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Do you think Destiny is a cohesive album?

filmandmusic

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I find this The Jacksons’ most interesting work but I can’t figure out if I like the structure of it. Half of it is just disco fluff but really damn good disco fluff. The other half are personal songs full of pain, anxiety and doubt. The typical young adult topics one might say. Perhaps in between all the party songs they wanted to show they are more than that, that they too have emotions and feelings? Is this what makes it cohesive or is still a rather poor decision to have these 2 contradictions on 1 album?

It is safe to say the personal songs are most interesting. There is the uncertainty of their future in Destiny, the being tired of of your role in the world in bless his soul, the full on depression of dreaming for unreachable love in push me away and that’s what you get for being polite which deals with the desperation of love. The last song and bless his soul are basically the serious versions of things I do for you which has nice verses but turns into fluff with a lyrically weak chorus reducing the seriousness of the verses.
I wonder why they didn’t take themselves seriously on things I do for you like on the other tracks. This track stands out to me as the ugly duck of the tracklist even if it is not bad in itself, it just doesn’t quite fit imo.

If bless his soul is about Michael (which is possible as he sings the verses in first person and Jackie or who ever it is answers him in the pre chorus with advice) then he really took note of this song later in his life as he started living his life the way he wanted it, secluded in Neverland. But he also contradicts himself with not wanting the rich life in Destiny while he splashed the cash later on as an adult.

Maybe it are just songs you know with universal themes and not necessarily personal 😂

Either way a very very good album with good creative song structures, good lyrics and melodies and a nice choice of instruments, very organic.
I especially like the dramatic but warm strings heavy sound on push me away, the rhythm changes and bridges on songs like destiny, bless his soul and that’s what you get for being polite, the exhausting aerobics track all night dancing, the outro and intro to shake your body, pure genius.

The album is completely different sonically and lyrically than Off The Wall which is much less deep than Destiny. It is highly possible that Michael had a lot more personal input lyrically on Destiny than on OTW despite that being a solo album.
 
I believe that ‘destiny’ made a deliberate attempt to balance the uptempo’s and the ballads, and the deeper and lighter lyrical content. yet I wouldn’t quite call it a concept album.

much of it reads as michael’s personal journal, and is a continuation from ‘blues away’. it seems to me that he wants to discover who is his outside of the group, but feels tied down to them.

I disagree with the assessment of ‘things I do for you’. I think it’s an important turning point in michael’s music. it’s the first openly angry song that paved the way for the likes of ‘working day and night’ and ‘wanna be startin somethin’ 💜there’s more funk than disco. it’s defiant. he’s fed up. the lyrics match the mood, unlike ‘style of life’ from the jacksons debut album.

I would argue that ‘push me away’ was the standard sad love song, with nothing outstanding story, or music wise (though it is beautifully sung)💜.

‘destiny’ was released as a single in the uk 🇬🇧 it didn’t do very well. it was the party anthems ‘blame it on the boogie’ and ‘shake your body (down to the ground)’ that were more successful, and have the most staying power to this day. they were crucial and the album couldn’t exist without them.
 
Destiny is in my opinion Michael’s most cohesive album in his entire discography. Not just in terms of lyrical content and direction but also sonically.

Fans talk a lot about how autobiographical HIStory is but so is Destiny.
 
When Tito was on Questlove Supreme, he said That's What You Get is about Johnny Jackson, who was the drummer for the J5 and Things I Do For You is about their mother
 
83magic said:
I believe that ‘destiny’ made a deliberate attempt to balance the uptempo’s and the ballads, and the deeper and lighter lyrical content. yet I wouldn’t quite call it a concept album.
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I think so too. I also wouldn't call it a concept album.
83magic said:
much of it reads as michael’s personal journal, and is a continuation from ‘blues away’. it seems to me that he wants to discover who is his outside of the group, but feels tied down to them.
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This is what it feels like but it all depends on who was the main songwriter I guess. We should not dismiss probable lyrical contribution by the others.
83magic said:
I disagree with the assessment of ‘things I do for you’. I think it’s an important turning point in michael’s music. it’s the first openly angry song that paved the way for the likes of ‘working day and night’ and ‘wanna be startin somethin’ 💜there’s more funk than disco. it’s defiant. he’s fed up. the lyrics match the mood, unlike ‘style of life’ from the jacksons debut album.
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Yes that's the point, I really like the verses but then the chorus turns it into comedy. Overall I really like the tune just not the chorus.
I also had to think about style of life several times while listening to the Destiny album. It seems the boys were talking about these themes for several years.
I think Style of life hits harder imo. "And I feel you really accomplished nothing, no" that's brutal lol.
I'd love to hear what was cut from style of life, the song fades out after the break and that's when Michael usually shines even harder.
83magic said:
I would argue that ‘push me away’ was the standard sad love song, with nothing outstanding story, or music wise (though it is beautifully sung)💜.
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musically is it is one of my favorites in the entire discography. It sounds very lush, warm and cosy. It feels like something that sounds extra nice when sitting next to a fireplace with wood slowly burning. I can't explain it differently.
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
The album has the same theme of Off The Wall. The UPS and downs of a party life.
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I think Off the wall feels more like a collection of similarly produced dance songs mixed up with impersonal random love songs, it sounds cohesive because of the production or the sound. Destiny feels more cohesive lyrically.

The songs Michael did write feel definitely similar to many of the Destiny tracks.
 
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