History Music / Michael

Inevitably, with the sales of Jackson's discography skyrocketing shortly after his death, his estate made plans to release a selection of the tracks he recorded between 2005 and 2009, as well as others recorded between ''{{Music/Thriller}}'' and ''{{Music/Invincible}}''. ''{{Music/Dangerous}}'' producer Teddy Riley was brought on to remix several of the tracks, alongside Neff-U, Tricky Stewart, and Eddie Cascio himself. will.i.am. objected to the plans, and blocked the estate from using the tracks he recorded with Michael. Also, Sony released an early version of the album art that featured {{Music/Prince}}'s "Love Symbol", starting speculation that the Purple One had lent his talents to the album's development, but was immediately denied by his camp. Sony scrubbed the symbol from the album art soon after the response.

''Michael'' is the first posthumous album and eleventh album overall by Music/MichaelJackson, released in late 2010.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Both "Breaking News" and "Monster" continue Michael's commentary on the tabloids from "Tabloid Junkie" and "Privacy".

On release, ''Michael'' was met with mixed reviews from critics, and controversy from fans over the authenticity of some of the album's tracks. "Breaking News," "Keep Your Head Up", and "Monster" were recorded in the basement of Eddie Cascio's house during Michael's stay there in 2007 and are credited to him, Cascio and James Porte. Many MJ fans have claimed the vocals on the Cascio tracks were not genuine and were recorded by an impersonator (the popular target being Italian-American R&B artist and MJ soundalike Jason Malachi). Teddy Riley, who remixed three of the Cascio tracks, said the vocals were authentic, but were distorted due to heavy use of AutoTune and Melodyne. This did nothing to appease the fans, to the point where one ''[[http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/06/13/68726.htm filed a class action lawsuit]]'' that went all the way to the California Supreme Court, and [[CreatorBacklash Riley himself eventually backed down and apologized for working on the album]], claiming that he was "set up"; all of which eventually resulted in the alleged fake tracks [https://thegrio.com/2022/06/30/3-michael-jackson-songs-suddenly-removed-from-youtube-and-apple-music-but-not-because-of-lawsuit-spokesman-says/ getting pulled off music services]] in June 2022. Sony and the Jackson estate initially denied hiring an impersonator, but later claimed they didn't know, and that their claim that it was actually Jackson's vocals were protected under the First Amendment. On August 18, 2022, the lawsuit was mutually settled; however, the courts still ruled that Sony was still at fault, [[https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/sony-loses-claims-over-michael-jackson-album-authenticity saying]] that their First Amendment defense was invalid when it came to "an explicit promise of a superstar's vocal contributions to a product".

* {{Crossover}}: Michael teamed up with Akon and Music/LennyKravitz to make "Hold My Hand" and "(I Can't Make It) Another Day", respectively.

Inevitably, with the sales of Jackson's discography skyrocketing shortly after his death, his estate made plans to release a selection of the tracks he recorded between 2005 and 2009, as well as others recorded between ''{{Music/Thriller}}'' and ''{{Music/Invincible}}''. {{Music/Dangerous}} producer Teddy Riley was brought on to remix several of the tracks, alongside Neff-U, Tricky Stewart, and Eddie Cascio himself. will.i.am. objected to the plans, and blocked the estate from using the tracks he recorded with Michael. Also, Sony released an early version of the album art that featured {{Music/Prince}}'s "Love Symbol", starting speculation that the Purple One had lent his talents to the album's development, but was immediately denied by his camp. Sony scrubbed the symbol from the album art soon after the response.

On release, ''Michael'' was met with mixed reviews from critics, and controversy from fans over the authenticity of some of the album's tracks. "Breaking News," "Keep Your Head Up", and "Monster" were recorded in the basement of Eddie Cascio's house during Michael's stay there in 2007 and are credited to him, Cascio and James Porte. Many MJ fans have claimed the vocals on the Cascio tracks were not genuine and were recorded by an impersonator (the popular target being Italian-American R&B artist and MJ soundalike Jason Malachi). Teddy Riley, who remixed three of the Cascio tracks, said the vocals were authentic, but were distorted due to heavy use of AutoTune and Melodyne. This did nothing to appease the fans, to the point where one ''[[http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/06/13/68726.htm filed a class action lawsuit]]'', and [[CreatorBacklash Riley himself eventually backed down and apologized for working on the album]], claiming that he was "set up". As of July 2022, the lawsuit is currently before the California Supreme Court.

