In a way yes, his vocals are really on point here, but he was 42/43 by this stage so his voice was at its most mature and most diverse. But the singing on Invincible does run rings around the Jackson 5 era and even most of the singing up to Thriller. The songs and singing are good, but his voice is not covering all of the emotions it does on Invincible. OTW and Thriller, are emerging adult Jackson, but Bad onwards is his true full adult developed vocal showpieces.
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I would say Bad is the threshold here, the songwriting goes up a notch from Dance and basic Love songs you find on OTW and Thriller, IJCSLY is his first truly sincere love song and Man in the Mirror was the first full conscience song with heartfelt vocals (Human nature comes close). Dangerous, History and BODF also showcase great vocals (The singing on Morphine and Ghosts/Is it Scary) that have emotional highs and lows in a few bars.
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But pure singing, yes you can not go past Heaven can wait (Woefully under rated song), Break of dawn (Not underated at all but still great), Speechless and Butterflies, is so pure. His voice is so clear and so heartfelt. Still Invincible does not pack the rhythmic punch of the early albums or the songwriting gravitas of Bad and Dangerous, plus as MJ entered his 40s, he probably wanted people to focus more on his singing rather than his dancing (Which would be slowing down).
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As great as the vocals on Invincible are, the songwriting is very average. Break of Dawn and Heaven can wait are very well sung and produced, but the lines are generic R and B ballads and YRMW is a great dance pop song, but the lyrics are very average and sound a lot like Smooth Criminal/Remember the Time/This time around and Blood on the Dancefloor. The sound has been done to death and I think MJ was repeating himself here. The voices at least make it knew. break of Dawn is great because he was trying a pure sexy R& B ballad in a Prince style, even though its totally Michael with those vocals and sincerity, the song has a Prince like feel and you can see Prince singing it.
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So to sum up, Michael's vocals and his singing, yes Invincible is the best, but songwriting and everything else - hell naw! Michael's real peak to me here was Thriller (Dance and Pop appeal), Bad (Sound) and Dangerous (Songwriting and the whole package). Technically Bad and Dangerous are the peak, Thriller is close, as susccessful as Thriller is, Michael still felt he had more to prove and he proved that with Bad and Dangerous. History onwards is still great, but he was trading on his legacy. History was the first album to have lesser jams. (There is not a bum note on Thriller, Bad or Dangerous)
