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Teddy Riley interview with Vibe about working Michael's albums

I think the comment "But.. the facts that I know, I would think he is. And it's only because he was a target." shows that he was trying to give the impression that Michael was physically alive ie he faked his death because he was a target. If anything, he contradicts himself in that interview by putting both ideas across.

PS: I don't hate him. I just think he's a bit of a prat who forgot his prinicples.
 
ivy said:
I talked to him briefly before. He believed after the Michael album debate the fans were killing his legacy and he started that alive thing. He even explained on a radio show that how Elvis's fans keep him alive and not Michael's fans. The rest is his way to handle with the loss of Michael, like I said rather than accepting his death and feeling sad, he seems to hold on to the fantasy of he can be alive someplace.

I really do not care what some think they know. I'm gonna base my opinion on my direct interaction. My understanding is that he doesn't believe Michael to be literally alive, spiritually he's still around, he believes Michael and his legacy should be kept alive and ongoing rather than having a "he's dead" approach and in his heart of hearts he dares to imagine that Michael could be alive someplace rather than accepting and have to go through the reality of his loss.
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Fair enough, but I am not basing my opinion on what I 'think to know', I am going by his own words in this video interview. My only point was that I do believe he clearly says in that interview that he literally thinks Michael is still alive.

I think Michael's legacy being alive is a totally different issue than Michael physically being alive. Many fans also feel that Michael is still here, in a figurative sense - he had a tremendous impact on our lives and many of us here feel that we carry him, his music and his message within us. But there is only a very small fraction of fans who believe he is still literally among us...

Pay attention to that interview - he says he talks from his heart. It's just a wish that he has.
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He also says he speaks from the truth and later mentions that he knows 'facts' that lead him to think Michael is still alive.

Honestly there are some days I wake up thinking that Michael's death is just a bad dream I had and I would turn on the TV and go to he Internet and see a story about Michael being alive and well. I wish that to be true. I would even check the forum and so on and then realize that the reality is that Michael is dead and what I thought was nothing more than a wishful thinking or a fantasy. I don't see Teddy's version any different than mine but also I don't have a reason to hate him like some do.
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I can certainly relate to what you are saying. I too have had instances where I am so in the moment when listening to one of his songs, or so mesmerized by one of his performances, that I forget that he is not with us anymore - until you suddenly realize the deeply saddening reality of the situation.

But would you go on an interview and say that Michael is still alive, mentiong that you have facts that lead you to draw this conclusion?

Edited to add: If you want to believe he says literally alive and consider it another reason to hate him , that's your call. I'll have a more understanding approach.
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I do not hate him and I do not see how you draw that conclusion from my post. If anything, I feel very sorry for people who really believe that Michael is still alive. I was merely pointing out that Teddy's comments to me clearly seem to indicate that he meant it in a literal sense. If you interpret them differently, fair enough.
 
I don't know what he thinks but I am glad he talks about Michael with respect. He worked with him and knew him and supported him. That matters a lot. For me, Michael is alive in our hearts. He is with us in that way.


P.S. - I still wish Michael was still here with us. I miss him.
 
StellaJackson said:
Whether he believes it or not is anybody's guess but he makes it fairly clear in this interview that he means Michael is physically alive, particularly with the quote "From the facts that I know I would think that he is."[youtube]CVJRd5tlIRM#![/youtube]Also, he was asked the following question by a fan on twitter: "Akon said he believes Michael is in hiding and will be coming back one day. Im curious to know what ya think bout that."His response: "AKON IS MY FRIEND AND WE THINK ALIKE."
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For teddy & akon to say that doesnt make michael look good and shows michael in a bad light. It shows mj didnt care bout his friends, his family & fans and that is just wrong.
 
Is this a hoax and Cascio thread now or what? smh I thought we couldn't do that unless we are in the right thread for those dicussions? Or does it depends on who u are? Anyways I never got offended by the hoax I understand both sides of what people are saying and I'll leave it at that since I said enough about it on the proper thread about it.

