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Michael is the first posthumous album credited to Michael Jackson. It was released on December 10, 2010, and produced by several of Michael's longtime collaborators, including Teddy Riley, John McClain, and Neff-U.
Background[]
The works on Michael began and finished all in 2010. All 10 previously unheard songs would be completely reworked during the production. On November 8, "Breaking News" was released as a promotional single; the full album was announced four days later.
Artwork[]
The full painting by Kadir Nelson.
The album cover is an oil painting done by Kadir Nelson. It includes bits and pieces of about every year of Jackson's life, from the Motown days 'til his final. The initial version of the cover originally featured Prince's logo in the bottom right. However, this was removed shortly after the cover's reveal, as the aforementioned singer's entourage disapproved of its use.
Controversies[]
Cascio tracks[]
The album's release stirred controversy due to the perceived unauthenticity of the vocals performed on three tracks written by Eddie Cascio: "Keep Your Head Up", "Monster", and "Breaking News". The claims were made by not only Michael Jackson's fans, but his family members and the personnel behind the album themselves.[1] It's mostly agreed upon that the songs were sung by Italian-American R&B singer, Jason Malachi. In early 2011, on Malachi's Facebook page, a post was up of him confessing he performed on the songs, however it was deleted later on with him once saying this wasn't his page, other time saying his page was hacked and again that it was photoshopped.[2]
In 2014 a bunch of previously unheard songs written by Cascio leaked online. All them were once again very obviously not performed by the King of Pop, including early versions of the three tracks on Michael. Later in the same year, The Michael Jackson Estate was sued by a fan about the songs. In 2017, the original CD with the songs, titled Bible was auctioned through gottahaverockandroll.com. Although they deny the claims until now, it was reported in 2018 that they supposedly admitted to Jason Malachi singing on the tracks. However, Sony's law firm denied this ever having happened.[3]
On June 29, 2022, the three songs were finally pulled from streaming, with the Estate explaining they want to move on from the controversy and that this would be the best option. The Michael album was also rereleased on CD, this time not featuring the "fake songs".[4]
Dave Grohl credits[]
On the track "(I Can't Make It) Another Day", Nirvana's ex-drummer, Dave Grohl, was credited for drums on the song. However, this isn't true. While in Kravitz contacted Dave to ask him to record drums for the song, which he did, he's never been in contact with Kravitz or the estate afterwards, and the version on the Michael album doesn't feature him playing, but Lenny.[5]
Track list[]
| Standard edition | ||
|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
| 1. | "Hold My Hand" (featuring Akon) | 3:32 |
| 2. | "Hollywood Tonight" | 4:30 |
| 3. | "Keep Your Head Up" | 4:49 |
| 4. | "(I Like) The Way You Love Me" | 4:33 |
| 5. | "Monster" (featuring 50 Cent) | 5:04 |
| 6. | "Best of Joy" | 3:02 |
| 7. | "Breaking News" | 4:14 |
| 8. | "(I Can't Make It) Another Day" (featuring Lenny Kravitz) | 3:54 |
| 9. | "Behind the Mask" | 5:01 |
| 10. | "Much Too Soon" | 2:48 |
| Total length: | 41:34 | |
| Reissue | ||
|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length |
| 1. | "Hold My Hand" (featuring Akon) | 3:32 |
| 2. | "Hollywood Tonight" | 4:30 |
| 3. | "(I Like) The Way You Love Me" | 4:33 |
| 4. | "Best of Joy" | 3:02 |
| 5. | "(I Can't Make It) Another Day" (featuring Lenny Kravitz) | 3:54 |
| 6. | "Behind the Mask" | 5:01 |
| 7. | "Much Too Soon" | 2:48 |
| Total length: | 27:24 | |
Singles[]
November 15, 2010
February 11, 2011
February 21, 2011
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
Michael poster
- On the day of the album's release, a 29,070-square-foot (2,701 m2) poster of the Michael album cover art was put up at the Rectory Farm in Middlesex, England, breaking a Guinness World Record for the largest poster in the world.[6]
References[]
- ↑ https://youtu.be/HHZNvmjz614?t=2373
- ↑ https://www.tmz.com/2011/01/16/michael-jackson-jason-malachi-michael-song-album-phony-sony-estate-facebook-post-fraud/
- ↑ https://www.vibe.com/music/music-news/sony-music-admits-to-releasing-fake-michael-jackson-songs-602616/
- ↑ https://www.shopmichaeljackson.com/product/Y4CDMJ006/michael-jackson-michael-cd?cp=100598_101209_101232
- ↑ https://www.nme.com/news/music/foo-fighters-313-1280652
- ↑ http://www.undercover.fm/news/13016-michael-jackson-poster-creates-new-guinness-record