On June 30, 2022, the three Casico tracks were removed from the album on all music services. A spokesperson for the Jackson estate [[https://thegrio.com/2022/06/30/3-michael-jackson-songs-suddenly-removed-from-youtube-and-apple-music-but-not-because-of-lawsuit-spokesman-says/ stated]] that the tracks were removed due to the ongoing controversy, but denied it had anything to due to with their authenticity.

Please remember the Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement when adding examples about the controversy to the page, and keep it as neutral as possible.

On release, ''Michael'' was met with mixed reviews from critics, and controversy from fans over the authenticity of some of the album's tracks. "Breaking News," "Keep Your Head Up", and "Monster" were recorded in the basement of Eddie Cascio's house during Michael's stay there in 2007 and are credited to him, Cascio and James Porte. Many MJ fans have claimed the vocals on the Cascio tracks were not genuine and were recorded by an impersonator (the popular target being Italian-American R&B artist and MJ soundalike Jason Malachi). Teddy Riley, who remixed three of the Cascio tracks, said the vocals were authentic, but were distorted due to heavy use of AutoTune and Melodyne. This did nothing to appease the fans, to the point where one ''[[http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/06/13/68726.htm filed a class action lawsuit]]'', and [[CreatorBacklash Riley himself eventually backed down and apologized for working on the album]], claiming that he was "set up".

# "Keep Your Head Up" (4:49)

# "Monster" (5:04)

# "Breaking News" (4:14)

On release, ''Michael'' was met with mixed reviews from critics, and controversy from fans over the authenticity of some of the album's tracks. "Breaking News," "Keep Your Head Up", "Monster" and "Hollywood Tonight" were recorded in the basement of Eddie Cascio's house during Michael's stay there in 2007 and are credited to him, Cascio and James Porte. Many MJ fans have claimed the vocals on the Cascio tracks were not genuine and were recorded by an impersonator (the popular target being Italian-American R&B artist and MJ soundalike Jason Malachi). Teddy Riley, who remixed three of the Cascio tracks, said the vocals were authentic, but were distorted due to heavy use of AutoTune and Melodyne. This did nothing to appease the fans, to the point where one ''[[http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/06/13/68726.htm filed a class action lawsuit]]'', and [[CreatorBacklash Riley himself eventually backed down and apologized for working on the album]], claiming that he was "set up".

* CoverVersion: [[Music/YellowMagicOrchestra "Behind The Mask"]] is a somewhat interesting case; the original song from 1979 was primarily a SynthPop instrumental with the occasional lyrical chorus (as was the case with most of the songs on [[Music/SolidStateSurvivor its parent album]]), but Jackson wrote a whole series of new verses for the song specifically for himself to sing (the man was known as a singer and a dancer, not an instrumentalist). These revised lyrics became standard for most covers of the song, including ones by Music/TheHumanLeague and Music/EricClapton in the years before Jackson's cover was eventually allowed to be released.

For a time after being acquitted of several child abuse charges, there were rumors that Michael was working on a comeback album and preparing for a world tour. Between 2005 and June 2009, MJ had recorded and produced several songs, some unfinished, with Music/WillIAm of Music/TheBlackEyedPeas, James Porte and Eddie Casico, and was preparing for a 50-show concert series in London's O2 arena titled ''"This Is It"''.

Inevitably, with the sales of Jackson's discography skyrocketing shortly after his death, his estate made plans to release a selection of the tracks he recorded between 2005 and 2009, as well as others recorded between ''{{Music/Thriller}}'' and ''{{Music/Invincible}}''. {{Music/Dangerous}} producer Teddy Riley was brought on to remix several of the tracks, alongside Neff-U, Tricky Stewart, and Eddie Casico himself. will.i.am. objected to the plans, and blocked the estate from using the tracks he recorded with Michael. Also, Sony released an early version of the album art that featured {{Music/Prince}}'s "Love Symbol", starting speculation that the Purple One had lent his talents to the album's development, but was immediately denied by his camp. Sony scrubbed the symbol from the album art soon after the response.

On release, ''Michael'' was met with mixed reviews from critics, and controversy from fans over the authenticity of some of the album's tracks. "Breaking News," "Keep Your Head Up", "Monster" and "Hollywood Tonight" were recorded in the basement of Eddie Casico's house during Michael's stay there in 2007 and are credited to him, Casico and James Porte. Many MJ fans have claimed the vocals on the Casico tracks were not genuine and were recorded by an impersonator (the popular target being Italian-American R&B artist and MJ soundalike Jason Malachi). Teddy Riley, who remixed three of the Casico tracks, said the vocals were authentic, but were distorted due to heavy use of AutoTune and Melodyne. This did nothing to appease the fans, to the point where one ''[[http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/06/13/68726.htm filed a class action lawsuit]]'', and [[CreatorBacklash Riley himself eventually backed down and apologized for working on the album]], claiming that he was "set up".