And on what he said on the Michael album well...it was clear to me why he said what he said. He is only sure of the tracks he mentioned. But, can only believe it could be MJ on the others...what a shame right Teddy? I feel ya! It should have never happen like that. MJ legacy derserved better and he tried I guess to do what he could and be part of it again. But, honesty if I were Teddy I would have declined after not bein sure of the other tracks. Would have never risk by producer name on a controversy that will never end! When all it does is caused stress.

To me whether people believe the cascio tracks to be MJ or not the very fact that they put such unfinished tracks that had to be processed is a disrespect to MJ IMO because he would have never realeased anything remotely close to that on a real album. So that's my major beef with that Album. Two major F*ck ups I can't over look!
 
bluetopez said:
Is this a hoax and Cascio thread now or what? smh I thought we couldn't do that unless we are in the right thread for those dicussions? Or does it depends on who u are?
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we are being lenient with the discussion hoping that it won't turn into an authenticity and hoax argument. Or I can delete all the posts, is that what you prefer?
 
Waw that interview was very easy to read. I was not able to understand what he said the last time he spoke in 2010, so I am grateful to whoever transcribed this.

This is my personal opinion, but I do not like it when people say they are "bringing someone back to their R&B roots," or any type of roots for the matter. I feel people should experiment with whatever sounds they want to irrespective of the initial sounds that influenced them. I hear these comments from DJ's on the radio about how some artist is not R&B any more, like Whitney, and I feel there is a tendency to stick people in one static mold of where they feel the person should be. I am glad Michael experimented with other sounds, though, because I enjoy a variety of music.

I am not going to say a word about the Michael album.
 
ivy said:
we are being lenient with the discussion hoping that it won't turn into an authenticity and hoax argument. Or I can delete all the posts, is that what you prefer?
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No, I was just pointing out the fact that other times there was an issue but, now there isn't for whatever reason? And that is surprising to me cause of all the other times with the warnings. But, then u are the first one to mention both subjects even though Riley never really went there. But, hey cool if ur being lenient. Thanks for the heads up. ;)
 
bluetopez said:
No, I was just pointing out the fact that other times there was an issue but, now there isn't for whatever reason? And that is surprising to me cause of all the other times with the warnings. But, then u are the first one to mention both subjects even though Riley never really went there. But, hey cool if ur being lenient. Thanks for the heads up. ;)
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read ginvid's post on the thread (3 rd one, before my comment) and the last 2 lines a lot better. then let's discuss if I'm the first. I definitively did not introduce the authenticity debate and I used the last part to re-mention that he didn't mean literally alive.
 
Oh ya ur right Ginvid was first to mention the tracks and u were the first to mention the hoax thingy! So I was half wrong oops. Sorry!
 
Teddy is making weird songs(totally s**t) these days
I don't love his music anymore!!!!!! Hope he never works for Michael again!
He WAS a great friend of Michael and great producer when Michael was alive..
 
I love Teddy's mix of Hollywood Tonight.

If they used his version of the song with the released video, it would have been big.
 
I like Teddy's work on Dangerous and Invincible, but I've lost all my respect for him after he produced the Cascio tracks while knowing they were fake.
 
Dorian said:
I love Teddy's mix of Hollywood Tonight.

If they used his version of the song with the released video, it would have been big.
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I like his mix more than the Throwback mix because of the very crappily added Billie Jean beat, but there are still many things that I do not like about it. The autotuning of MJ's voice is very unnecessary and his voice sounds muddled in the mix. The ending, but more importantly the bridge is way too long which takes so much energy out of the song. And even more importantly, Michael had lyrics for the bridge but Teddy decided to disregard them and write new lyrics that totally changed the story of the song. The music in Michael's original demo (based on the snippets that are on YouTube) also has a much darker feel with those ominous strings rather than the typical Teddy horns, which fits the meaning of the song a lot more.

