Invincible 25th Anniversary

It leaves you wondering if he really wrote much for Invincible at all - apart from Speechless and Lost Children.
There is zero evidence -- judging from all of the writers' demos and interviews that have come out over the years -- that he contributed even one note or one word to Invincible beyond The Lost Children and Speechless.
 
What you can say with certainty is that he could identify with the songs he recorded and probably liked them as much as if he had written them all by himself.
Even as a child, Michael made every song he covered better. It was the same with Invincible.

I take your point, but that does not justify the taking of credit for somgs he dis mot write.

Also, to your point… I thunk your point applies to some of the songs that MJ did not write but performed. For example, Man In The Mirror - he did not write it, but he totally owns that song, no-one should dare cover it.

But does that apply to Invincible? I do not think so, I think those songs could have been performed by lots of different singers.

Not only did he not write much for Invincible, but I do not even think his performances were that exceptional (with exception of some of the ballads).

Probably why I find it an album I rarely listen to.
 
Last edited:
But does that apply to Invincible? I do not think so, I think those songs could have been performed my lots of different singers.
That may be true, but not as good as Michael. Vocally he is truly invincible, and I have heard many singers and hardly any are even close to his level.
 
But does that apply to Invincible? I do not think so, I think those songs could have been performed my lots of different singers.
Especially since MJ doesn't use many of his trademark hiccups, yelps, grunts and hee-hee's on some of the songs. I don't know if it was his idea or the producers', but clearly somebody thought that the songs would have a better chance of being hits with the younger generation if MJ eschewed his classic style, which maybe they thought had been too parodied to still be taken seriously by younger people. This "lack of classic MJ" is especially present on the Teddy Riley-produced songs.
 
Michael Jackson Fan Shares His Experience During Michael’s Appearance at Virgin Megastore, 2001
March 14, 2025

Michael Jackson appeared at the Virgin Megastore in early November of 2001 to promote his “Invincible” album and he signed CDs for some lucky fans. Nicholas Tangredi recently shared with the Michael Jackson fan community his green colored copy of the “Invincible” album that Michael signed for him at that New York City event.
250314-image1-253x450.jpeg

250314-feat-450x294.jpg
 
250314-image1-253x450.jpeg

250314-feat-450x294.jpg
that would be impressive to own! I hope I can get Sabrina Carpenter to sign one of my cds from her. at least I'm going to her concert this November in LA
 
Shmuley about MJ working on Invincible:
"He could barely even get to the studio. He could barely even wake up. He had fraudulent doctors all around him, giving him crap, that was going to kill him."

Listen to it below, I've marked the spot.

 
Last edited:
Shmuley about MJ working on Invincible:
"He could barely even get to the studio. He could barely even wake up. He had fraudulent doctors all around him, giving him crap, that was going to kill him."

Listen to it below, I've marked the spot.

I wonder if that's why Michael only wrote two songs all by himself and whether that's why he just sang the demos word for word without much input of his own.
 
I'm sorry if this isn't the right place to post this or if it's already been discussed but I couldn't find an answer so I figured I'd go ahead and ask.

On Blue Gangsta, is it Michael singing the "what you gonna do, you ain't no friend of mine, look what you put me through, now that I'm a blue gangsta" part in his "real" voice or was that studio singers?

Please correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like he used a lot of studio singers on Invincible. Something he never did in the past. I think that's why for me, Invincible doesn't really sound like an MJ album.
 
I'm sorry if this isn't the right place to post this or if it's already been discussed but I couldn't find an answer so I figured I'd go ahead and ask.

On Blue Gangsta, is it Michael singing the "what you gonna do, you ain't no friend of mine, look what you put me through, now that I'm a blue gangsta" part in his "real" voice or was that studio singers?

Please correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like he used a lot of studio singers on Invincible. Something he never did in the past. I think that's why for me, Invincible doesn't really sound like an MJ album.
MJ and Dr. Freeze together. Just like Break of Dawn and A place with no name.
 
