Which song was Michael going to sing live in This is It

[filmandmusic]

If his voice was so good during this is it why would he even want the option of playback. Just ask your background singers to take over when necessary or to hide some half hit notes or bend the notes so that you can reach them. Hell just don’t sing the damn note and do a funky improvised move instead if you don’t feel comfortable. He was a pro, reading stuff like this makes me mad. His approach to concerts was infuriating to me.

As much as playback is cheating, re recording vocals to playback to is double as offensive to me. Just go out there and prove you can sing, if you can record albums while jumping around in the recording booth then you can do that on stage too. Self believe was important for Michael, he always believed he would become an international star, he believed he could make thriller the greatest album ever but apparently he didn’t believe he was able to sing live on stage. Weird very weird.

 

[Beano Wild]

This is it should have just been him with a mic, similar to what prince suggested. It was the only way of doing a comeback imo.

 

[SmoothGangsta]

if you can record albums while jumping around in the recording booth then you can do that on stage too

This comparison is quite ridiculous tbh.

 

[filmandmusic]

This comparison is quite ridiculous tbh.

There will always be different standards among us fans. Imo it is ridiculous people agree to lip syncing. He sang all the time, he sang in the studio, he sang at home, he sang since he was 6. I can’t think of anyone more experienced than MJ he should have worked it out. I often sensed this reluctance to sing live. When someone shoved a mic under his nose unprepared you could see him growing insecure. Where the hell did that come from?

The difference between his public appearances on stage from the early 80s compared with his final 20 years are night and day and I wanna know why. He was relaxed and full of confidence when James Brown or Diana Ross called him on stage, in his later career he almost refuses to sing one line when someone asks him to sing something. He always came up with the same bullshit “I’m sparing my voice”… give me a break, something was very wrong in his head I just don’t know what. I think it has something to do with his failed plastic surgery.

The last time he slayed it unprepared was at the Oprah Winfrey interview. One of my favorite ever “performances” come from a short an interview, that says a lot.

 

[PurpleThriller]

Hell just don’t sing the damn note and do a funky improvised move instead if you don’t feel comfortable. He was a pro, reading stuff like this makes me mad. His approach to concerts was infuriating to me.

What's ironic is that Mike already did that,if i'm not mistaken. Back when he actually cared about what he was doing on stage,also known as the times when his microphone was fortunately on ,Mike usually performed most,if not all the songs from the setlist,in lower keys than what was included on the albums. But don't get it twisted,he didn't have any mercy:he lowered Dirty Diana down by 3 semi-tones(if not even more) while performing it live,starting with the European shows from the 1988 leg.
Not only that he lowered the song down by 3 semi-tones/3 semi-tones and a half,but he also usually just happened to ditch pretty much all the impressive/hard notes that this song ever contained:in the earlier US shows he always ditched the agressive notes before the chorus(''She trapped me in her heart'';''If you make me a star;''Because he's sleeping with me'') along with totally avoiding to hit the ''Diana..diana..come on'' scream that it's midway through the song. During the European shows he also never hit that specific scream,along with,this time around,never hitting the several screams at the end of the song either:by making Sheryl Crow to sing all of them while he was doing his basic ''he hee'' signature (that was not demanding ,vocally,in any way,compared to the actual ''come on'' part that he never dared to attempt hitting after a few early shows apparently).And there are shows like Rome where: he lowers the song down by 3 semi/tones-he ditches all the agressive notes before the chorus-he never does the scream midway through the album version of the track-he barely does any singing during the final part of the song,while Sheryl Crow performs most of it.
If you ask me,this is not a case of not having confidence on stage, but rather a case of barely being able to sing your songs live,anywhere close to the original.
As much as I hate it,lip-synching just saved his reputation as a singer(since so many people were fooled by it and thought it was him performing live on the spot). I can't recall a single moment when he was able to replicate anything,vocally,from his albums after 1987. Call me crazy but that says a lot.

