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Cry or Privacy?

Which one do you prefer?

  • Cry

  • Privacy

Results are only viewable after voting.
I wonder if people dislike Cry so much because R. Kelly wrote it, or if the track actually sucks? I try to stay unbiased about these things. I really love You Are Not Alone, and I can't just erase the magic of Michael's performances or his contribution to the song just because it was written by a monster.

Honestly, it's a good thing R. Kelly only wrote three songs for him. Otherwise, we’d have to hate a huge chunk of Michael’s discography 😂
 
Paul MCC said:
I wonder if people dislike Cry so much because R. Kelly wrote it, or if the track actually sucks? I try to stay unbiased about these things. I really love You Are Not Alone, and I can't just erase the magic of Michael's performances or his contribution to the song just because it was written by a monster.

Honestly, it's a good thing R. Kelly only wrote three songs for him. Otherwise, we’d have to hate a huge chunk of Michael’s discography 😂
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Cry is extremely bland and generic. The title is "Cry" but the song doesn't evoke any "cry" emotion, either through melody or lyrics.

You Are Not Alone does so through both. Even though it's a very simple song


Heal the World and We Are the World are very simple, kinda childlike at times, but they're both very catchy, sweet songs and they convey their core message through melody really efficiently

And Cry is very long winded too. I don't know what that song is about. I think it's about empathy or something.

That all being said, I think I'd rather listen to Privacy. Privacy is just really not memorable at all, it pales in comparison to Leave Me Alone and Tabloid Junkie. Even outside of MJ's catalog, Piece of Me and Rumors are much more interesting
 
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apple🍎 said:
Cry is extremely bland and generic. The title is "Cry" but the song doesn't evoke any "cry" emotion, either through melody or lyrics.

You Are Not Alone does so through both. Even though it's a very simple song


Heal the World and We Are the World are very simple, kinda childlike at times, but they're both very catchy, sweet songs and they convey their core message through melody really efficiently

And Cry is very long winded too. I don't know what that song is about. I think it's about empathy or something.

That all being said, I think I'd rather listen to Privacy. Privacy is just really not memorable at all, it pales in comparison to Leave Me Alone and Tabloid Junkie. Even outside of MJ's catalog, Piece of Me and Rumors are much more interesting
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My main beef with Privacy is that rock sound! Dammit, it’s a rock song, but why does the guitar solo sound so weak? I really wish Slash had actually worked on this track.

To be honest, it didn't even have to be Slash - any decent guitarist who knows how to command attention with their skills would’ve done! Why couldn’t they have brought in Lenny Kravitz? Honestly, why not?
With all due respect to Michael Thompson, I think inviting him to record the solo was a mistake. I don't know, maybe he’s a legend to some people, but man... Compare the solo in Privacy to the one in Beat It - do they have anything in common? I don’t think so. When you bring a guest guitarist onto a track, he has to hook you with a unique riff!

Black or White, Beat It, Dirty Diana - we love those songs not just for Michael’s incredible vocals, but for those catchy guitar melodies. In Privacy, the guitar sound is underwhelming; I’d even say they totally blew it. I wanted more from this song! It could have been so much more


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Paul MCC said:
My main beef with Privacy is that rock sound! Dammit, it’s a rock song, but why does the guitar solo sound so weak? I really wish Slash had actually worked on this track.

To be honest, it didn't even have to be Slash - any decent guitarist who knows how to command attention with their skills would’ve done! Why couldn’t they have brought in Lenny Kravitz? Honestly, why not?
With all due respect to Michael Thompson, I think inviting him to record the solo was a mistake. I don't know, maybe he’s a legend to some people, but man... Compare the solo in Privacy to the one in Beat It - do they have anything in common? I don’t think so. When you bring a guest guitarist onto a track, he has to hook you with a unique riff!

Black or White, Beat It, Dirty Diana - we love those songs not just for Michael’s incredible vocals, but for those catchy guitar melodies. In Privacy, the guitar sound is underwhelming; I’d even say they totally blew it. I wanted more from this song! It could have been so much more


iM5p7yCR98ojMYFGRrEWBDBUMpJZP9TZHv72lWs7ddxeQ6DY96QD2jaBMBxkLPpPXKboDMthb-6EASpFBb66uMOL.jpg
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Yup, there's nothing in Privacy that stands out. Even the guitar riff! I guess that's the meaning of the word bland and generic, but at least it feels more solid a concept and a song. There's a clear concept in the first place. It's a rock song that leans too much into pop, but it's not great at either
 
Cry is weak lyrically and vocally but overall just a very very okay attempt at making another MITM

Privacy is better lyrically than Cry but also feels like the weakest of all his other fame-themed songs + his vocals are...really weird. dont know how else to describe them. the production is just a bit too much at times and if anything the camera sounds get annoying after a while

i know Cry has always been treated like shit within the fandom but i'll choose that song in this case
 
Unpopular opinion, but I actually like the camera shutter sound in Privacy. At first, yeah, it really stands out. But by the end of the song, I personally don't even notice it anymore.

It's a similar story with Heartbreaker. I think it's no secret that Michael borrowed that sound from Ginuwine's Pony. When I first heard Heartbreaker, I was like, "What the heck? Why did he put this awful sound in the song?" But over the years, you stop obsessing over it and just accept it as part of the song.
 
Instead of Cry, he could have released WMCIG Solo, and instead of Privacy, Xscape would have been better.
 
Overtime I’ve found “Cry” to be a decent song. It’s one of those tracks that would be a career highlight for any other artist, but from the guy who gave us “Earth Song” and “Man in the Mirror,” it just feels hollow and half-baked.

“Privacy” is probably my least favorite Jerkins track, but it still absolutely rips from a production standpoint.
 
I'm voting for Cry because the song has a more universal meaning than Privacy, and I like the melody and Michael's vocals.
 
Two of the worst tracks on Invincible. Let's see. Going with "Cry".

Then again, that's composed by R. Kelly, so screw it, going with "Privacy".
 
I found a library with tons of songs converted into 8-bit and 16-bit formats.

For some reason, there's only one Michael Jackson song there, and it's Privacy 😂

Who's the genius who decided to remakе specifically this song? Was it a fan or just a random listener who happened to like Privacy?

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To be fair, I probably like them equally. It depends on my mood as to which one I prefer on the day.

I do agree that they are trying to replicate his earlier work, especially 'Cry'. I am actually surprised MJ did it considering he liked to look forward and not back.
 
"I'm gonna need some kind of sign" - this is my favorite line from the song. Honestly, I love the way the beats and drums are structured in Cry: it’s so smooth and stylish.

I wonder if Michael originally planned for it to be a single? You can hear the sound of wind at the very beginning... and for some reason, it fits the start of the music video they ended up filming in 2001 perfectly. Coincidence?

"Change the World" is definitely the most redundant line in the song. It feels like it was just thrown in there to check a box. Like a really cheap callback to Man In The Mirror
 
I'm not sure if it was planned to be a single when MJ submitted the album to Sony in June 2001. Sony wanted "You Rock My World" as the lead, followed by "Butterflies". I think "Unbreakable" was to be third; MJ wanted it as the lead but agreed to let it be the third single.

But after 9/11, Sony or MJ decided to make "Cry" the second single. After it flopped at radio testing, its release in the US was cancelled.

I've read that "Heaven Can Wait", "Speechless", "Threatened", and "Whatever Happens" were all planned to be singles at some point.
 
Both are songs that I am not a big fan of, but I prefer Cry. I find Privacy very hard to listen to, due to Michael’s vocals and the annoying camera sounds.
 

Why does this sound better than the official album version??? Why?
 
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