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Did Michael have a lisp?

Themidwestcowboy

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I've been watching some footage post 2000, you know interviews, depositions etc, for the first time it kinda struck me that michael spoke with a slight lisp. Especially during the Invincibile era. Am I just hearing things or do some of you hear it too?
 
No lisp, I am not sure which clippings you are talking about but there's been a couple times you can tell he's slurring words - most likely medicated....
 
no? never heard him speak with a lisp. gotta say this is a strange question haha
 
The same thing which changed his smile so dramatically around that time.

A cosmetic procedure.
 
You can hear it in songs from around 2000 onwards too. It's so clear in "One More Chance" and "I Am a Loser."
 
ChrisC said:
The same thing which changed his smile so dramatically around that time.

A cosmetic procedure.
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Ive never noticed a lisp but that procedure could have affected his speaking a bit as well.
His smile was pretty much back during TII prep and his speaking was fine.
 
Hmmm, I've repeatedly watched clips of Michael from all eras, and never have I ever heard him speak with a lisp. :)
I'm pretty darn attentive to Michael's voice too. :yes:
 
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KOPV said:
No lisp, I am not sure which clippings you are talking about but there's been a couple times you can tell he's slurring words - most likely medicated....
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Yeah it could be because he slurred some of his words.

ChrisC said:
The same thing which changed his smile so dramatically around that time.

A cosmetic procedure.
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Yeah that would make sense.

Pink Diamond Princess said:
Hmmm, I've repeatedly watched clips of Michael from all eras, and never have I ever heard him speak with a lisp. :)
I'm pretty darn attentive to Michael's voice too. :yes:
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I don't think it was a lisp per say. I'm thinking more of slurring words
 
Themidwestcowboy said:
I don't think it was a lisp per say. I'm thinking more of slurring words
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It wasn't slurring through medication - that was a separate issue. His top lip appeared to be 'frozen' somewhat affecting his ability to adequately enunciate. You see it in botox patients.

I remember hearing it very clearly when listening to his speech at United We Stand.
 
ChrisC said:
It wasn't slurring through medication - that was a separate issue. His top lip appeared to be 'frozen' somewhat affecting his ability to adequately enunciate. You see it in botox patients.

I remember hearing it very clearly when listening to his speech at United We Stand.
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Here when he starts speaking at 3:20, It doesn't sound as a lisp but it's definitely something else that affects his enunciation. Now bare in mind that the quality is kind of bad and it sounds like a telephone recording but during the Invicible era his voice sounded slightly different.

Edit: from where is that taken from? I love the way he spoke about Africa.

[youtube]ZoTG68xSqt8[/youtube]
 
Thanks Themidwestcowboy , that video is amazing, love hearing Mike talk passionately about Africa, and that Liberian Girl instrumental though :chillin:

Sorry to derail the thread, I don't think he had a lisp as such, but I do think he a tendency to pronounce words differently to emphasise them.
 
Something happened his speech, medication and cosmetic. You can hear it in the bridge of Hollywood tonight, and from some interviews at the MSG 30 shows. Same with YRWM intro.
 
Well around 30th it was fairly obvious he was medicated, but in 2001 his face was different - it was almost like his upper lip was paralyzed. Could have been Botox or maybe a surgery that later got 'corrected'..
 
KOPV said:
Well around 30th it was fairly obvious he was medicated, but in 2001 his face was different - it was almost like his upper lip was paralyzed. Could have been Botox or maybe a surgery that later got 'corrected'..
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It always looked very red or raw for the MSG shows. Anyone else notice that? His lip
 
^ Yeah I noticed it but only in footage not the pics.. I remember the roomer where they said they were trying to give him some 'color' digitally which if that's the case they did a bad job... I do think around that time Michael was beyond self conscious of his looks, you can tell that parts of You Rock My World was literally digitalized face... (one part in particular)
 
KOPV said:
^ Yeah I noticed it but only in footage not the pics.. I remember the roomer where they said they were trying to give him some 'color' digitally which if that's the case they did a bad job... I do think around that time Michael was beyond self conscious of his looks, you can tell that parts of You Rock My World was literally digitalized face... (one part in particular)
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post a screenshot of that please
 
KOPV said:
^ Yeah I noticed it but only in footage not the pics.. I remember the roomer where they said they were trying to give him some 'color' digitally which if that's the case they did a bad job... I do think around that time Michael was beyond self conscious of his looks, you can tell that parts of You Rock My World was literally digitalized face... (one part in particular)
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Not sure what you mean in regards to YRMW, but I do recall watching the 30th Anniversary Celebration from around that time and Michael's face was airbrushed. It was really noticeable when you'd have him in a two-shot with, say, a brother who wasn't airbrushed.
 
^^Isnt that somewhat common for artists who lipsync? Michael might be doing it at MSG as he had forgotten some of the words, whereas in earlier shows he knew them perfectly enough to not have to cover his mouth. My guess anyway.
 
HIStoric;4175514 said:
^^Isnt that somewhat common for artists who lipsync? Michael might be doing it at MSG as he had forgotten some of the words, whereas in earlier shows he knew them perfectly enough to not have to cover his mouth. My guess anyway.
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But, there are examples which show that MJ covered his mouth even in earlier shows despite the fact that he knew the lyrics perfectly enough (I guess most likely from force of habit).

