The Will.i.am tracks [Discussion]

Pink Diamond Princess said:

I have no idea why Will.I.Am always talks about these MJ tracks if he never plans on releasing them.
Maybe because just mentioning MJ's name will bring attention to whatever else he has to say. :mellow:

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Agreed. Either put up, or shut up, Will! Lol.

Does he really bring it up though? I haven't seen mentioning for a while, I feel like it's more when people ask him.. Maybe I'm wrong, I haven't fallowed what he's up to for some time now.

Re: Will.I.Am has unreleased Michael Jackson tracks.

Bubs said:

I don't know what Will has because this is what he said in 2010:

Will added that the songs he worked on with Jackson will never see the light of day. "He kept his vocals and I kept the music," he said. "We had that understanding."

According to that, Will only has music, but not Michael's vocals.

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Yep. Which means that the vocals are probably in the MIJAC vaults (if Michael kept them) and therefore owned by the Estate. There would need to be a Will.i.am/Estate collaboration to finish and release the songs and I don't think that will ever happen. The opinion of the Execs is that there will not be any "new music" released any time soon. I personally don't think there are enough finished vocals left that can be worked into good songs.

Mikky Dee said:

Yeah, I have to agree. His songs stick to a very simple formula and they really don't have the ~Michael magic~, of course.

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You all have to have in mind that these are not classic will.i.am songs. Those are Michael Jackson collaborations. Some songs are co-written by Michael. Michael probably wrote all of the lyrics for them. Michael co-produced them with Will.

That is like saying. I don't like Bill Bottrell production (I used an example, because I don't know any of his music) but his collaborations with Michael are masterpieces. That is the point of collaborating.

Mikky Dee said:

Yeah, I have to agree. His songs stick to a very simple formula and they really don't have the ~Michael magic~, of course. I also think that anything he and Michael worked on together would be FAR from finished and would need a LOT more work to be released today. I would say Will.i.am knows this and he also knows that he can't do the songs any justice without Michael here.

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At least I'm Dreamin must be finished.
He wanted to release it on his album #willpower but the estate didn't allow it.
Wish we get to hear this song one day

From what I have heard, If there is actually any vocals, they are all with the Estate

Will I Am kept the instruments

Re: The Will.I.Am Tracks

I have higher expectations on the will.i.am songs than on the redone tracks
which i also want to hear one day

I would love to get an album of them combined


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Re: The Will.I.Am Tracks

To be honest redone or will tracks probably will never ever get released. Although i hope they prove me wrong.


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The thing is regarding all these newer producers Michael worked with.. Will.i.am, Neff-U, Redone..

Michael approached this differently than he did when he was BECOMING King! These producers would submit songs and Michael would kick them back, tell them what to change etc. So whatever we 'expect' from these producers, it wouldn't be exactly that.. Most artists these producers work with, THEY bring the 'goods' and the artist take what they have to offer.. They are usually the expert..

In Michaels case, Michael was the expert and there was a game of sort for who would make the next MJ album..

Michaels creativity really played a roll in the work he did with them.. Ne-Yo for example submitted 4 songs and he told him he liked 1 song.. kicked it back, and well - in his case I don't think it ever went anywhere. But still, that gives the picture of the world these producers were living in.

Honestly the longer these tracks aren't released the more my own interest in them is fading

I could wait a lifetime (hopefully not though) for Joy, Stop Throwing Your Life Away, Men In Black (complete version)

Since those songs are some of the last songs MJ is known to have worked on I am interested in hearing them. Maybe to see/feel the direction he was heading with new music and what he was working on.

A 50 year old MJ would propably release a little different music than 25 year old MJ. Would be interesting to hear the new direction - if there was one.

SmoothCriminal1995 said:

Honestly the longer these tracks aren't released the more my own interest in them is fading

I could wait a lifetime (hopefully not though) for Joy, Stop Throwing Your Life Away, Men In Black (complete version)

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Yeah me too. I said at the time that IF the MJ Estate were ever going to release the Will I am track it HAD to be the first posthumous album. Reason being that if they were worked on around 2006/2007 then in 2009/2010 they weren't very old. They were going to be the most 'current' sounding songs available by a successful contemporary artist. Any posthumous MJ single release was bound to make the news, but the MJ Estate needed a hit single and a modern sounding song with a modern producer could have done that for them. What we ended up with was 'This Is It' as the lead single. As poignant as it may have been, it was not a hit. Not even nearly. I remember the hype in the UK on morning TV, they live video of guards carrying the new song in a secure case. Radio 1 dedicated time to premiere the new MJ song. This was youth radio giving MJ a chance to shine, possibly even willing MJ to release something great and what did they get??? A song that should have stayed on the oldies station. R1 NEVER played that song again after that day.

