Thread by @MichaelStems

Invincible, a thread:

Alright, let's begin with the cover. Pictured above is alternate cover for the album, inspired by Albert Watson's "The Golden Boy". Though, after many alternations done by Sony, the photograph took a very different form.( I assume the different form is the cover we have now)

The "Golden Boy" inspired cover wasn't the only photo taken though, as Watson and Michael continued to work, taking around two weeks for an album photoshoot.

The sessions included Michael dancing around a pole, in a suit he chose himself. "From the beginning he had an idea of a portrait with different colors and tones for the album cover and photos inside."- Art of Design(artofdesignonline.com/invincible)

Next up are the Invincible sessions that took place around 1998-2001(maybe 97 too?)

After the release of Blood on the Dance Floor, many fans were left waiting for new content, excited to see the King of Pop make his return. Unfortunately, the only thing they got(before 2001) was missed deadlines, and multiple press releases that didn't mean much.

Jackson was excited for the future, and of course, planned on moving towards film after this album. But that's not what we'll be focusing on.

In 1999, rumors were buzzing about a new Michael Jackson album coming on the way. Jackson had mentioned that "a millennium song about the world and the environment" was going to be on the album, called "I Have This Dream".

Also, a warning. Please don't assume everything here is fact. This is info I've found in books, and of course, everything can be disputed.

Anyways, Sager mentioned that Michael seemed to have a greater sense of "peace and purpose", and the song was a reflection of that. "It's the most amazing track I have ever heard- it is a timeless classic that is just way too uplifting. No one will believe this record."

More rumors suggested that Jackson would be collaborating with "Puff Daddy, Will Smith, Jay-Z, Wyclef Jean, Brandy, Jodeci, Sisqo, R. K*lly, Lenny Kravitz, Babyface, and Justin Timberlake."

Michael had indeed worked with many of these artists, but let me take it back to 1998.(sorry if this is all over the place lol i didn't really organize this😅)

Early on in the album's production, Michael began working on music with Brad Buxer, typically in Buxer's LA house. This is where they worked on "Hanson"(turned into the way you love me), "That", "Bio", and "Monster"(unrelated to the Michael(2010) song of the same name)

Hanson was created for the band of the same name, but like i said above, it was turned The Way You Love Me.

After failing to complete some business ventures, he returned in August of 1998. He (allegedly) wanted a more street feeling to the album. Sean Combs wrote a song for the album, and Babyface was also contacted.

Michael and Babyface made at least two songs, including "Angel" and "You Are My LIfe"(more on YAML later.) Angel was inspired by the birth of Michael's son, and Babyface described it as "simply fantastic". I believe it's also a ballad.

Furthermore, he had an interest in working with DeVante Swing, but nothing really came out of it.

Diddy mentioned that they weren't suitable with each other, and he got some "harsh looks".

Michael's main collaborators at that point were Brad Buxer and Elliot Straite(Dr. Freeze). Buxer continued to help with Michael's ideas, and they also worked on Cry, and One More Chance. (Cry being one of the earliest songs completed for Invincible)

Between 1998-1999, Buxer and MIchael worked on multiple songs together, including "Beautiful Girl", "Hollywood Tonight", "The Lost Children", and "Speechless".

For Hollywood Tonight, Michael wrote the lyrics in the Beverly Hills Hotel, before recording. Buxer mentions that Michael told him nearly all of the parts of the song by phone. The bassline, intro, "westbound, greyhound" harmonies, the bridge, and the whistling outro, before-

the song was recorded.

John McClain was the one who started the working relationship between Dr. Freeze and Michael, and Freeze sent Michael some demos to view. Freeze was pretty intimidated, but the two had great chemistry.

Michael's favorite demo was "Break of Dawn", he simply adored it.

They also worked on "Blue Gangsta", and "A Place with No Name". They worked on around six songs in total.

By 1999, MJ had already recorded around 30 new tracks.

In February 1999, everyone was in town for the Grammys. Due to this, Michael gave the Sony and Epic Execs a taste of what was to come. The key figures came to Marvins Room, and Jackson played "Break of Dawn" for them. He assured them that the rest was just as good.

Cory Rooney was at this meeting, and Tommy M. encouraged him to work with Michael, leading to She Was Lovin' Me.(more on this later as my baby cousin has my book with info about this and idk when she'll give it back lmao)

Carole Bayer Sager introduced Rodney to Michael during a writing session. Sony had also recommended Michael to work with him, the trio's session resulted in We've Had Enough.

Darkchild/MJ's relationship did take some time to form, though. Jackson challenged Rodney to come up with some songs for review, and Jerkins spent a few weeks working on some music for MJ with Fred Jerkins and LaShawn Daniels.

They produced more than 12 demos, including "You Rock My World". Michael liked them, but he did not love them. He felt like they sounded like other R&B songs on the radio, and he wanted innovation.

Michael told him to create new sounds, so Rodney decided to go to a junkyard, and do things like hit trash cans/cars to make said sounds.

