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Michael's planned comeback album

Spaceship

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As you may know, Michael was working on a new album near the end of his life. At one point, its name was rumored to be "7EVEN". He was working with artists who were pretty big at the time like Akon, Ne-Yo and will.i.am. Songs like "Best Of Joy" and "Hold My Hand" were recorded at this time.

What do you think it would have been like? I think it would have been bad, especially judging by the people he was working with. Akon? Ne-Yo? will.i.am? Bleh, it seems that Michael was trying to go for a commercial, contemporary sound with this album, but I feel he was just chasing trends like how he did with Invincible.

That isn't to say Michael wasn't working on anything good at the time, though. I do love "Best Of Joy", which is said to be one of the final songs Michael recorded in his life.
 
Spaceship said:
As you may know, Michael was working on a new album near the end of his life. At one point, its name was rumored to be "7EVEN". He was working with artists who were pretty big at the time like Akon, Ne-Yo and will.i.am. Songs like "Best Of Joy" and "Hold My Hand" were recorded at this time.

What do you think it would have been like? I think it would have been bad, especially judging by the people he was working with. Akon? Ne-Yo? will.i.am? Bleh, it seems that Michael was trying to go for a commercial, contemporary sound with this album, but I feel he was just chasing trends like how he did with Invincible.

That isn't to say Michael wasn't working on anything good at the time, though. I do love "Best Of Joy", which is said to be one of the final songs Michael recorded in his life.
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Meh...
 
Yeah I've heard about it too. Blue Gangsta and Xscape and Shout were to make the cut as well. All three are brilliant. Hold My Hand is Akon-like and I really really liked it. Then there was Best of Joy which is another beautiful track.

I think it would've been more laidback; Invincible without the production budget which might've actually been good. I don't think Michael lost his artistic touch, but he was stepping back in the 2000s. Now if he had recorded songs like Superfly Sister and Morphine and Is It Scary and Why You Wanna Trip On Me for 7even, that would've been awesome. William has some sick beats tbh and Akon's R&B vibe is good - so I don't think everything would've been bad. But maybe mediocre.
 
I honestly really doubt MJ was working on an album tbh. Even if he was, once This Is It was announced, I doubt an album was even a thought anymore. He was working on music, sure, that doesn't mean he had any plans for an album though. He had the This Is It concerts coming up, they were probably being planned way before rehearsal even started, and let's be honest he wasn't well at all. He was probably just trying to get through rehearsal and worrying about the upcoming concerts. On the topic of if he released an album what would it sound like, I'm not sure tbh. I think we would need to hear the music he was working on in 2008 to have an idea where it could have been going.
 
What we know is Michael was working on music and looking to make a 'comeback'... As far as releasing an new album that we don't know. In fact we have heard only that he was looking to release songs as singles because albums don't sell anymore because that is where music is headed. Albums don't sell anymore so why chase something that wont succeed.

I had a fact sheet I made yeas back (collected all the info we knew at the time) it's somewhere lol! I just don't know where..


from what I pick up, Michael had a specific feel and idea what type of music he wanted to release. It was described as "off the wall for today" I think Will.i.am described the music they worked on.. Music with melodies that transcend time. I believe he was seeing what all these new cats can do when Michael was directing it. That's why some of the peeps never actually got to record anything (it wasn't up to par)... With Invincible I believe it was different, he was listening to THEM too much..

Fact sheet anyone? I posted it years ago
 
I still doubt it. Just because he asked Ne-Yo to work on music doesn't mean he planned on releasing anything.
 
But Ne-Yo specifically says the music they were working on was for a new album. They weren't just talking about working on music in general.
 
Sorry I guess we're just gonna have to agree to disagree haha. I still doubt he had a new album in mind. Just cause Ne-Yo says it doesn't mean I'm gonna believe it.
 
