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When will.i.am tried to release the songs he did with MJ on his own album

Hmm I agree with some of the things said here, but disagree with others.

For someone who's been dead for 13 years now, Michael is actually fairly popular among the younger crowd. I often hear about his songs trending on TikTok, and many of the Twitter fan accounts are run by teenagers and young adults. So honestly, to say he's "no longer relevant to young people" is, to me, a denial of his legacy and universal appeal. It's still "cool" to like Michael Jackson, and it will be a long time before that changes, if ever. 🤷‍♀️

Also, for what it's worth, I think some (but by no means all) of the original versions on XScape sound a bit unfinished, and I think had Michael still been alive, he would not have released them in that state. So yes, in certain cases I prefer the updated version, I don't care if that makes me a "bad" fan.

That being said, I personally don't care about "hits" or anything like that, I care first and foremost about his legacy as an artist. (Also I don't think Whitney Houston was a good example; didn't she have a posthumous hit regardless?) At the same time, Thriller 40 seems to be mostly aimed at fans, but some are complaining about a lack of promotion. This isn't about "wrong" or "right"; all I mean is that there's no "one size fits all" solution. I feel like MJ fans all want different things, which isn't a bad thing at all mind you (and what I said wasn't meant as a complaint), but it does mean not everyone will be satisfied, as unfortunate as it is.

Honestly, all I want is no more Cascio tracks. And the estate needs to stop hiring questionable people, too. They also were supposed to release more posthumous albums, which didn't happen... I can live with that, but I do think it's sloppy on their part.
 
DangerousGal91 said:
I think had Michael still been alive, he would not have released them in that state. So yes, in certain cases I prefer the updated version, I don't care if that makes me a "bad" fan.
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Not at all lol. All I'm trying to say is that in some cases the remixes tend to sound worse than the originals and I don't blame the people who hate remixes. It's all a matter of how the remix is done.
 
DangerousGal91 said:
Hmm I agree with some of the things said here, but disagree with others.

For someone who's been dead for 13 years now, Michael is actually fairly popular among the younger crowd. I often hear about his songs trending on TikTok, and many of the Twitter fan accounts are run by teenagers and young adults. So honestly, to say he's "no longer relevant to young people" is, to me, a denial of his legacy and universal appeal. It's still "cool" to like Michael Jackson, and it will be a long time before that changes, if ever. 🤷‍♀️

Also, for what it's worth, I think some (but by no means all) of the original versions on XScape sound a bit unfinished, and I think had Michael still been alive, he would not have released them in that state. So yes, in certain cases I prefer the updated version, I don't care if that makes me a "bad" fan.

That being said, I personally don't care about "hits" or anything like that, I care first and foremost about his legacy as an artist. (Also I don't think Whitney Houston was a good example; didn't she have a posthumous hit regardless?) At the same time, Thriller 40 seems to be mostly aimed at fans, but some are complaining about a lack of promotion. This isn't about "wrong" or "right"; all I mean is that there's no "one size fits all" solution. I feel like MJ fans all want different things, which isn't a bad thing at all mind you (and what I said wasn't meant as a complaint), but it does mean not everyone will be satisfied, as unfortunate as it is.

Honestly, all I want is no more Cascio tracks. And the estate needs to stop hiring questionable people, too. They also were supposed to release more posthumous albums, which didn't happen... I can live with that, but I do think it's sloppy on their part.
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A common complaint brought up by many of his fans (regarding these updated versions of songs) has to do basically with the fact that the Estate hires people who never worked with Michael Jackson (on these songs) in order to update them.

For example, they hired Timbaland so as to co-produce the updated version of the 'Slave To The Rhythm' song.

It would be better if the Estate hires only people who actually worked with Michael Jackson on these original, unfinished songs back then, because in that way they would now finish/update these songs as closest as possible to Michael Jackson's vision on these songs.
 
mj_frenzy said:
A common complaint brought up by many of his fans (regarding these updated versions of songs) has to do basically with the fact that the Estate hires people who never worked with Michael Jackson (on these songs) in order to update them.