Jerkins later made a song that he played for Michael over the phone, and he loved it. The producer stated that Michael went crazy, was really into it. Jackson wrote lyrics soon after, and wanted to record vocals ASAP.

Other songs Rodney worked on were "Escape", and "Privacy". Engineer Brad Gilderman also stated that Michael was realy focused on his work at this time, and came in at 10am, usually staying till 6 or 7 pm.

Darkchild's team did end up working to the point where they stopped changing clothes and showering. The Sony Studios people had to give them new clothes as a result, and things like Big TVs, lots of food, were found in the studio.

Gilderman also mentioned that he'd find Michael awake at 3am reading magazines in the corner of the room.

Michael also had hotel suites for the crew, but some/most never slept in there, and they weren't really cancelled for the most part, since it wasn't michael's job. (factor of the album costing 30 mil)

While in New York, Michael worked with Robin Thicke and Walter Afanasieff on "Fall Again". Walter could see that Jackson had a lot on his table. He was quoted as saying "He'll be in like, ten different studios with ten different people. Just getting him to come in and finish is-

the thing. I'm halfway through my song with him, and I've got to get him back in the studio... But he's the master. He's the king, man; that's not a phony title. He's a really talented person."

Some say that the progress of the song was stopped due to Prince getting sick, others say it was cause the key was never lowered for Michael.

The album was doing great by this point, and Tommy Mottola made a press release saying, "it was some of the best music Michael's ever made." It included music like, "Break of Dawn", "You Rock My World", "Escape", "A Place With No Name", "Fall Again", "Angel", "Speechless",

"Beautiful Girl", "I Have This Dream", and "We've Had Enough", yet fewer than half made the album. With confidence, Sony set the release date for November 9th, 1999, but nothing was ever turned in.

In December, Sony announced that they hoped to have the album out by the early summer, but Michael wasn't close to finishing.

Michael wasn't satisfied with the material yet, and kept pushing Rodney and his team.

Some point in 2000, Michael decided that they should scrap everything, and start all over again. Over these months they worked on "Get Your Weight Off of Me", "Rampage", "Pressure", "Privacy", "The Pain", "Invincible", and "Rampage".

Stylistically, Michael didn't want a throwback album. Songs like "Heartbreaker" were exactly what he wanted.

In Summer 2000, Bruce Swedien was called up to help Michael finish Invincible. Work was done in LA, and they moved back to NY in september. Jackson decided to bring in Teddy Riley, and worked with him in private, since he knew that Sony wouldn't like it.(they were mad at the del-

ays) They began to work on "Heaven Can Wait", "On My Anger", "Don't Walk Away", and "Whatever Happens"

That March, Michael recorded "Butterflies", written by Andre Harris and Marsha Ambrosius.|

Ambrosius and Natalie Stewart were invited to the studio to join the "Butterflies" sessions, and Michael asked the two to help guide him through the song, because it was hard for Michael to hit the high notes. The girls had a really good time, with Ambrosius mentioned his charm,

and how funny he was. She mentioned a time when Michael's engineer kept calling her a singing heifer, and Michael would tell the engineer that a heifer is a cow. She later stated that she'd never forget that, and said she'll always be michael jackson's singing heifer.

By this time Michael had recorded over 50 songs, and was being offered more by The Neptunes. Michael was crazy about "Superthug", but Sony/his management squashed it because they didn't want him to lose any more of his focus.

By 2001, Michael and Tommy's tension with each other began to grow. An album that was supposed to be completed in 1999 seemed to have no end planned, and Michael continued to purse other projects outside of the studio.

Mottola wasn't happy about the cost of the album, and Michael wasn't happy about the lack of a marketing plan.

Teddy Riley recalls of a time where Tommy threatened him saying , "This will be the end of your career if you don't turn over those masters!" Nonetheless, Michael decided it was time to finish invincible.

In May 2001, Jackson, Swedien, Buxer, Jerkins, Riley, and some engineers flew to Florida, ready to finish the album.

They moved to the Hit Factoria Criteria in North Miami. Buxer said it was glorious, but MIchael wasn't as engaged as the other albums.

They would come up with ideas, but he wasn't coming into the studio every day, and it was very businesslike.

In the final month, they usually worked 16-18 hours a day. They polished the 20ish tracks in the running for the tracklist, but also created more music like "Unbreakable", and "Threatened". There were nearly 70 tracks recorded for the album.

Some say there might've been a double album, but Sony believed that the higher cost would deter people from buying it.

Tommy insisted on sony having a say in concept/packaging, and the final tracklist. In June, 60 or so executives from Sony/Epic flew to Miami to hear Invincible. It generated a mixed response.

Sony did not want "The Lost Children", but Michael insisted. "Shout" was also replaced very last minute, with "You Are My World". It was written by John McClain, Carole Bayer Sager, and Babyface. Michael fell in love with it, and he only had a few days to record the song.