It seems Michael had plans.
The list is from the house where he lived in the end of his life
http://www.mjjcommunity.com/forum/t...om-inside-his-house)-am-I-late-on-this/page11

He(MJ) told me, ‘I have three projects going on simultaneously.’ One was the tour that the whole world knew about. The other two I believe no one knew about. One was to be an album of pop songs. Then he said, ‘The other one is that I want to record an album of classical music’ — what he called classical music.
http://www.mjjcommunity.com/forum/threads/117771-Michael-planned-classical-orchestrated-Album
 
SmoothGangsta said:
Sorry I guess we're just gonna have to agree to disagree haha. I still doubt he had a new album in mind. Just cause Ne-Yo says it doesn't mean I'm gonna believe it.
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It was not just Ne-Yo, there was a long list of people Michael spoke to and/or worked with for new music.. he was for sure planning on releasing music - it's more than opinion.. He even had Billy Bush invited for that 2 part short special about creating new music in Ireland and they spoke about new music and the plans with it.. Not to mention him publically while walking into the 2006 while walking into the awards he mentioned to some TV crew that he's made basically a public statement that he working on music. you don't do that if one will hear it..

Summary - there is over like 10 ppl that woud confirm he planned to release music... Will.i.am like I mentioned said that he plans to release singles instead of an album.. (it cooould have been Akon actually but I think Will)
 
Spaceship said:
As you may know, Michael was working on a new album near the end of his life. At one point, its name was rumored to be "7EVEN". He was working with artists who were pretty big at the time like Akon, Ne-Yo and will.i.am. Songs like "Best Of Joy" and "Hold My Hand" were recorded at this time.

What do you think it would have been like? I think it would have been bad, especially judging by the people he was working with. Akon? Ne-Yo? will.i.am? Bleh, it seems that Michael was trying to go for a commercial, contemporary sound with this album, but I feel he was just chasing trends like how he did with Invincible.

That isn't to say Michael wasn't working on anything good at the time, though. I do love "Best Of Joy", which is said to be one of the final songs Michael recorded in his life.
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You could say that he was doing the same thing with Dangerous when he worked with Teddy Riley, and look how that turned out. But I will say that the music Teddy was producing at the time was much better than anything Will I Am, Ne-Yo and Akon has put out
 
I wasn't really talking about 2006, I think plans probably changed once This Is It came around. I'm also pretty sure Michael said a few times in that interview that him and Will were just trying stuff out and nothing was set in stone. I think the idea that MJ still had plans for a new album by the time This Is It started being planned is quite ridiculous, he was probably focused on This Is It. I mean it's just my opinion. He would have released new music at some point, but I don't think he had any plans near the end of his life. I wouldn't really say the list in his home contributes much to this theory either. Wanting to finish/Working on songs doesn't mean he had an album planned.
 
analogue said:
You could say that he was doing the same thing with Dangerous when he worked with Teddy Riley, and look how that turned out.
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I don't think that turned out well for the most part. I find Dangerous to be a mediocre album. With the exception of the title track, "Jam", "In The Closet" and "Remember The Time", I think all of Riley's cuts on Dangerous are downright uninspired.
 
If I remember correctly he was planning to release singles every so often while on the This is it gig. After he had so many singles released it would make up the album with a few extras. Sounded like a good plan. Making his way back slowly. He had a lot to overcome. People forget this with his death.
 
Spaceship said:
I don't think that turned out well for the most part. I find Dangerous to be a mediocre album. With the exception of the title track, "Jam", "In The Closet" and "Remember The Time", I think all of Riley's cuts on Dangerous are downright uninspired.
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That's too bad. Dangerous is a fan favorite and imo his greatest masterpiece
 
Spaceship said:
I don't think that turned out well for the most part. I find Dangerous to be a mediocre album. With the exception of the title track, "Jam", "In The Closet" and "Remember The Time", I think all of Riley's cuts on Dangerous are downright uninspired.
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How do you feel about Who Is It, Give Into Me and Will You Be There?
 