So Michael didn't use any studio singers for the Invincible album? All the vocals were either him or Dr. Freeze?
i was talking about Blue Gangsta specifically here. Invincible itself features a lot of different bg vocalists per song. Unbreakable for example featured Brandy (and LaShawn Daniels ofcourse who is on every Darkchild track iirc).
 
I guess MJ was pitched down at some points in the songs?

I am almost certain he at least lyrically contributed to 'Threatened'.

The album may well have taken longer then if Mike's medication was preventing him from being awake / coherent on a lot of days, this would explain why it too so much longer for it to be released.

I do feel that MJ was scared of getting older, and turning 40 in 1998 would have been something he wouldn't have been happy about.
 
Not just lyrics. He has a credit for Whatever Happens and the leaked demo for that shows that MJ had nothing to do with that as a writer. Quite shameful, really.

It leaves you wondering if he really wrote much for Invincible at all - apart from Speechless and Lost Children.
I assume it's because he was adding his only original adlibs to the track?
 
i was talking about Blue Gangsta specifically here. Invincible itself features a lot of different bg vocalists per song. Unbreakable for example featured Brandy (and LaShawn Daniels ofcourse who is on every Darkchild track iirc).
Oh, got ya. Thx for the additional info!

I know it's a matter of taste but with the exception of choirs, Michael rarely ever used other singers on his songs prior to Invincible.

I only want to hear MJ on my MJ songs!
 
MJ and Dr. Freeze together. Just like Break of Dawn and A place with no name.

Yes, which is ANOTHER thing that I dislike about Invincible. Instead of "wall-of-Michaels" background vocals like on previous albums, you have other backing vocalists, or MJ's voice mixed with the producers'. I only want MJ's vocals. I wish new versions of those Dr. Freeze tracks could come out without Freeze's voice on them.

But then again, I understand this was probably done to save time in the studio so MJ could leave earlier or skip some recording dates, or because the MJ vocals they did get on tape had some flaws that needed to be covered over with other vocals.
 
I am almost certain he at least lyrically contributed to 'Threatened'.
Why? I mean even the lyrics to Privacy, for God's sake -- arguably the most "personal" song on the record -- were written by Bernard Bell because MJ couldn't be bothered to write them.
 
Why? I mean even the lyrics to Privacy, for God's sake -- arguably the most "personal" song on the record -- were written by Bernard Bell because MJ couldn't be bothered to write them.
For real? I never realised that. I do think that 'the lost children' has a lovely melody, but is lyrically weak.

I never realised how just detached he was to this record. But, it doesn't make sense on the other hand, because if he wasn't invested in the project, then why did he protest about the lack of promotion?
 
For real? I never realised that. I do think that 'the lost children' has a lovely melody, but is lyrically weak.

I never realised how just detached he was to this record. But, it doesn't make sense on the other hand, because if he wasn't invested in the project, then why did he protest about the lack of promotion?
Money. He expected that, despite phoning it in, it would still sell 20 million copies and resplenish his finances, which by then were in serious trouble.
 
Yes, which is ANOTHER thing that I dislike about Invincible. Instead of "wall-of-Michaels" background vocals like on previous albums, you have other backing vocalists, or MJ's voice mixed with the producers'. I only want MJ's vocals. I wish new versions of those Dr. Freeze tracks could come out without Freeze's voice on them.

But then again, I understand this was probably done to save time in the studio so MJ could leave earlier or skip some recording dates, or because the MJ vocals they did get on tape had some flaws that needed to be covered over with other vocals.
Not to turn into another complaints thread but I completely agree.

You described it perfectly, it's a wall of Michael's and if I'm honest, I think nearly all the songs on Invincible could be improved with Michael backgrounds.

No disrespect to anyone who featured on the backgrounds but they're not Mike
 
Unlike the previous 4 ,this album was a huge disappointment when I got it on release day in 2001 but I often wonder
how I would feel about the songs if recorded 10-15 years earlier.
 
Back
Top