 

[filmandmusic]

What's ironic is that Mike already did that,if i'm not mistaken. Back when he actually cared about what he was doing on stage,also known as the times when his microphone was fortunately on ,Mike usually performed most,if not all the songs from the setlist,in lower keys than what was included on the albums. But don't get it twisted,he didn't have any mercy:he lowered Dirty Diana down by 3 semi-tones(if not even more) while performing it live,starting with the European shows from the 1988 leg.
Not only that he lowered the song down by 3 semi-tones/3 semi-tones and a half,but he also usually just happened to ditch pretty much all the impressive/hard notes that this song ever contained:in the earlier US shows he always ditched the agressive notes before the chorus(''She trapped me in her heart'';''If you make me a star;''Because he's sleeping with me'') along with totally avoiding to hit the ''Diana..diana..come on'' scream that it's midway through the song. During the European shows he also never hit that specific scream,along with,this time around,never hitting the several screams at the end of the song either:by making Sheryl Crow to sing all of them while he was doing his basic ''he hee'' signature (that was not demanding ,vocally,in any way,compared to the actual ''come on'' part that he never dared to attempt hitting after a few early shows apparently).And there are shows like Rome where: he lowers the song down by 3 semi/tones-he ditches all the agressive notes before the chorus-he never does the scream midway through the album version of the track-he barely does any singing during the final part of the song,while Sheryl Crow performs most of it.

That's all a bit too technical for me but I understand what you're getting at lol

If you ask me,this is not a case of not having confidence on stage, but rather a case of barely being able to sing your songs live,anywhere close to the original.

Could be could be. In any case this I am ok with, as you say at the least the mic is on

As much as I hate it,lip-synching just saved his reputation as a singer(since so many people were fooled by it and thought it was him performing live on the spot). I can't recall a single moment when he was able to replicate anything,vocally,from his albums after 1987. Call me crazy but that says a lot.

But why could he replicate his songs live pre bad tour? I'm not an expert on his live shows (I barely watch them) so I'm not sure when he sang his songs like they were recorded but it was closer to the album product on the destiny triumph and victory tours right? I remember being very impressed with how he sang the thriller tracks on the Victory tour.
Especially very early on he was able to reproduce his songs live the way they were recorded (1969/1971)

 

[dam2040]

There will always be different standards among us fans. Imo it is ridiculous people agree to lip syncing. He sang all the time, he sang in the studio, he sang at home, he sang since he was 6. I can’t think of anyone more experienced than MJ he should have worked it out. I often sensed this reluctance to sing live. When someone shoved a mic under his nose unprepared you could see him growing insecure. Where the hell did that come from?

The difference between his public appearances on stage from the early 80s compared with his final 20 years are night and day and I wanna know why. He was relaxed and full of confidence when James Brown or Diana Ross called him on stage, in his later career he almost refuses to sing one line when someone asks him to sing something. He always came up with the same bullshit “I’m sparing my voice”… give me a break, something was very wrong in his head I just don’t know what. I think it has something to do with his failed plastic surgery.

The last time he slayed it unprepared was at the Oprah Winfrey interview. One of my favorite ever “performances” come from a short an interview, that says a lot.

That’s just proof you know absolutely nothing. The Oprah interview was heavily rehearsed, down to the dance break section.

 

[analogue]

Songs I think would have been live
1. Jackson 5 Medley
2. Rock With You
3. Don't Stop Til You Get Enough
4. Wanna Be Startin Somethin
5. Thriller
6. Billie Jean
7. Human Nature
8. Beat It
9. I Just Can't Stop Loving You
10. Dirty Diana

 

[PurpleThriller]

That’s just proof you know absolutely nothing. The Oprah interview was heavily rehearsed, down to the dance break section.

Getting something wrong about a pop star's life who has been dead for almost a decade and a half means you know nothing about them at all?Impressive,your picture might appear next to the definition of ''logical fallacy'' right up in the dictionary. Don't forget to smile

 

[Themidwestcowboy]

This is it should have just been him with a mic, similar to what prince suggested. It was the only way of doing a comeback imo.

It absolutely was not. MJ have millions of fans over the world who wanted the full MJ live experience. Saying that him with just a mic was the only way of doing a comeback is silly. Utterly silly

 

[Themidwestcowboy]

There will always be different standards among us fans. Imo it is ridiculous people agree to lip syncing. He sang all the time, he sang in the studio, he sang at home, he sang since he was 6. I can’t think of anyone more experienced than MJ he should have worked it out. I often sensed this reluctance to sing live. When someone shoved a mic under his nose unprepared you could see him growing insecure. Where the hell did that come from?