* RecordProducer: Teddy Riley returns from ''Dangerous'' and ''Invincible'' to produce three of the Eddie Casico tracks, along with Neff-U, Tricky Stewart, and Eddie Casico himself to flesh out the rest of the album.

Tragically, [[AuthorExistenceFailure Michael died from an overdose of Propofol and benzodiazepine on June 25, 2009]], putting a premature (and permanent) end to his plans.

# [[Music/YellowMagicOrchestra "Behind The Mask"]] (5:01)

* CoverVersion: [[Music/YellowMagicOrchestra "Behind The Mask"]] is a somewhat interesting case; the original song from 1979 was primarily a SynthPop instrumental with the occasional lyrical chorus, but Jackson wrote a whole series of new verses for the song specifically for himself to sing (the man was known as a singer and a dancer, not an instrumentalist). These revised lyrics became standard for most covers of the song, including ones by Music/TheHumanLeague and Music/EricClapton in the years before Jackson's cover was eventually allowed to be released.

* UpdatedRerelease: All of the album's tracks were included in the iTunes exlcusive ''Ultimate Fan Extras Collection'', which itself is an updated reissue of the 2004 ''Ultimate Collection''.

# "Behind The Mask" (5:01)

* CoverVersion: [[Music/YellowMagicOrchestra "Behind The Mask"]], though some extra lyrics were added by Michael.

Please remember the RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement when adding examples about the controversy to the page, and keep it as neutral as possible.

For a time after being acquitted of several child abuse charges, there were rumors that Michael was working on a comeback album and preparing for a world tour. Between 2005 and June 2009, MJ had recorded and produced several songs, some unfinished, with will.i.am of Music/TheBlackEyedPeas, James Porte and Eddie Casico, and was preparing for a 50-show concert series in London's O2 arena titled ''"This Is It"''.

* {{Crossover}}: Michael teamed up with Akon and Lenny Kravitz to make "Hold My Hand" and "(I Can't Make It) Another Day", respectively.

* ContinuityPorn: Michael Jackson's career from ''Music/OffTheWall'' and onward is the basis for the cover art, including nods to ''{{Film/Moonwalker}}'' and Neverland Ranch.

Please remember the RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement when adding examples abut the controversy to the page, and keep it as neutral as possible.

* {{Crossover}}: Michael teamed up with {{Music/Akon}} and Music/LennyKravitz to make "Hold My Hand" and "(I Can't Make It) Another Day", respectively.

Inevitably, with the sales of Jackson's discography skyrocketing shortly after his death, his estate made plans to release a selection of the tracks he recorded between 2005 and 2009, as well as others recorded between ''{{Music/Thriller}}'' and ''{{Music/Invincible}}''. {{Music/Dangerous}} producer Teddy Riley was brought on to remix several of the tracks, alongside Neff-U, Tricky Stewart will.i.am. objected to the plans, and blocked the estate from using the tracks he recorded with Michael. Also, Sony released an early version of the album art that featured {{Music/Prince}}'s "Love Symbol", starting speculation that the Purple One had lent his talents to the album's development, but was immediately denied by his camp. Sony scrubbed the symbol from the album art soon after the response.

On release, ''Michael'' was met with mixed reviews from critics, and controversy from fans over the authenticity of some of the album's tracks. "Breaking News," "Keep Your Head Up", "Monster" and "Hollywood Tonight" were recorded in the basement of Eddie Casico's house during Michael's stay there in 2007 and are credited to him, Casico and James Porte. Many MJ fans have claimed the vocals on the Casico tracks were not genuine and were recorded by an impersonator (the popular target being Italian-American R&B artist and MJ soundalike Jason Malachi). Teddy Riley, who remixed three of the Casico tracks, said the vocals were authentic, but were distorted due to heavy use of AutoTune and Melodyne. This did nothing to appease the fans, to the point where one ''[[http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/06/13/68726.htm filed a class action lawsuit]]'', and [[CreatorBacklash Riley himself eventually backed down and apologized for working on the album]].

* {{Paparazzi}}: A recurring theme from MJ since ''Dangerous'', and is discussed in "Breaking News" and Monster.

* {{Paparazi}}: A recurring theme from MJ since ''Dangerous'', and is discussed in "Breaking News" and Monster.