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The Discussion of MJ's Unreleased Tracks

What’s the provenance of that lengthy alleged snippet of Saturday Woman at the start of this video? Or any of the alleged snippets of Saturday Woman, really? Do we even know?
 
Do we know how complete „I Have This Dream“ is? Like did MJ recorded his vocal parts and is the song in the possesion of the Estate?
 
What a mess that production was. I guess it was the same for WMCIG? Bringing all those artists together and then blowing up both projects.

It must have been pretty embarrassing for them.
 
Here’s what I’ve been able to deign about “I Have This Dream” over the years based on my own research. (This doesn’t directly answer the question asked, but I don’t have work today and am bored.)

- MJ started work on a solo demo in April 1999, though its completion is unknown.

- In 2002, MJ co-sponsored a lyric-writing competition for the song. Nashville-based musician Ric Kipp was ultimately crowned as the winner, though Carole Bayer-Sager objected to using any of his material. According to Kipp, MJ failed to show up for any of the scheduled recording sessions, though Foster recorded a demo using his lyrics and a newly-contributed bridge. None of Kipp’s lyrics or music would be retained in any future versions of the song.

- MJ first returned to the song in August 2005, repurposing it as an all-start charity single to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims. While it is unknown if any significant changes were made to the original 1999 material, the song was announced by 2 Seas Records as being titled “From the Bottom of My Heart,” suggesting that the lyrics may have been revised at one point. The title was solidified as “I Have This Dream” by September, but wasn’t publicly acknowledged as such until early 2006.

- John Barnes was flown out in/around September 2005 to contribute keyboards and an orchestral arrangement.

- Between late September and mid-October 2005, MJ made several trips to Metropolis Studios in London to work on the song, oversee the recording of the hired string section, and track his final vocal parts. During the final session, MJ and Sheik Abdullah agreed that MJ’s singing wasn’t up to par and scheduled one additional session to redo his vocals. MJ, however, didn’t show up.

- On 1 November 2005, James Ingram, Ciara, Snoop Dogg, Shirley Caesar, and the O’Jays recorded their vocal parts at a Los Angeles recording studio, with MJ producing over the phone from Bahrain.

- By February 2006, several other contributing artists, including Jermaine Jackson and R. Kelly, had submitted their parts and “I Have This Dream” was nearly finished—save for MJ’s final vocal, which still hadn’t been turned in. Sheik Abdullah continued to praise the song publicly, promising the delay was “the calm before the storm.”

- In mid-April 2006, MJ signed to Bahrain-based startup label 2 Seas Records, through which he would release a new album and—prospectively—the long-awaited “I Have This Dream.” Two months later, he departed Bahrain for the final time and announced his withdrawal from 2 Seas, effectively putting to bed any prospect of the song being released.

- The title “Bottom of My Heart” was reused for a completely separate song in 2007-8.

- On 16 April 2010, a demo of “I Have This Dream” featuring three unidentified vocalists and a full gospel choir leaked online. Despite much skepticism, Damien Shields confirmed the demo was authentic.

- On 1 February 2015, Ric Kipp and independent singer Michael Ricks released a cover of “I Have This Dream” using Kipp’s music and lyrics as a charity single for Ebola relief.
 
AlwaysThere said:
- On 1 November 2005, James Ingram, Ciara, Snoop Dogg, Shirley Caesar, and the O’Jays recorded their vocal parts at a Los Angeles recording studio, with MJ producing over the phone from Bahrain.
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To understand how much MJ’s already tarnished star dimmed between 2002 and 2005, one only has to consider the star wattage of the celebrities he managed to enroll for WMCIG versus IHTD.
 
kreen said:
To understand how much MJ’s already tarnished star dimmed between 2002 and 2005, one only has to consider the star wattage of the celebrities he managed to enroll for WMCIG versus IHTD.
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Ciara was a big deal in 2005, hold on now.
 
