Can MJs vocals fit any style or does the style need to fit him?

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

I'll use two Anka tracks for an example.

Love Never Felt So Good, an intimate, simple piano ballad. In both of its modern incarnations, it is refreshingly nostalgic, airy, and playful even, with lots of garishes that are throwbackish while still retaining a modern sheen. It approaches a naturalness that is hard to argue, Timberlake cameo notwithstanding.

Meanwhile, Don't Matter To Me is pretty much in the opposite direction, cameo entirely in full view. MJ functions as an add on to another's song. And it barely works, really because of MJ just being him. But it's ill-advised. You'd think with a hip hop mogul, you'd spring for a far more aggressive sound from both parties (in one case by sampling a different unreleased song) but they decide to keep it light. Consequently you have what is described as a down-tempo, moody Liberian Girl, a sort of haunting moody tune that's less summer vacation day at the beach and more rainy vacation night at the resort cabana.

So while I know where the tastes are gonna hew towards, I think there is a case to make that MJ can thrive in most environments.

 

[DuranDuran]

I don't think Mike could do this, lol.

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

I don't think Mike could do this, lol.

Do you actually even enjoy stuff like this?

 

[AlwaysThere]

I love the pictures you painted of the two songs.

Personally, I feel MJ can tailor himself, or be tailored, to any genre (with the exception of maybe metal/screamo). His catalog speaks for itself in that regard: he explored nearly every genre under the sun, and even on occasions where the song itself was below par, MJ not fitting the respective style/genre is never a listed criticism. But that’s the benefit of his personally-dictated works: he was able to adjust himself as the track was crafted. It’s far tricker for producers to take existing vocals and retrofit them to new material.

In my opinion, “Love Never Felt So Good” succeeded because the producers interpreted the demo extraordinarily well. Merging a jazz-imbued piano/vocal demo with funk/disco rhythms and instrumentation feels naturalistic because the genres share many core characteristics and attributes; the final product fits like a glove. “Don’t Matter to Me,” meanwhile, tries to force a similarly-crafted demo into contemporary R&B territory, which simply doesn’t coalesce.

XSCAPE, regardless of your opinion on the remixes themselves, is a perfect example of knowing how to outfit existing vocals. While they don’t resemble the original tracks, they were cultivated by producers who could properly visualize a route to take. Hence why, in my opinion, MJ feels right at home on that album—he can fit anywhere, so long as he’s being handled by the right people.

Simply put, I’d call it a talent/skill issue. If you can’t take one of the most gifted, adaptable male vocalists in pop music history and fit him into a track, you have no business working with his vocals.

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

I love the pictures you painted of the two songs.

Personally, I feel MJ can tailor himself, or be tailored, to any genre (with the exception of maybe metal/screamo). His catalog speaks for itself in that regard: he explored nearly every genre under the sun, and even on occasions where the song itself was below par, MJ not fitting the respective style/genre is never a listed criticism. But that’s the benefit of his personally-dictated works: he was able to adjust himself as the track was crafted. It’s far tricker for producers to take existing vocals and retrofit them to new material.

In my opinion, “Love Never Felt So Good” succeeded because the producers interpreted the demo extraordinarily well. Merging a jazz-imbued piano/vocal demo with funk/disco rhythms and instrumentation feels naturalistic because the genres share many core characteristics and attributes; the final product fits like a glove. “Don’t Matter to Me,” meanwhile, tries to force a similarly-crafted demo into contemporary R&B territory, which simply doesn’t coalesce.

XSCAPE, regardless of your opinion on the remixes themselves, is a perfect example of knowing how to outfit existing vocals. While they don’t resemble the original tracks, they were cultivated by producers who could properly visualize a route to take. Hence why, in my opinion, MJ feels right at home on that album—he can fit anywhere, so long as he’s being handled by the right people.

Simply put, I’d call it a talent/skill issue. If you can’t take one of the most gifted, adaptable male vocalists in pop music history and fit him into a track, you have no business working with his vocals.

I think part of it was the limitation too. I have more to say, and I will soon. But now I'll say, the limitation.

If they could AI away Ankas playing, the song would've been radically different. Keeping it, playing around it, that helped so much. I enjoy the more radical changes of the other songs, and almost prefer them at times, but in these cases it was so right. Don't Matter to Me branches too far out into something that just isn't there. Ultimately too soft for both of them.

 

[DuranDuran]

Do you actually even enjoy stuff like this?

I have an album called Spit by an all female band named Kittie. They're not death metal, but one of the 2 leads (Morgan Lander) does some growling vocals. Not all the time though, she also sings in her normal voice on the album. Kittie changed members a lot, but not as much as The Temptations or Fleetwood Mac.