For example, take a look at the performance of the ‘Dangerous’ song in Ostend, Belgium (HIStory Tour 1997). As you probably know, the playback sound system encountered serious technical problems at the beginning of the song & MJ had to sing a part of it fully live.

The quality of the video is beyond awful, but I guess you can get my point.

[video=youtube;dYHXzwtzPW4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYHXzwtzPW4[/video]
 
mj_frenzy;4175516 said:
But, there are examples which show that MJ covered his mouth even in earlier shows despite the fact that he knew the lyrics perfectly enough (I guess most likely from force of habit).

For example, take a look at the performance of the ‘Dangerous’ song in Ostend, Belgium (HIStory Tour 1997). As you probably know, the playback sound system encountered serious technical problems at the beginning of the song & MJ had to sing a part of it fully live.

The quality of the video is beyond awful, but I guess you can get my point.

[video=youtube;dYHXzwtzPW4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYHXzwtzPW4[/video]
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Sure, but I wouldn't rule out my earlier guessings just yet.

(On a side note, jesus, is that audio on the video actually what it sounded like in real life or due to the crappy source?)
 
HIStoric said:
Sure, but I wouldn't rule out my earlier guessings just yet.

(On a side note, jesus, is that audio on the video actually what it sounded like in real life or due to the crappy source?)
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I am pretty sure this horrible sound is because of a faulty camera (like the one that captured that show).
 
mj_frenzy said:
I am pretty sure this horrible sound is because of a faulty camera (like the one that captured that show).
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Yeah, listening to again it does sound like an issue with the footage itself. Besides, if it was THAT bad IRL Michael would've likely stopped performing outright.
 
MattyJam said:
I think the reason he kept covering his mouth during MSG was due to feeling self-conscious about it. Although he didn't do that during the Jacksons segment where he sang live, so perhaps he did it to hide his lip-synching. Although I don't recall him doing that on any other show where he lip-synched, certainly not to that extent. I remember watching MSG one time with my family and my sister asking "why does he keep covering his mouth like that?".
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He's done that since the Dangerous tour.

He may have done it during Bad I can't recall any specific moments as it was mostly live.
 
It seems like a lot of that has to do with wearing a headset. He was used to holding a mic to his mouth for so many years and to me it looks like he's constantly adjusting it.
 
Yes the handle to the headset was so automatic that he wants to do it even when he did not have one, for example in the MTW performance 1995. His Hand went to the mouth at 3.09 and then he realized he did not have one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTPIo9P0SVk
 
MattyJam said:
I know he's done it before, but not to the extent he did it on the MSG shows. He covers his mouth for almost every song of his solo set on those shows.
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I wasn't sure if that's what you meant, when I re-read your post you indicated that you couldn't remember 'any' other show where he did that...

He's clearly medicated to some degree that affects his behaviour for a duration of those concerts. He generally appears off his game, slow to react, uncertain...insecure, perhaps. I could only imagine that these things contributed to his overuse of this deception.

As an aside he often moves his body in such a way to hide his mouth, bending fully forward etc. They may look like simple dance moves but I believe they served a purpose in that regard.

The handling of the headset on the Dangerous and HIStory tours I think started out as a way to cover the lip-synching when he's forgotten the next line or there's multiple MJ vocals layered over each other in the playback. But I think they also became part of the performance for him, they became woven into how he presented a performance perhaps. We know how methodically Michael approached live performance, he could do two shows in two locations a year apart and they'd be virtually identical.

But I don't think any of this has anything to do with the lisp that was being asked about initially. Other than they may all be connected by Michael's dissatisfaction at his physical appearance, if he was indeed so.
 
MattyJam said:
Nah, it can't be that on MSG, because he's using a hand-held mic on Billie Jean, Beat It and BorW, and spends the entire performance covering his mouth.
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No, I understand. I was just pointing that out since he does it on the vid I just watched above (Dangerous) and also I watched Blood on the Dance Floor earlier where he's hunched over and messing with his headset.

He did cover his mouth in MSG and hunch over a lot-and I thought at the time he looked uncomfortable and insecure-and somewhat impaired. It's the main reason I've only watched that show twice-when it aired and later on a few years ago. Michael, Elizabeth, Whitney and Liza all seemed like they had been to hell and back.

I have watched a home video version since I saw the actual show on TV and he doesn't come across that way-he seems a lot more confident. I never noticed any kind of lisp or speech impediment due to what was done to his mouth, though.
 
MattyJam said:
Yeah, MSG was a funny one for MJ. He looks like a deer in the headlights when he first comes on stage with his brothers and takes off that space helmet. A world away from the man who owned the stage on the Dangerous/HIStory tours.

I don't think it's just being medicated, he is also clearly self-conscious and really looks like he doesn't want to be there.

It was nice to see the old MJ back on TII, the master performer, in complete control, not looking insecure or self-conscious, back to doing what he did best. Even though he never got to do an actual show, I think it was nice to see him like that one more time after the wobbly MSG shows, even if it was only rehearsal footage

But we digress....
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And that's why I'm so thankful for This Is It, honestly. He was back, in control, he was confident, he looked great, he was having fun and he went out with his boots on with all guns blazing. I'm so thankful that the 30th Anniversary Show will never be the last thing we see.
 
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