Now, I'm not saying that a Will.i.am track would have been a mega hit, BUT if it had at least been passable then it could have got spins and sales would follow. I guess the Estate were aiming for the older market, assuming that only the oldies liked MJ, but evidently they didn't like MJ enough to sell vast quantities - younger people buy and stream more music. We'll never know, but perhaps at that time, when MJ's death was still fresh, maybe they would have pulled through.

Although Will had been around a while with the Black Eyed Peas I didn't know whether Will would have any continued longevity in the industry as a hit maker, but as it turns out, almost 9 years after MJ's death Will's star has long since faded, as has his sound.
If they ever release his tracks now, they will be far less relevant than they would have been in 2010, produced by a less relevant producer than he was in 2010, and in all likelihood the producer's audience has moved on to other things, so who exactly would be the target audience? The MJ hardcore and we care less and less by the day.

TII wasn`t released as a single. You could only buy the album, not the song. Despite of that it was often played on radio-station, same with the TII-vid on TV-stations.

It was premiered worldwide on Jackson's official website on October 12, 2009 four months after his death on June 25, 2009. Although Sony Music Entertainment referred to the song as a "new single" during its promotion, it was later confirmed that the song would only be sent for airplay, and not be available to buy as a single release.
Although Sony did not release the track as a single, it was confirmed that "This Is It" would be released to radio stations for airplay, but that it would not be downloadable. Sony chose to release the song as an album-only track as part of a strategy to encourage fans to buy the entire Album.
Despite being a non-downloadable album track, the song appeared on many charts due to radio play alone.[27] Gary Trust of Billboard acknowledged that without "This Is It" having a digital (distribution) component its chances on making an impact on the Billboard Hot 100 would not be likely


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I am not convinced that there is really worthy stuff from the collabaration with Will.i.am

I think it belongs in this thread and you can say Will-i-am is flip-flopping over the years. Now saying he never would been releasing the songs out of respect for Michael.

In 2013 he said. He wanted to release a song of his Album but did not get permission from the Estate. He speaks about it about 5.20min.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=Fz8RYQQ1T6Y

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Re: The Will.I.Am Tracks

Slave To The Rhythm said:

I have higher expectations on the will.i.am songs than on the redone tracks
which i also want to hear one day

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Really? The RedOne tracks were recorded during his prime when he was producing hits after hits for Lady Gaga and many other artists at the time. I'm sure they sound great. Those are the songs they should've released in 2010, because they would've definitely charted pretty high with RedOne producing.

Re: The Will.I.Am Tracks

Bobi MJ said:

And now in 2020 as I looking back nothing new has happened regarding the will.i.am and MJ's tracks. The only way to hear at least ONE song is if someone leaks it, which this year many unreleased songs and snippets from him were leaked. And Also I don't saw anyone talk about the ''The Future'' Instrumental leak back in 2010 (The original source is removed) but you can hear it on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flHkWrlQCP4&ab_channel=JacksonunreleasedYT]. And also the instrumental of the song "Can You" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br_ZeGzAPZA&ab_channel=JacksonunreleasedYT], which for me sounds only "Can You" sounds fake.

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Personally, I'm not interested at all in leaked snippets of instrumentals.

Mikky Dee;4307165 said:

Personally, I'm not interested at all in leaked snippets of instrumentals.

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There’s no real proof they’re legit either. Unless it’s got vocals we will never know.

I don't have high hopes for the tracks cut with will.i.am at all. They are most likely very modern club tracks and really working with him was no different to working with Rodney jerkins trying to capture a new audience.

Eddlicious;4307164 said:

Really? The RedOne tracks were recorded during his prime when he was producing hits after hits for Lady Gaga and many other artists at the time. I'm sure they sound great. Those are the songs they should've released in 2010, because they would've definitely charted pretty high with RedOne producing.

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If the songs that RedOne worked on with Michael Jackson were really good songs, then at least some of them would have already been released by now.

The fact that all of them still remain unreleased clearly indicates that the Estate did not find them good enough with strong, chart potential.

There is also another thing about these RedOne songs:

Many of them lack Michael Jackson’s full vocals, which means that Michael Jackson himself did not find them good enough in order to fully record his vocals on them.

The same goes for the will.i.am’s songs:

There have been a lot of excuses on the part of both the will.i.am and the Estate (why they still remain unreleased), which suggests that these will.i.am’s songs are also not good enough and their possible release would not be a profitable move for the Estate.

Not nessecarily that he d I don't think they were good enough to record vocals for. The general idea was that he refrained from recording vocals until he was ready to release them as the second they had vocals they became ready to leak and priceless. An instrumental has far less worth.

