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The Discussion of MJ's Unreleased Tracks

AlwaysThere said:
Yeah, I’m very surprised at how generally upbeat it sounds given the lyrics. I’m growing to love it the more I listen to it though.

Honestly, in the absence of a finished version, I’d love to hear a version with some flamenco guitars during the verses. It has a Spanish flavor to it.
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It reminds me of Prince's acoustic album "The Truth"

Very similar sort of sonic landscape actually.
 
Do you think some of these unreleased songs will die with the collectors? Never to be heard again.
 
AlwaysThere said:
Yeah, I’m very surprised at how generally upbeat it sounds given the lyrics. I’m growing to love it the more I listen to it though.

Honestly, in the absence of a finished version, I’d love to hear a version with some flamenco guitars during the verses. It has a Spanish flavor to it.
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I really like “Innocent Man” as well. The arrangement reminds me of "Stranger in Moscow," and the background vocals have a similar layering to "Family Thing." While the song is upbeat, it also carries a somber and serious undertone. I wouldn't describe it as uplifting compared to something like "Beautiful Girl," for example.
 
AlwaysThere said:
Yeah, I’m very surprised at how generally upbeat it sounds given the lyrics. I’m growing to love it the more I listen to it though.

Honestly, in the absence of a finished version, I’d love to hear a version with some flamenco guitars during the verses. It has a Spanish flavor to it.
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Genuinely love that idea. Get MP to come in and do up some guitars for it or something.
 
Beano Wild said:
Genuinely love that idea. Get MP to come in and do up some guitars for it or something.
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Hey Beano, since Streetwalker 87 is basically confirmed to be real, is a remastering of it on the cards in the near future?
 
ChanceToDance said:
"Dead Or Alive" and "Brighter Day" are fake titles, there are no MJ songs with those names. What the hell is Dead Or Alive supposed to be though lol, is that a writer's demo? A leak from another singer?
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the filename was "DEAD_OR_ALIVE_2004_MJ_DUET" and iirc lord jackson posted/reposted it
 
DarkEccentric said:
Found a longer snippet of Innocent Man, not sure if it’s been sent here but just in case…
It seems to align with Damien’s claim of having music for a minute before the vocals kick in
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has the udio AI sound + new channel with one upload
 
ik these are 3 second snippets but

Dark Lady - if finished it would've been a certified 2000s MJ banger, definitely the one I wanna hear the most
Innocent Man - i didn't expect it to be upbeat, nice little track, rare to get a completely new song in HQ from the get-go lol
Rocker - the vocals on the snippet sound nice, the beat doesn't sit right with me though
Remember What I Told You - very prettyy, another one I really wanna hear
Adore You - for mostly an instrumental I'd say it's pretty good, the choir is cool af but otherwise it's not one I'd go back to as much
Changes - basically the same thing as with Adore You lol
 
Innocent Man is the one that's surprised me most, given the handwritten lyrics, I was fully expecting a SPYHO/Don't Walk Away vibe. It feels more like Deep In The Night meets Beautiful Girl with a more serious tone. I love it

One thing these snippets confirm to me is Mike's own demos were far more interesting than outside writer ones. I just wish he stood firm and finished some of these ideas, rather than seeker outside writers
 
Okay, review time:

Rocker — The fact that it was recorded in a bathroom just makes me want to hear the HQ version even more. I can only imagine the natural reverb and how the vocals sounds. It really shows (even though everyone already knows) how obsessed MJ was with acoustics, how his voice could sound better and better through different recording and mixing techniques. He never stopped experimenting.

It's a dance-pop track that leans almost gospel in tone. The title feels more like a placeholder, especially since, as Damien said, it doesn't really reflect the lyrics. You could stretch it and say it refers to the groove or the energy.

Maybe it's just the novelty factor that adds to it, but to me, even in the short snippet we have, it already shows way more potential than weaker humanitarian tracks like "What More Can I Give", "Cry", or "I Have This Dream". This one feels like a stronger anthem, probably on par with "We've Had Enough".

For the state it was left in, it's a 10/10.

Remember What I Told You — So sweet and pure. I've always had a soft spot for his softer timbre songs.

It's hard to form a full opinion based on such a short snippet, but it definitely gives me "Speechless" vibes. And given how brief it is, the comparison makes sense, a track like this today would probably be labeled an interlude. I'm really curious about what kind of plan Mike had for it.

Was it meant as an interlude on his next studio album? Or maybe something he'd perform between high energy songs to bring the mood down for a moment on the This Is It tour? Either way, it would've been a beautiful touch. There's not much else to say, except that vocally, it already sounds lovely. Sure, the quality is low, and it's too short to fully grasp how his voice was just two weeks before his passing, but I'm just happy we finally get to hear how Michael sounded during that time.

He was under immense physical and psychological pressure during the rehearsals for TII, and yet he was still thinking about creating. I'm sure the full version is a beautiful epilogue, it needs to be included in the end credits of the biopic.

Dark Lady — Here we go, another femme fatale MJ track! The man just couldn't resist singing about manipulative, dangerous women... but this one totally caught me off guard. I was expecting something darker and moodier, more along the lines of the Cascio track "Black Widow", but I love what we got instead.

This is another one I'm dying to hear in full. It already has a rough vocal take, not just a looped chorus, and in the full version there are even classic MJ ad-libs sprinkled in. That alone sets it apart from so many other unfinished demos.

It sounds like something pulled from a Timbaland or Neptunes album, experimental hip-pop at its best. What more could you ask for? It's unique, fresh, and you can hear MJ trying to bend that sound into something of his own. He hadn't really touched this kind of style before, and it shows how much he was still evolving.

Just imagine if he had brought in "Year of the Gentleman"-era Ne-Yo to work on this with him… certified banger.

Innocent Man – Eh, not really my thing. It's cute, I guess, but if that's all there is vocally, I can't say I'm all that interested.

I wasn't expecting It to sound like that, but this time it didn't really impress me. "Dark Lady" actually blew me away instead. It's like if "Someone Put Your Hand Out (Demo)" and the final version had a baby. It's otherworldly, like accidentally finding yourself in heaven and feeling confused af because there's this man singing super fast in a crowded way, and you can't really understand what he's saying, lol

I was expecting a touching ballad, but I have to say one cool thing about these unreleased tracks is how they rarely meet your expectation. You never really know what you're gonna get, and that's the exciting part for me.
 
AlwaysThere said:
I’m thinking the 6/15/2009 bit might have been additional vocals and/or the final mix done in MJ’s life. The person who shared it with me has been spot on so I have no reason to doubt them!

Nevertheless, extraordinary tune.
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Yeah I remember a story bit specifically about MJ having a lil makeshift studio outside the stadium to record in.
 
Scared of the Moon said:
So in total we heard 15 out of the 32 songs:
-Hollywood Tonight
-Shut up and Dance(supposedly on of the the Korgnex snippets)
-Adore You
-Beautiful Girl
-MJ Barry Gibb song / All in Your Name
-Scared of the Moon
-Ghost of Another Lover
-Gloucestershire
-Throwing You Life Away
-The Loser
-Best of Joy
-Dark Lady
-Bottom of My Heart
-Hold My Hand
-Remember What I Told You
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He was working on more songs than what can be seen on that photo.

Michael should have waited with TII and instead finished the album first.😥
 
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