Engineer Jon Gass only had seven houts to mix the song, but finished it at 7am. Michael changed the lyrics from you are my world to you are my life, gaining a writing credit in the process.

That's about it when it comes to the album cycle, should I continue, or make a separate thread about the aftermath????

Nevermind, realized I'm not done yet. This section will be about the tracks featured on the album, and anything I may have left out.

1. Unbreakable - Brandy performed backing vocals on this track, though it isn't really noticeable. The rap by Biggie was taken from "You Can't Stop the Reign". Jackson loved this track, and pushed for it to be the lead single, but Sony decided on You Rock My World.

2. Heartbreaker - An innovative track that showed exactly what Michael was looking for. It was full of the fresh, unique, sounds he wanted, and New York Times described it as a "multi-tracked marvel".

3. Invincible - Another Darkchild-Produced track, full of rhythm and innovation. Fats makes another appearance on the album on this track as well.

4. Break of Dawn - Michael described it as "a beautiful, strolling in the park kind of song. There's a good summer feel about it." He left Freeze's production untouched, and made sure nobody changed it. He wanted it to be as perfect as possible, and it came out very well.

5. Heaven Can Wait - Produced by Teddy Riley, Heaven Can Wait is a beautiful track that was meant for blackstreet. Michael loved it though, and insisted on using it for his album. Dr. Freeze is featured on backing, and many have said it could've been a big hit, had been a single.

6. You Rock My World - This was the first demo introduced to Michael by Rodney's team, and it was recorded in 1999, in NY/LA. LaShawn Daniels remembers having to sing the melodies of YRMW into Jackson's ear, and Michael proceeded to edit the melody/arrangement in the room.

7. Butterflies - The song was written by Floetry, and Ambrosius was only 19 when she wrote the song. She was quoted as saying "I first recorded 'Butterflies' in London in 1997, just me and the piano. It was about a boy I had a crush on." John McClain introduced MJ to Floetry.

8. Speechless - One of only two songs that Michael wrote and produced himself. The songs inspiration came from a trip to Germany in March 2000(?), and he was playing with children at the time. Buxer remembers being called at 4 A.M., and the two finished it by 6.

9. 2000 Watts - According to Teddy Riley, the pitch of Michael's voice wasn't changed, but it's clear there's an effect on his voice. The song was written by Tyrese Gibson, who was going to put it on his album, called "2000 Watts".
Jackson liked it a lot, and Gibson passed it on.

10. You Are My Life - A last minute addition to Invincible, replacing "Shout". It was very personal to Michael, who had a new outlook on life after being a father. The song was mixed very late, and barely made a tight deadline.

11. Privacy - This was one of the earlier tracks that him and Rodney worked on in 1999. Michael supervised production as well. The second verse talks about the death of his close friend "Princess Diana". Michael has expressed the pain he felt after her death in the past.

12. Don't Walk Away - This song was written by Richard Stites and Reed Vertelney. The lyrics clearly resonated with Michael, and it features a lot of pain/melancholy.

13. Cry - Cry continues the theme of Man in the Mirror and Keep the Faith, with the same uplifting feel to it. The script to the MV called for Michael to appear at the end, but he was avoiding travel after 9/11. He did help director Nick Brandt edit the video though.

14. The Lost Children - The second song that was written and produced by Michael, was recorded with a children's choir, directed by Tom Bahler. Prince Jackson makes an appearance in the song as well.

15. Whatever Happens - This song was written in 1997, originally performed by Gil Gang and Geoffrey Williams. Jackson was allegedly planned to perform it with Santana at the 2002 Grammys, but his relationship with Sony had fallen apart by that point.

16. Threatened - All of the track is digital. Michael wanted a video, but there wasn't a budget for it, and Michael was disappointed.

(Bonus) Shout - Loosely inspired by the Isley Brothers' track of the same name, Shout is an aggressive track fueled by the rage of the evils that are around Michael.

Rise Above It All - Another Dr. Freeze produced track that may or may not be finished.

Another bit of Bonus info. Michael wanted to create a dance for Unbreakable that people would remember forever. He would be on the roof of a tall building that was under construction, held over the edge by thugs, and they'd let him go. He was crash into the ground, probably dea-

d, but slowly, his body would start co come together, and he turn into fire, dancing on fire from scaffold to scaffold as his body parts reassembled themselves. Sony refused all of his requests, saying his vision was too costly.

Michael told sony that he wouldn't sign another contract, and in march 2002, he decided to fund the Unbreakable MV himself. He worked with Brett Ratner on it, but Sony cancelled everything, and told him not to bother.

Thank you all for reading this thread, it means a lot to me.
please consider following my main account,
@cosmicsolara

my sources were Man in the Music(written by Joe Vogel), Making Michael(written by Mike Smallcombe), and All the Songs(written by Richard Lecocq/Francois A.)

stay tuned for a separate post-invincible thread, and a redo on my dangerous one

additional source for the art on the first tweet: instagram.com/p/BxxV-cojUYs/…
done by @SkelltonAraujo