The plan was to finish vocals in London ready to start releasing singles. Same with the tracks he worked on with Michael Prince

Re: The Will.I.Am Tracks

mj_frenzy said:

The fact that all of them still remain unreleased clearly indicates that the Estate did not find them good enough with strong, chart potential.

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Not sure if I'd trust the Estate's judgement on the quality of the songs. We're talking about the same Estate that released fake songs.

mj_frenzy;4307223 said:

If the songs that RedOne worked on with Michael Jackson were really good songs, then at least some of them would have already been released by now.

The fact that all of them still remain unreleased clearly indicates that the Estate did not find them good enough with strong, chart potential.

There is also another thing about these RedOne songs:

Many of them lack Michael Jackson’s full vocals, which means that Michael Jackson himself did not find them good enough in order to fully record his vocals on them.

The same goes for the will.i.am’s songs:

There have been a lot of excuses on the part of both the will.i.am and the Estate (why they still remain unreleased), which suggests that these will.i.am’s songs are also not good enough and their possible release would not be a profitable move for the Estate.

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Really wish you'd stop saying MJ did or didn't think stuff as if he told you all this stuff, that aside the stuff was probably left unfinished due to the TII concerts being planned and MJ passing. We also know nothing about the state of the songs so I don't know why you're mentioning that.

mj_frenzy;4307223 said:

If the songs that RedOne worked on with Michael Jackson were really good songs, then at least some of them would have already been released by now.

The fact that all of them still remain unreleased clearly indicates that the Estate did not find them good enough with strong, chart potential.

The same goes for the will.i.am’s songs:

There have been a lot of excuses on the part of both the will.i.am and the Estate (why they still remain unreleased), which suggests that these will.i.am’s songs are also not good enough and their possible release would not be a profitable move for the Estate.

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There are plenty of reasons as to why songs may not be released. Sometimes the Estate might not find them profitable; sometimes producers and/or songwriters refuse to authorize them (e.g., Steve Porcaro, will.i.am); sometimes there's pre-existing bad blood that would prevent a potential release from even being considered (e.g., Quincy Jones, the Jacksons); and sometimes copyright holders back out at the last minute (e.g., Cory Rooney in 2010). With your logic, every single song the Estate hasn't released could be considered "not good enough" -- as well as some that they eventually DID release, like "Do You Know Where Your Children Are" and "Slave to the Rhythm," both of which were auditioned and rejected for Michael.

There is also another thing about these RedOne songs:

Many of them lack Michael Jackson’s full vocals, which means that Michael Jackson himself did not find them good enough in order to fully record his vocals on them.

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That's not how Michael recorded vocals.

"Beautiful Girl," "Shut Up and Dance," "Adore You," "Dark Lady/H2O," "Ghost of Another Lover," and "Days in Gloucestershire" all lack full vocals, and they all stayed on his radar until his final days. The same cannot be said for "Loving You," "Monkey Business," "She's Trouble," "Another Day," or "Behind the Mask"; they were forgotten almost immediately after they were recorded, even though they all contain complete vocals.

Nothing in this post is fair or reasonable. It's all ridiculous assumptions, most of which don't make sense.

I had a sense that when Will.I.Am was contacted, the thought was he could be the next Teddy Riley/Rodney Jerkins for a new album. Not all, but most of the album was going to be worked on with Will.I.Am. I thought the work Will did on John Legends album (Once Again) was quite good.

AlwaysThere;4307257 said:

There are plenty of reasons as to why songs may not be released. Sometimes the Estate might not find them profitable; sometimes producers and/or songwriters refuse to authorize them (e.g., Steve Porcaro, will.i.am); sometimes there's pre-existing bad blood that would prevent a potential release from even being considered (e.g., Quincy Jones, the Jacksons); and sometimes copyright holders back out at the last minute (e.g., Cory Rooney in 2010). With your logic, every single song the Estate hasn't released could be considered "not good enough" -- as well as some that they eventually DID release, like "Do You Know Where Your Children Are" and "Slave to the Rhythm," both of which were auditioned and rejected for Michael.

That's not how Michael recorded vocals.

"Beautiful Girl," "Shut Up and Dance," "Adore You," "Dark Lady/H2O," "Ghost of Another Lover," and "Days in Gloucestershire" all lack full vocals, and they all stayed on his radar until his final days. The same cannot be said for "Loving You," "Monkey Business," "She's Trouble," "Another Day," or "Behind the Mask"; they were forgotten almost immediately after they were recorded, even though they all contain complete vocals.

Nothing in this post is fair or reasonable. It's all ridiculous assumptions, most of which don't make sense.

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Moderators, please delete my two above double posts.

These five songs that you mentioned (‘Loving You’, ‘Monkey Business’, ‘She's Trouble’, ‘Another Day’, ‘Behind The Mask&#8217 were not forgotten almost immediately after they were recorded, even though they all contain complete vocals.