Dilan said:
I cant remember who it was but in Damiens podcast Michael Prince asked MJs producer in Bahrain if he recorded any vocals over there and he said no
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That was Michael Prince. He asked John Barnes about MJ’s time in Bahrain, and John never explicitly said no, but implied it. But even then, that may not be accurate because Damien stated that “He Who Makes the Sky Gray” has vocals (though he couldn’t recall their completion).
 
kreen said:
To understand how much MJ’s already tarnished star dimmed between 2002 and 2005, one only has to consider the star wattage of the celebrities he managed to enroll for WMCIG versus IHTD.
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Truth. Snoop Dogg, Ciara, and even R. Kelly make sense given the time period, but the others are questionable at best. I recall an “insider” saying at one point that MJ couldn’t convince any A-listers to sign on because of the trial, which… yeah.
 
AlwaysThere said:
Here’s what I’ve been able to deign about “I Have This Dream” over the years based on my own research. (This doesn’t directly answer the question asked, but I don’t have work today and am bored.)

- MJ started work on a solo demo in April 1999, though its completion is unknown.

- In 2002, MJ co-sponsored a lyric-writing competition for the song. Nashville-based musician Ric Kipp was ultimately crowned as the winner, though Carole Bayer-Sager objected to using any of his material. According to Kipp, MJ failed to show up for any of the scheduled recording sessions, though Foster recorded a demo using his lyrics and a newly-contributed bridge. None of Kipp’s lyrics or music would be retained in any future versions of the song.

- MJ first returned to the song in August 2005, repurposing it as an all-start charity single to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims. While it is unknown if any significant changes were made to the original 1999 material, the song was announced by 2 Seas Records as being titled “From the Bottom of My Heart,” suggesting that the lyrics may have been revised at one point. The title was solidified as “I Have This Dream” by September, but wasn’t publicly acknowledged as such until early 2006.

- John Barnes was flown out in/around September 2005 to contribute keyboards and an orchestral arrangement.

- Between late September and mid-October 2005, MJ made several trips to Metropolis Studios in London to work on the song, oversee the recording of the hired string section, and track his final vocal parts. During the final session, MJ and Sheik Abdullah agreed that MJ’s singing wasn’t up to par and scheduled one additional session to redo his vocals. MJ, however, didn’t show up.

- On 1 November 2005, James Ingram, Ciara, Snoop Dogg, Shirley Caesar, and the O’Jays recorded their vocal parts at a Los Angeles recording studio, with MJ producing over the phone from Bahrain.

- By February 2006, several other contributing artists, including Jermaine Jackson and R. Kelly, had submitted their parts and “I Have This Dream” was nearly finished—save for MJ’s final vocal, which still hadn’t been turned in. Sheik Abdullah continued to praise the song publicly, promising the delay was “the calm before the storm.”

- In mid-April 2006, MJ signed to Bahrain-based startup label 2 Seas Records, through which he would release a new album and—prospectively—the long-awaited “I Have This Dream.” Two months later, he departed Bahrain for the final time and announced his withdrawal from 2 Seas, effectively putting to bed any prospect of the song being released.

- The title “Bottom of My Heart” was reused for a completely separate song in 2007-8.

- On 16 April 2010, a demo of “I Have This Dream” featuring three unidentified vocalists and a full gospel choir leaked online. Despite much skepticism, Damien Shields confirmed the demo was authentic.

- On 1 February 2015, Ric Kipp and independent singer Michael Ricks released a cover of “I Have This Dream” using Kipp’s music and lyrics as a charity single for Ebola relief.
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Great recap! Thanks. Honestly given the demo we have, I don’t love the track. I especially don’t like the featured vocalist on the actual track. If MJ recorded a solo version all the way through (similar to how he recorded WMCIG solo) the song might grow on me, but we’ll have to see. WMCIG is definitely miles better than IHTD imo. He should’ve just tried again to put it out in 2005 as it never got a proper release.
 
Inthestudiowithmj said:
Great recap! Thanks. Honestly given the demo we have, I don’t love the track. I especially don’t like the featured vocalist on the actual track. If MJ recorded a solo version all the way through (similar to how he recorded WMCIG solo) the song might grow on me, but we’ll have to see. WMCIG is definitely miles better than IHTD imo. He should’ve just tried again to put it out in 2005 as it never got a proper release.
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I feel the same. It’s just not well written or produced, in my opinion. It’s all very surface-level, and covers all the bases MJ has already touched on in multiple other, better songs.
 