The difference between his public appearances on stage from the early 80s compared with his final 20 years are night and day and I wanna know why. He was relaxed and full of confidence when James Brown or Diana Ross called him on stage, in his later career he almost refuses to sing one line when someone asks him to sing something. He always came up with the same bullshit “I’m sparing my voice”… give me a break, something was very wrong in his head I just don’t know what. I think it has something to do with his failed plastic surgery.

The last time he slayed it unprepared was at the Oprah Winfrey interview. One of my favorite ever “performances” come from a short an interview, that says a lot.

This was an interesting read and provided a different perspective. Never thought about it like that. Don’t you think a factor could have been that he hadn’t properly warmed up? MJ religiously did his vocals warm ups before singing so maybe he felt a bit insecure about such things as voice cracks if he sung without properly warming up.

One thing tho, MJ sang live on the spot later in his career
whenever presented with the opportunity. For example, Who is it Oprah 1993, Will you be there NAACP awards 1994, If you only believe 1994, We are the world bill Clinton 1994/1995 thing, heal the world Bahamas 1998, James Brown BET 2003, We are the world 2006. There are more instances that I have just forgotten

 

[filmandmusic]

@Themidwestcowboy wow I never heard of if you only believe 1994, thanks! This is almost on autopilot, nothing strained effortless, he isn’t even trying and it sounds wonderful.

Each of those snippets prove he can sing and they are all very beautiful, I rather listen to those snippets on repeat than watch 2 minutes of HIStory world tour, I’m very sorry but that’s how I feel.

 

[Themidwestcowboy]

What's ironic is that Mike already did that,if i'm not mistaken. Back when he actually cared about what he was doing on stage,also known as the times when his microphone was fortunately on ,Mike usually performed most,if not all the songs from the setlist,in lower keys than what was included on the albums. But don't get it twisted,he didn't have any mercy:he lowered Dirty Diana down by 3 semi-tones(if not even more) while performing it live,starting with the European shows from the 1988 leg.
Not only that he lowered the song down by 3 semi-tones/3 semi-tones and a half,but he also usually just happened to ditch pretty much all the impressive/hard notes that this song ever contained:in the earlier US shows he always ditched the agressive notes before the chorus(''She trapped me in her heart'';''If you make me a star;''Because he's sleeping with me'') along with totally avoiding to hit the ''Diana..diana..come on'' scream that it's midway through the song. During the European shows he also never hit that specific scream,along with,this time around,never hitting the several screams at the end of the song either:by making Sheryl Crow to sing all of them while he was doing his basic ''he hee'' signature (that was not demanding ,vocally,in any way,compared to the actual ''come on'' part that he never dared to attempt hitting after a few early shows apparently).And there are shows like Rome where: he lowers the song down by 3 semi/tones-he ditches all the agressive notes before the chorus-he never does the scream midway through the album version of the track-he barely does any singing during the final part of the song,while Sheryl Crow performs most of it.
If you ask me,this is not a case of not having confidence on stage, but rather a case of barely being able to sing your songs live,anywhere close to the original.
As much as I hate it,lip-synching just saved his reputation as a singer(since so many people were fooled by it and thought it was him performing live on the spot). I can't recall a single moment when he was able to replicate anything,vocally,from his albums after 1987. Call me crazy but that says a lot.

MJ sang many of his songs close to the original. Triumph tour and victory tour MJ sang most of those songs like they were originally recorded. The majority of the bad songs on the bad tour were sung in their original key ( Bad, TWYMMF, MITM, IJCSLY, Smooth Criminal). The only songs where he lowered the key was APOM and DD. Understandably so, they were hard songs to sing live, especially while dancing. This isn’t something that is exclusively tied to MJ. Many artists do this and artists also improvise their notes on certain parts of songs. That’s just a part of the artistry. Are you seriously gonna hold that against him? Is it such an offense to lower the pitch of some songs live?

 

[PurpleThriller]

The majority of the bad songs on the bad tour were sung in their original key ( Bad,TWYMMF, MITM,IJCSLY, Smooth Criminal).