For example, they hired Timbaland so as to co-produce the updated version of the 'Slave To The Rhythm' song.

It would be better if the Estate hires only people who actually worked with Michael Jackson on these original, unfinished songs back then, because in that way they would now finish/update these songs as closest as possible to Michael Jackson's vision on these songs.
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Depends. If the purpose is to keep the songs as authentic as possible, then I would agree they should (if they can) hire people who worked with Michael or at least know his style well. Though if the purpose is to make the songs more contemporary, then choosing more recent artists would make sense. As a fan, I want to work to be as authentic as possible, but that may not be the best business decision 🤷‍♀️
 
They should always try to make the songs soudns as authentic as possible. If MJ has made any notes how he wants the song to sound etc. they should try to make the song as close to a MJ song as possible.

BUT - the more years that go by, the more problematic will that be. So at some point they might have no choice than to get a current popular artist to contemporize the songs. - But doing so will make it absolut neccesary to also release the song/demo as MJ left it.
 
Looking back on this thread


It's still a matter of taste lol. You don't have to love every song, don't have to hate everyone. No one way to appreciate things. I prefer State of Shock with Freddie versus Jagger but guess which one got released. Not a bad fan just to like one more than the other. Not bad taste either.

And L.A. Reid definitely made Timbaland stick to the outline for his song, Slave to the Rhythm.
 
As for Will I Am, I think people are discounting him by a lot. His music has aged well enough, as has most material from 2006-2008. Music was not really in a bad place at all, bias was just starting to set in. You had lots of quality producers, and this is where all the classics of the last decade emerged.

It's really only in the EDM era that things started going wrong, and that's more 2010-2014. Which was more due to radio trends than anything. And didn't last long. And now I like to think we're in something of a musical renaissance, quality has started to return to a pretty significant extent. Engineering and mastering is a different story, but you have options there too so overall, any of the outtakes that weren't released, for various reasons (Mostly because MJ wanted singles only) could still be plenty viable in the right way.
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
As for Will I Am, I think people are discounting him by a lot. His music has aged well enough, as has most material from 2006-2008. Music was not really in a bad place at all, bias was just starting to set in. You had lots of quality producers, and this is where all the classics of the last decade emerged.

It's really only in the EDM era that things started going wrong, and that's more 2010-2014. Which was more due to radio trends than anything. And didn't last long. And now I like to think we're in something of a musical renaissance, quality has started to return to a pretty significant extent. Engineering and mastering is a different story, but you have options there too so overall, any of the outtakes that weren't released, for various reasons (Mostly because MJ wanted singles only) could still be plenty viable in the right way.
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No offense but Will I Am sucked back then and sucks even more now. Thriller 25? smfh what was Mike thinking? Fergi on Beat it?🤮
 
Nite Line said:
Will.i.am is a fraud and his music is very average. Not sure what Michael saw in him that he decided to work with him.
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I've said it before - Michael definitely was smoking something deciding to work that much with Will. So many better artists out there at the time. I get the friendship thing, but musically, big no for me. It did seem like he wanted to keep pushing and driving in the modern "RnB / Pop" lane back then
 
analogue said:
As much as I wish he wouldn't have, Michael cared about chart success. So working with one the most popular producers of that time made sense.
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Yes, and that is the reason why Michael decided to work with Rodney Jerkins for Invincible. Chart success.
 
Yeah, everybody just kinda ignored what I said.

Will I am is not a good rapper. He is a good producer. Fergie is not a good singer. Will I Am is a good producer. Maybe not great, but you know who was? Kanye. He's a Nazi now. And at least Will stood up for MJ always. Anyway




Here's some songs Will I Am, produced, that sounds good. And very MJ esque. Especially when JT is on the mix. I've also heard some good RedOne produced tracks too, that would probably interest people to hear.
 