I couldn't care less about listening to I Have This Dream but I wouldn't mind hearing the other Bahrain tracks, MJ was at his lowest point mentally at that time so I'm interested to see how the trial affected his songwriting, especially considering the songs were made just shortly after the trial happened, barely any time for MJ to start recovering from it whatsoever.

He Who Makes The Sky Gray is the song I want to hear the most, I doubt it's a vocally complete song given MJ's unwillingness to work on music during that time but it's always been one of the titles from the Post-Invincible period that has made me curious the most.
 
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ChanceToDance said:
I couldn't care less about listening to I Have This Dream but I wouldn't mind hearing the other Bahrain tracks, MJ was at his lowest point mentally at that time so I'm interested to see how the trial affected his songwriting, especially considering the songs were made just shortly after the trial happened, barely any time for MJ to start recovering from it whatsoever.

He Who Makes The Sky Gray is the song I want to hear the most, I doubt it's a vocally complete song given MJ's unwillingness to work on music during that time but it's always been one of the titles from the Post-Invincible period that has made me curious the most.
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Weren’t those songs written by the Bahrain prince and not MJ?
 
ChanceToDance said:
He Who Makes The Sky Gray is the song I want to hear the most, I doubt it's a vocally complete song given MJ's unwillingness to work on music during that time but it's always been one of the titles from the Post-Invincible period that has made me curious the most.
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I’m guessing it has at most a mumbled vocal like “in the back.” Probably not even that much. I love MJ’s gospel songs and I would love to hear it & light the way anyway.
 
When I look at the songs from MJ's bedroom papers, some of those songs really excite me, especially now that we have audio snippets/descriptions of a fair few!

Very cool titles.

I really think his next album would have been fantastic.
 
Xeones said:
When I look at the songs from MJ's bedroom papers, some of those songs really excite me, especially now that we have audio snippets/descriptions of a fair few!

Very cool titles.

I really think his next album would have been fantastic.
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But he was planning to work on entirely new material with Ne-Yo and others in the UK for his next album. So, would his next album have comprised of the ongoing songs he was continuously working, entirely new material or a mixture of the two?
 
Keyan Asadi said:
But he was planning to work on entirely new material with Ne-Yo and others in the UK for his next album. So, would his next album have comprised of the ongoing songs he was continuously working, entirely new material or a mixture of the two?
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It's really impossible to tell, especially that early in the process. Songs that seem like big contenders can fall to the wayside rather quickly when another song takes priority.

I do find it interesting that he made lists and was very much thinking about his own music around that time, though.
 
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Keyan Asadi said:
But he was planning to work on entirely new material with Ne-Yo and others in the UK for his next album. So, would his next album have comprised of the ongoing songs he was continuously working, entirely new material or a mixture of the two?
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We will never know, and that's how he'd want it to be, because he was an enigmatic genius.

I joined this forum when I was fifteen, I'm now twenty and have been a fan ever since I could understand what music was, and I appreciate MJ more and more as I get older... I have become fixated on what could have been "next"for 2/3 years now. The whole unreleased aspect of his career has been the most interesting to me for a while!
 
Xeones said:
We will never know, and that's how he'd want it to be, because he was an enigmatic genius.

I joined this forum when I was fifteen, I'm now twenty and have been a fan ever since I could understand what music was, and I appreciate MJ more and more as I get older... I have become fixated on what could have been "next"for 2/3 years now. The whole unreleased aspect of his career has been the most interesting to me for a while!
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I have a question. You're relatively young and I'm wondering how you view the music of today, compared to MJ. What I'm particularly intrigued with is that I think everyone has a certain fondness and nostalgia for music when they were 12-16...do you have that?
 
Ganesh said:
I have a question. You're relatively young and I'm wondering how you view the music of today, compared to MJ. What I'm particularly intrigued with is that I think everyone has a certain fondness and nostalgia for music when they were 12-16...do you have that?
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Yes! I do like a lot of modern artists as well as MJ. For instance, one of my fondest "musical memories" surrounds the release of Kanye's "The Life of Pablo", which came out when I was 12. Very into Chappell Roan at the moment, too.

I also like a lot of rock/metal which came out during my teen years as well. I'm into music from all eras.
 
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