn Tonight", "All I Need", "Water", "Fall in Love", "Ready 2 Win", and "Soldier Boy", are known as the Cascio tracks.[47] They are attributed to Jackson, Eddie Cascio and James Porte and were allegedly recorded in the Cascios' basement in 2007, according to the documentary detailing the making of the album.[48][49] "Stay", "All I Need", and "Burn Tonight", were at one point considered for the album and mixed by Teddy Riley in 2010.[47] Doubts over whether the vocals were by Jackson have been raised by his mother Katherine Jackson, his children Prince and Paris,[50] his sister La Toya,[51] his nephews T.J., Taj, and Taryll,[52] music producer will.i.am,[53] and fans.[54] Jackson's brother Randy Jackson claimed that family members were not allowed at his studio where the album was being completed.[55] According to Randy, when producer Teddy Riley played him some of the tracks, "I immediately said it wasn't his voice".[55]

Before the premiere of "Breaking News", Sony Music Group stated it had "complete confidence in the results of our extensive research, as well as the accounts of those who were in the studio with Michael, that the vocals on the new album are his own".[56] Producer Riley, Frank DiLeo and Jackson's estate defended Sony's claims that the song is authentic.[57] On December 6, 2010, the Cascio family appeared on Oprah, where Eddie Cascio insisted the songs were sung by Jackson, and showed the studio where he had allegedly recorded the songs. Riley, who had worked on "Monster" and "Breaking News", said that the confusion had come about as a product of processing Jackson's vocals using software such as Melodyne.[58] In September 2013, almost three years after the album release, Riley wrote on Twitter that his participation in the project had been "set up".[59][better source needed]

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