True,though:
1. MITM has never been sung live in its entirety. It might have been in the original key, but the first 3/4 minutes of it have never been performed live,at all.
2. TWYMMF was barely sung live as well:starting with the European shows,he always lip-synched 90% of this song.
3. Smooth Criminal was in a similar situation. Starting from late May 1988 all the way to late January 1989,the song has always been performed with playback,except for a couple of ad-libs at the end.
So I don't know how much the performances of these songs count:most were 80% lip-synched starting with May 1988,so lip-synching songs while performing them in the original key doesn't seem to be rocket science to me(nobody heard most of his vocals for these tracks ,starting with the Rome show,anyway).

Are you seriously gonna hold that against him? Is it such an offense to lower the pitch of some songs live?

Not hitting several notes included in the song,even after lowering it down as low as 3 semi-tones under the original key,is simply proof of a mediocre live singer in my opinion. Or at least proof of a singer that ,while on stage,cannot do half of the things that he did while recording the said track. Again,that's the case of a not so great live singer once more(and it completely applies to MJ after 1987/early 1988,in my view).

 

[SeeingVoices]

Deleted!

Wasn’t aware of the circumstances of how this footage was obtained!

 

[Agonum]

Just had to rush over and post this:

[…]

Absolute gold!

I think without the expectation of dancing and singing in a controlled environment Michael absolutely still had the singing chops to deliver live performances. Sadly, he just wasn’t capable of doing both.

Do not post leaks from the thief! 🤬

 

[mj_frenzy]

This was an interesting read and provided a different perspective. Never thought about it like that. Don’t you think a factor could have been that he hadn’t properly warmed up? MJ religiously did his vocals warm ups before singing so maybe he felt a bit insecure about such things as voice cracks if he sung without properly warming up.

One thing tho, MJ sang live on the spot later in his career
whenever presented with the opportunity. For example, Who is it Oprah 1993, Will you be there NAACP awards 1994, If you only believe 1994, We are the world bill Clinton 1994/1995 thing, heal the world Bahamas 1998, James Brown BET 2003, We are the world 2006. There are more instances that I have just forgotten

Singing live and impromptu a few lines does not crack the voice.

In Bahamas, for example, Michael Jackson omits a few words which shows that he cannot remember certain lines of the 'Heal The World' song.

Also, the 'Who Is It' brief a cappella rendition (at the Oprah Winfrey interview) does not seem to be unprepared.

Such high-profile interviews (broadcasted to million of viewers) typically leave nothing to chance, on the contrary everything has to be planned beforehand, even these moments that appear to be spontaneous on TV.

 

[Themidwestcowboy]

Singing live and impromptu a few lines does not crack the voice.

In Bahamas, for example, Michael Jackson omits a few words which shows that he cannot remember certain lines of the 'Heal The World' song.

Also, the 'Who Is It' brief a cappella rendition (at the Oprah Winfrey interview) does not seem to be unprepared.

Such high-profile interviews (broadcasted to million of viewers) typically leave nothing to chance, on the contrary everything has to be planned beforehand, even these moments that appear to be spontaneous on TV.

It depends on what lines you are singing doesn’t it?

 

[Agonum]

It depends on what lines you are singing doesn’t it?

And whether your vocal cords are warmed up or not.

 

[mj_frenzy]

It depends on what lines you are singing doesn’t it?

On these occasions that you mentioned he just sings a few lines of slow songs/ballads, which certainly does not crack the voice.

As a matter of fact, this is (more or less) equal to speaking.

I do not count the James Brown BET 2003 event because here Michael Jackson utters, rather than sings, few words.

 

[Themidwestcowboy]

On these occasions that you mentioned he just sings a few lines of slow songs/ballads, which certainly does not crack the voice.

As a matter of fact, this is (more or less) equal to speaking.

I do not count the James Brown BET 2003 event because here Michael Jackson utters, rather than sings, few words.

Do you know how the voice works? It doesn’t matter what you sing but if your voice is not properly “tuned” you can have a voice crack. Especially as a high tenor who writes most of his songs up there. Try singing after waking up and see how good that goes. But as demonstrated MJ did these impromptu things. MJ knew his voice very well. I’m just pointing out, such things can influence whether someone sings on the spot.

