Okay, review time:
Rocker — The fact that it was recorded in a bathroom just makes me want to hear the HQ version even more. I can only imagine the natural reverb and how the vocals sounds. It really shows (even though everyone already knows) how obsessed MJ was with acoustics, how his voice could sound better and better through different recording and mixing techniques. He never stopped experimenting.
It's a dance-pop track that leans almost gospel in tone. The title feels more like a placeholder, especially since, as Damien said, it doesn't really reflect the lyrics. You could stretch it and say it refers to the groove or the energy.
Maybe it's just the novelty factor that adds to it, but to me, even in the short snippet we have, it already shows way more potential than weaker humanitarian tracks like "What More Can I Give", "Cry", or "I Have This Dream". This one feels like a stronger anthem, probably on par with "We've Had Enough".
For the state it was left in, it's a 10/10.
Remember What I Told You — So sweet and pure. I've always had a soft spot for his softer timbre songs.
It's hard to form a full opinion based on such a short snippet, but it definitely gives me "Speechless" vibes. And given how brief it is, the comparison makes sense, a track like this today would probably be labeled an interlude. I'm really curious about what kind of plan Mike had for it.
Was it meant as an interlude on his next studio album? Or maybe something he'd perform between high energy songs to bring the mood down for a moment on the This Is It tour? Either way, it would've been a beautiful touch. There's not much else to say, except that vocally, it already sounds lovely. Sure, the quality is low, and it's too short to fully grasp how his voice was just two weeks before his passing, but I'm just happy we finally get to hear how Michael sounded during that time.
He was under immense physical and psychological pressure during the rehearsals for TII, and yet he was still thinking about creating. I'm sure the full version is a beautiful epilogue, it needs to be included in the end credits of the biopic.
Dark Lady — Here we go, another femme fatale MJ track! The man just couldn't resist singing about manipulative, dangerous women... but this one totally caught me off guard. I was expecting something darker and moodier, more along the lines of the Cascio track "Black Widow", but I love what we got instead.
This is another one I'm dying to hear in full. It already has a rough vocal take, not just a looped chorus, and in the full version there are even classic MJ ad-libs sprinkled in. That alone sets it apart from so many other unfinished demos.
It sounds like something pulled from a Timbaland or Neptunes album, experimental hip-pop at its best. What more could you ask for? It's unique, fresh, and you can hear MJ trying to bend that sound into something of his own. He hadn't really touched this kind of style before, and it shows how much he was still evolving.
Just imagine if he had brought in "Year of the Gentleman"-era Ne-Yo to work on this with him… certified banger.
Innocent Man – Eh, not really my thing. It's cute, I guess, but if that's all there is vocally, I can't say I'm all that interested.
I wasn't expecting It to sound like that, but this time it didn't really impress me. "Dark Lady" actually blew me away instead. It's like if "Someone Put Your Hand Out (Demo)" and the final version had a baby. It's otherworldly, like accidentally finding yourself in heaven and feeling confused af because there's this man singing super fast in a crowded way, and you can't really understand what he's saying, lol
I was expecting a touching ballad, but I have to say one cool thing about these unreleased tracks is how they rarely meet your expectation. You never really know what you're gonna get, and that's the exciting part for me.