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I wish Micahel had more confidence in himself. He could write, sing and compose and produce. He didn't need anyone
 
analogue said:
I wish Micahel had more confidence in himself. He could write, sing and compose and produce. He didn't need anyone
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You know, part of me definitely agrees with you. I would say a pretty big part, in fact. However, I also think Michael was a master of collaboration.

For example, I just finished reading King of Style by Michael Bush, which is a book all about his fashion. Bush writes countless anecdotes about Michael, but the one thing I really took from all of them is that MJ had real skill for drawing the excellence out of people. Bush described working with him as this creative exhilaration of constantly being pushed beyond his limits toward innovation. To consistently inspire that in others is such a rare skill, but I think Michael had it. You hear so many stories like this from all kinds of collaborators from all aspects of his career and life.

That said, I often find without even realizing it initially that most of my favorite songs are those written and composed by Michael himself. There are exceptions, of course, but there's no doubt he was a singular talent.
 
The difference between MJ reinventing himself and MJ only going to himself is the difference between MJ and the rest of his brothers. Janet has also been very cutting edge. Her last album was very fresh.
 
I guess when Will said he doesn't release them cause its "disrespectful" he was still on a very successful level of his career.
But he realized that his MJ songs could help him now his career is not as exciting...
 
kai said:
I guess when Will said he doesn't release them cause its "disrespectful" he was still on a very successful level of his career.
But he realized that his MJ songs could help him now his career is not as exciting...
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I'd tell him go for it. The guy is not getting younger, and you never know. I for one would like to hear those songs before I die at least. We need more MJ vocals/songs from his last years, as it is an incredible interesting phase of his musical years to me. Obviously because we have heard so little from those years as well.

If the music is shit, or Will I Am is annoying all over the tracks, AI technology is becoming so good, one can just filter out a clean acappella and make a completely new instrumental out of it, etc. Just saying - not that I prefer this, but I have no fear anymore
 
Pentum said:
I'd tell him go for it. The guy is not getting younger, and you never know. I for one would like to hear those songs before I die at least. We need more MJ vocals/songs from his last years, as it is an incredible interesting phase of his musical years to me. Obviously because we have heard so little from those years as well.

If the music is shit, or Will I Am is annoying all over the tracks, AI technology is becoming so good, one can just filter out a clean acappella and make a completely new instrumental out of it, etc. Just saying - not that I prefer this, but I have no fear anymore
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If people made piano mixes of don't matter to me that sounds good, anythings possible lmao
 
Beano Wild said:
If people made piano mixes of don't matter to me that sounds good, anythings possible lmao
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Don't Matter To Me is like one of the least contentious modern songs ever heard, even bt Drake standards. That guy is not avant garde at all lol. I'd wager it's less out there than most of the work done to songs on Xscape even
 
A lot of classic artists struggled with decade changes. I don't think Stevie had a good time in the 90s, overall. Prince did some great work but some wouldn't call it as avant garde or comfortable as the 80s hey day. Aside from Madonna who made a name for herself.

It's just a lot of work to navigate the 90s music scene, and then the 2000s scene. To get to the 2010s was its own herculean effort, but it seems by now it's pretty easy, with The Weeknd, and Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, to just make a comfy throwback and have a great time.

All of that is to say, I think overall MJ did it well and could do it easily. He would definitely want to, without any (meaningful) throwbacks.
 
ChanceToDance said:
For some songs? Sure, but a lot of them are a downgrade of the originals. The symphonies on the Xscape remix are too loud and that remix takes away all the "anger" the original version had. The remix of APWNN turned what was supposed to be a cover of A Horse With No Name into a generic electronic song the same of which removes vocals. MJ's vocals in Don't Matter To Me are ruined by the overuse of autotune.

Like I said, it's a hit or miss.
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I’ll never forgive them for what they did with APWNN. They ruined a great song that was a hommage to A Horse With No Name. I wish McClain had remixed the song instead.
 
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