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What songwriter best captured MJs persona?

Mister_Jay_Tee

Mister_Jay_Tee

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When you think of a song MJ didn't write but still say "That's quintessential Michael Jackson", what would you say? Who would you pick as that collaborating voice?

I'm probably gonna go ahead and pluck the easy fruit,and say Siedah Garrett. Man in the Mirror is Michael's very essence truthfully. After that pick, well, have fun, the rest of you haha.
 
It's hard to argue with Siedah, with MITM and KTF. Teddy's beats all feel very Michael.

Dr Freeze is an underrated shout, Freeze's collaborations felt like were Mike was heading going into his 40's. I wish Mike worked with Freeze more
 
It almost seems shocking that Why You Wanna Trip On Me doesnā€™t include a writing credit by Michael. Feels like once upon a time, Teddy Riley really got Michael. Dunno what happened to him between Dangerous and the Michael albumā€¦
 
analogue said:
Surprised Rod Temperton hasn't been mentioned yet
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Honestly I was waiting on it but I'm not surprised, a lot of people underrate his works; might consider them simple or just, superflous. Thriller is arguably his signature song (Among 3 or 4), the Thriller cuts are beloved but might not rank among MJs core "persona", and the Off The Wall cuts, while equally beloved, just get called simple.

I'm not agreeing with those sentiments, they all rank highly for me. Just, idk, if people appreciate his talents.
 
Yes, I too felt that RT wrote some career defining songs for MJ, but felt that this did not corroborate with the title of the thread.

When I think of all the MJ songs I love, they all have MJs fingerprint on them except MITM.
Other than that, I think MJ was the best songwriter for MJ.
 
jasmine.uddin said:
Yes, I too felt that RT wrote some career defining songs for MJ, but felt that this did not corroborate with the title of the thread. [...]
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Can I just second this? Not ignoring RT at all - I love him, he is awesome! - but my interpretation of Mr JT's thread title (plus his use of the word 'quintessential') led me immediately to Buz Kohan. With RT I think it's a different conversation.
 
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I think YANA was a great song for MJ, I loved how smooth MJs voice sounded on that track. I appreciated the song more after hearing RKs version, and a version on a TV talent show. Sometimes you have to hear other people sing an MJ song to really appreciate how well MJ sang it.

Although I felt YANA was good, not sure OMC was quite as good.
 
Yes, I think we need to define what we mean by 'quintessential' and 'essence' in order to address the title thread better. It's likely, we all have differing interpretations on those words when it comes to MJs music .
 
I think the core of MJs personality as a person was to help others. For me, the songwriter for MITM embodies this best, and MJ embodies it best as a songwriter himself in ES and TDCAU.

I think MJs core personality as a musician was to be dynamic and versatile, cue any number of MJ songs.

I think MJs core personality as a performer was to provide escapism, cue any number of the music videos and live performances.
 
Quintessential Michael to me is bleeding heart, honest, incredibly focused and profound to the point of discomfort. There's a simplicity in his songs that makes it easy to engage with, yet there's a breadth of extra subtext to it that lets you continue to engage with it over the years, and gleam more from it.
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
Quintessential Michael to me is bleeding heart, honest, incredibly focused and profound to the point of discomfort. There's a simplicity in his songs that makes it easy to engage with, yet there's a breadth of extra subtext to it that lets you continue to engage with it over the years, and gleam more from it.
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That's...a great way to describe it. I remember reading (and listening to Michael) that he thought universal melodies were the ones the whole world could sing, independently of language, so most of his songs had simple words, simple melodies, simple themes (and the reason why he thought rap wouldn't catch on). And he did use and abuse of that to a fault. But at the same time there is a whole universe of subtext that you can gleam from these songs. Billie Jean, Earth Song, Smooth Criminal, Wanna Be Starting Something, Don't Stop - what they're talking about is not simple exactly and we've spent years dissecting and dissecting, both in a lyrical sense and in a musical sense. And we're still dissecting them. But they're simple in lyrical and musical structure.
 
Rod Temperton. No one could write a song for MJ with such consistency like Rod did. (Excluding MJ of course).

Rod's run with MJ and Quincy is the cornerstone of MJ's catapult into superstardom. Imagine OTW without Rock With You, or Thriller without Thriller?
 
innuendo141 said:
Rod Temperton. No one could write a song for MJ with such consistency like Rod did. (Excluding MJ of course).

Rod's run with MJ and Quincy is the cornerstone of MJ's catapult into superstardom. Imagine OTW without Rock With You, or Thriller without Thriller?
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Yes but those are (amazing) pop songs. I think the essence of MJ is 'pop music' with a message. (so 'Beat It' would be more 'MJ' than 'Thriller')

That's why it's so weird when people dismiss his music as just pop or something, I mean is there ANYONE who made/makes more meaningful music..?? Music, video, dance, funk, soul, pathos, drama etc. etc were all just ways to get his message through, to as many people as possibe imho
 
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Just thought of the writers of 'I'll be there', that song always had a vulnerable, haunting quality to it whenever MJ sang it. I think the writers inadvertently captured that unconditional giving nature that he had. There's a clip on YouTube showing live performances of MJ singing the song throughout his life. That clip is special and sad to watch all at the same time.
 
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Ice Cube. His collaboration with MJ led to one of the greatest songs, Michael have ever recorded - We Be Bowling You. Pure masterpiece! Should have been released as the main single for Invincible album with music video as well! I love this song. It's perfect!
 
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