Michael Jackson found these songs good enough (that is why he fully recorded his vocals on them), but he shelved them for other reasons.

For example, he did want to release ‘Behind The Mask’, but song-writers’ copyright issues did not let that happen.

‘Monkey Business’ was a song that again he found it good enough, but this song simply did not fit the theme of his ‘Dangerous’ album.

‘Another Day’ was also another song that he found it good enough, but this song simply did not again fit the theme of his ‘Invincible’ album.

Note here what Bruce Swedien said about that matter: many songs that Michael Jackson found good enough and thus he recorded his complete vocals on them, they did not make a certain studio album as long as these songs did not fit the cohesion and the overall drama of the album.

Also, Michael Jackson kept changing his producers and songwriters in his final years (will.i.am, Neff-U, RedOne, Ne-Yo, etc) very easily because he was not satisfied with the songs (that these people were submitting to him) in order to fully record his vocals on them.

mj_frenzy;4307798 said:

These songs (‘Loving You’, ‘Monkey Business’, ‘She's Trouble’, ‘Another Day’, ‘Behind The Mask&#8217 were not forgotten almost immediately after they were recorded, even though they all contain complete vocals.

Michael Jackson found these songs good enough (that is why he fully recorded his vocals on them), but he shelved them for other reasons.

For example, he did want to release ‘Behind The Mask’, but song-writers’ copyright issues did not let that happen.

‘Monkey Business’ was a song that again he found it good enough, but this song simply did not fit the theme of his ‘Dangerous’ album.

‘Another Day’ was also another song that he found it good enough, but this song simply did not again fit the theme of his ‘Invincible’ album.

Note here what Bruce Swedien said about that matter: many songs that Michael Jackson found good enough and thus he recorded his complete vocals on them, they did not make a certain studio as long as they did not fit the cohesion and the overall drama of the album.

Also, Michael Jackson kept changing producers and songwriters in his final years (will.i.am, Neff-U, RedOne, Ne-Yo, etc) very easily because he was not satisfied with the songs (that these people were submitting to him) in order to fully record his vocals on them.

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It's common knowledge that Michael recorded vocals on his own terms, which varied from track to track. At least a third of the HIStory album was recorded in the final three months, even though several songs had been bookmarked for inclusion. "Slave to the Rhythm" was recorded 24 times top to bottom and was given about three weeks of attention before it was permanently shelved. "Hollywood Tonight" stayed by Michael's side for a decade with a half-finished vocal. "Best of Joy" was given at least three different lead vocals over a 26-year period.

Michael Prince noted that, in his later years, Michael was very slow to record lead vocals, especially after "Hold My Hand" leaked. He would only lay down a finished vocal when he felt the song was ready, not whether or not he felt it was "good enough."

mj_frenzy;4307800 said:

Moderators, please delete my two above double posts.

These five songs that you mentioned (‘Loving You’, ‘Monkey Business’, ‘She's Trouble’, ‘Another Day’, ‘Behind The Mask’) were not forgotten almost immediately after they were recorded, even though they all contain complete vocals.

Michael Jackson found these songs good enough (that is why he fully recorded his vocals on them), but he shelved them for other reasons.

For example, he did want to release ‘Behind The Mask’, but song-writers’ copyright issues did not let that happen.

‘Monkey Business’ was a song that again he found it good enough, but this song simply did not fit the theme of his ‘Dangerous’ album.

‘Another Day’ was also another song that he found it good enough, but this song simply did not again fit the theme of his ‘Invincible’ album.

Note here what Bruce Swedien said about that matter: many songs that Michael Jackson found good enough and thus he recorded his complete vocals on them, they did not make a certain studio album as long as these songs did not fit the cohesion and the overall drama of the album.

Also, Michael Jackson kept changing his producers and songwriters in his final years (will.i.am, Neff-U, RedOne, Ne-Yo, etc) very easily because he was not satisfied with the songs (that these people were submitting to him) in order to fully record his vocals on them.

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Everytime I read a quote from Bruce, i hear him narrating it in my head very very slow!

Not to derail the topic but I doubt Behind The Mask was in serious consideration for the Thriller album. First off, it never would've fit on the album. They had to condense the album as it was and what are you leaving off? Baby Be Mine? Second, you mean to tell me if they REALLY wanted that song on the album, they didn't have the money to make it happen?

Derek1984 said:

Second, you mean to tell me if they REALLY wanted that song on the album, they didn't have the money to make it happen?

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It wasn't about the money directly. It was about songwriting credits. The guy from Yellow Magic Orchestra wanted more share of the royalties and MJ and his management wanted 50-50 equal split which I think was fair share.