 

[Agonum]

On these occasions that you mentioned he just sings a few lines of slow songs/ballads, which certainly does not crack the voice.

If not warmed up, just speaking in your normal voice could cause it to crack. You’re not giving an impression of being too well versed in the physiology of voice production. If you’ve ever sung, be it in a choir or what have you, you’d know this. It’s elementary.

 

[PurpleThriller]

If not warmed up, just speaking in your normal voice could cause it to crack. You’re not giving an impression of being too well versed in the physiology of voice production. If you’ve ever sung, be it in a choir or what have you, you’d know this. It’s elementary.

True

 

[mj_frenzy]

Do you know how the voice works? It doesn’t matter what you sing but if your voice is not properly “tuned” you can have a voice crack. Especially as a high tenor who writes most of his songs up there. Try singing after waking up and see how good that goes. But as demonstrated MJ did these impromptu things. MJ knew his voice very well. I’m just pointing out, such things can influence whether someone sings on the spot.

If not warmed up, just speaking in your normal voice could cause it to crack. You’re not giving an impression of being too well versed in the physiology of voice production. If you’ve ever sung, be it in a choir or what have you, you’d know this. It’s elementary.

But people speak in their normal voice without having done prior vocal warm up, and they do not crack their voice.

What can crack the voice (with or without prior vocal warm up) is: speaking, singing (both for a long period of time), and of course yelling, shouting and screaming.

 

[Agonum]

But people speak in their normal voice without having done prior vocal warm up, and they do not crack their voice.

They might, or they might not.

What can crack the voice (with or without prior vocal warm up) is: speaking, singing (both for a long period of time), and of course yelling, shouting and screaming.

You’re contradicting yourself.

 

[Themidwestcowboy]

True,though:
1. MITM has never been sung live in its entirety. It might have been in the original key, but the first 3/4 minutes of it have never been performed live,at all.
2. TWYMMF was barely sung live as well:starting with the European shows,he always lip-synched 90% of this song.
3. Smooth Criminal was in a similar situation. Starting from late May 1988 all the way to late January 1989,the song has always been performed with playback,except for a couple of ad-libs at the end.
So I don't know how much the performances of these songs count:most were 80% lip-synched starting with May 1988,so lip-synching songs while performing them in the original key doesn't seem to be rocket science to me(nobody heard most of his vocals for these tracks ,starting with the Rome show,anyway).

Not hitting several notes included in the song,even after lowering it down as low as 3 semi-tones under the original key,is simply proof of a mediocre live singer in my opinion. Or at least proof of a singer that ,while on stage,cannot do half of the things that he did while recording the said track. Again,that's the case of a not so great live singer once more(and it completely applies to MJ after 1987/early 1988,in my view).

I don’t know if you’re being willfully ignorant or not but you are deliberately ignoring all the other songs and other tours where he did reproduce the exact same vocals he did in the studio live. Some of those songs are even sung in a higher key than DD. So why are you singling out these two instances when there are a plethora of other examples that contradicts what you are implying?

 

[PurpleThriller]

I don’t know if you’re being willfully ignorant or not but you are deliberately ignoring all the other songs and other tours where he did reproduce the exact same vocals he did in the studio live.

Long story short,I am suggesting that these instances you've mentioned truly existed,it just happened for them to chronologically occur before the later part of,at least,1988.(by what I've observed,though.Feel free to provide examples of such situations happening after 1988/early '92 at the very most and please correct me if I'm wrong.)

 

[8th wonder]

MJ could still sing very well after the Bad tour. Early Dangerous tour shows sounded better than most 88' shows for nearly every song (IJCSLY & SOOML sounded great even after the early shows), You Were There 89', Gone Too Soon 93', ending of Earth Song in Brunei & certain dates on the History tour had great vocals e.g. the last line of Beat It in Brunei 96' or Cologne 97' or Billie Jean in Kuala Lumpur 96' (YANA, I'll Be There and Heal The World also sounded good).

 

[wonderouzmj]

Listening to human nature again.... there's no way he wasn't ready. He should've stripped the entire show like one night only

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

Deleted!

Wasn’t aware of the circumstances of how this footage was obtained!

If it's a YouTube video you can post it.