Spaceship said:
I don't think that turned out well for the most part. I find Dangerous to be a mediocre album. With the exception of the title track, "Jam", "In The Closet" and "Remember The Time", I think all of Riley's cuts on Dangerous are downright uninspired.
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Whaaaa?! Dangerous mediocre?? Never heard that before from a fan.
 
analogue said:
How do you feel about Who Is It, Give Into Me and Will You Be There?
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I think those as well as the title track, "In The Closet", "Jam" and "Remember The Time" are the only great songs on the album. I find the rest of the album to be just plain mediocre. I consider "Black Or White" to be cookie cutter pop rock, "Can't Let Her Get Away", "She Drives Me Wild" and "Why You Wanna Trip On Me" to be average New Jack Swing songs, "Gone Too Soon" to be pretty generic, "Keep The Faith" to be completely forgettable and "Heal The World" to be way too sappy; I think "Heal The World" is the worst track on the whole album, honestly. I also think the album is too long and has big pacing issues; almost the first half of the album is upbeat New Jack Swing, which I think exhausts the listener.
 
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Spaceship said:
I don't think that turned out well for the most part. I find Dangerous to be a mediocre album. With the exception of the title track, "Jam", "In The Closet" and "Remember The Time", I think all of Riley's cuts on Dangerous are downright uninspired.
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Of the 7 songs Riley co-wrote you list 4 as exceptions, so you like 4 Riley's cuts and there's only 3 that you don't like, correct?
 
KingMikeJ said:
Of the 7 songs Riley co-wrote you list 4 as exceptions, so you like 4 Riley's cuts and there's only 3 that you don't like, correct?
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Yeah. More than half, so I guess it did turn out well for the most part. My bad.

I still think Dangerous is mediocre, though.
 
for those select few that say that they don't believe Mike was planning on releasing music.. What is it you say to all the work MJ was doing on music? what was it for? Because even pictures in his home after he passed had a paper note of songs including words "Finish".. Why in the middle of a time he was planning a concert set would he be trying to finish music up?

To put on his ipod for the plane ride to London? lol
 
To each their own regarding the best albums in YOUR opinion but stating a very successful album among Michael's fanbase and acclaimed by critics which has sold 35 million copies aprox as mediocre is preposterous to say the least because his 90s works are considered his artistic and creative peak by music journalists who didn't ignore Dangerous and HIStory and the fans.

To be on topic, in case you didn't know or forgot, Michael was planning a classical orchestrated album in 2009. I don't know how much material and instructions by Michael were left for the project to be completed but I'd really love this album to see the light if it's possible. http://www.mjjcommunity.com/forum/threads/117771-Michael-planned-classical-orchestrated-Album
 
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Spaceship said:
I don't think that turned out well for the most part. I find Dangerous to be a mediocre album. With the exception of the title track, "Jam", "In The Closet" and "Remember The Time", I think all of Riley's cuts on Dangerous are downright uninspired.
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I've said this before, but I don't usually talk about it since 95% of the people here think "Dangerous" is the best album of all time, but I had not heard new jack swing until the "Dangerous" album came out-I loved 'Black or White' and 'Remember the Time' eventually grew on me, but I'll never like 'In the Closet', 'Dangerous' or 'Jam.' At the time, I was already upset about him parting ways with Quincy (although I got it), and thought maybe he was pandering to young new fans or chasing trends. But I told myself and I think this is true, that Michael had ALWAYS loved ALL KINDS of music-so he probably liked this new stuff as enthusiastically as he did Broadway show tunes, and the great movie musicals, classical and Disney, and the soul/blues/jazz of the 30's and 40's-

And even as I told a friend of mine at the time, it's like Michael couldn't just walk away from melody and harmony if he tried-even the most hard core NJS or rap type songs he wrote still break into great melodies/harmonies and sing along choruses.

But I have to add that it's kinda bizarre to read the word "mediocre" used in several of these threads lately-I'm used to usually seeing "masterpiece." I've never heard the word "mediocre" used with anything associated with Michael-ever. :(
 
barbee0715 said:
But I have to add that it's kinda bizarre to read the word "mediocre" used in several of these threads lately-I'm used to usually seeing "masterpiece." I've never heard the word "mediocre" used with anything associated with Michael-ever. :(
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Have you ever heard of Privacy? XD
 
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