Even though I still like the song, I think Teddy could have done a much better job.
 
SoCav said:
I like his mix more than the Throwback mix because of the very crappily added Billie Jean beat, but there are still many things that I do not like about it. The autotuning of MJ's voice is very unnecessary and his voice sounds muddled in the mix. The ending, but more importantly the bridge is way too long which takes so much energy out of the song. And even more importantly, Michael had lyrics for the bridge but Teddy decided to disregard them and write new lyrics that totally changed the story of the song. The music in Michael's original demo (based on the snippets that are on YouTube) also has a much darker feel with those ominous strings rather than the typical Teddy horns, which fits the meaning of the song a lot more.

Even though I still like the song, I think Teddy could have done a much better job.
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Totally.Regarding the autotune, I think it was pretty good.In some spots the voice was a little weak, and it's understandable since the song was just a one-take.The instrumentation is amazing though.I find the old demo version rather common, but may have been incredible for the Invincible period.Teddy version seems more actual and also more danceable!
 
Teddy's version without auto-tune would be nicer, along with proper bass, MJ's written bridge or just the falsetto part and the "she's only fifteen" part.
 
Dorian said:
Totally.Regarding the autotune, I think it was pretty good.In some spots the voice was a little weak, and it's understandable since the song was just a one-take.The instrumentation is amazing though.I find the old demo version rather common, but may have been incredible for the Invincible period.Teddy version seems more actual and also more danceable!
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To each their own of course! I personally thought the vocals were fine, I did not really see the necessity for it. And even if they were slightly weak, I'd still prefer it over autotuned vocals. Imperfections can give the vocals more character, a certain rawness that the excessive autotuning that goes on nowadays just strips away.

I am not too fond of the instrumentation either. Not a big fan of the drums and Teddy seems to have done some EQ'ing on the bass, it sounds really bad imo - a pity, especially because this song is so driven by its bassline. The horns in and of itself are nice but like I said, it just seems to change the feel of the song from a dance track with a very ominous feel to something much more generic. Even though the demo was still very rough, I like the darkness of it a lot.

I just dislike it when producers go directly against MJ's vision of a song. For Hollywood, MJ seemed to have left behind relatively detailed descriptions of his ideas. I would have been fine with Teddy's version as a remix, but do not see why he felt he had to change the direction of the song so much.
 
Pentum said:
Teddy's version without auto-tune would be nicer, along with proper bass, MJ's written bridge or just the falsetto part and the "she's only fifteen" part.
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I agree 100% Hollywood Tonight IMO, is an example of exactly what not to do in regards to "finishing" Michael's demos. The autotune was unnecessary, the instrumentation was extremely Teddy Riley NJS, but what annoys me the most is the fact that they wrote an entire bridge themselves, plunked it into a song Michael created and essentially changed the entire storyline/meaning of exactly what Hollywood Tonight was about. We know from the lyrics Michael wrote that the naive girl would not find her paradise, she was cold, alone and suffering the consequences of her actions. Lyrical content that Michael had touched on before in songs like DYKWYCA, STTR, LS, etc. That is how the song was intended, and I believe it should have been kept that way. I believe its much more respectful. Now, Im not saying that I believe Teddy is to blame, he may have a different point of view in how to complete these songs and he may truly have Michael's best interests in his heart, but IMO it was going about it the wrong way.

Ohhhh, what a slightly off topic rant! Sorry.
 
You know what?
While reading the interview, I made up my mind to take only good things out of it.
The lovely anecdotes, nothing can take them away from him, so......
I mean, I decided not to think about the whole Michael debacle and TR's wishy-washy stance on it.
At least for a bit.

I do understand those who brought it up, tho.
 
great content.
It's sad TR has been unable to relaunch his career with BLACKstreet and/or ADIDA, his new group that toured Japan for a very short period of time.
 
I admit that's a good point, Dangerous as the R&B equivalent to Thriller. That's a great way to see it actually.

Teddy has swung back around to being net neutral.
 
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