11th Studio Album

11th Studio AlbumStudio album by Michael Jackson
General information
Recorded	2002-2009
Studio	2Seas Sessions (Bahrain) Grouse Lodge (Westmeath, Ireland) The Palms Recording Studio (Las Vegas, Nevada)
Producer(s)	Brad Buxer (unconfirmed) Neff-U (unconfirmed) will.i.am (unconfirmed) Akon (unconfirmed) RedOne (unconfirmed) Rod Temperton (unconfirmed) David Michael Frank (unconfirmed)
Albums chronology
Previous	King of Pop
Next	Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection

“	I never stopped. I'm always writing a potpourri of music, you know, it's how it is.	”
–Jackson on getting back in the studio, Access Hollywood, October 2006

11th Studio Album is a placeholder name for the 11th studio album by American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson. This project has never been released, and it was scrapped during its development due to the artist's death on June 25, 2009. The album was confirmed by many people who worked with Jackson, mainly Michael Prince.

Background

Rumors

Fans began speculating on a new LP from Jackson around 2003, two years after the release of Invincible. Gossip would be shared regarding a supposed album titled Resurrection, which was allegedly scrapped due to the Gavin Arvizo allegations. However, none of this was ever confirmed by any of Jackson's collaborators.

Official information

Throughout the 2000s, Jackson kept on creating new music all the time, whether recorded or not. Most notably, he would be joined by Brad Buxer and Michael Prince, with whom tracks such as "The Loser", "Gloucestershire", and "Adore You" would be conceived. However, for many years to come the tracks wouldn't see the light of day, as Jackson had his hands tied with the aforementioned trial, as well as financial troubles.

Following Jackson's victory over the allegations in 2005, he moved to Bahrain, an island country in West Asia, where at the 2Seas Sessions studio he began composing songs with Abdullah bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

“	I am incredibly excited about my new venture and I am enjoying being back in the studio making music.	”
–Jackson for Billboard, "Michael Jackson Sails With Two Seas" April 18, 2006

On October 7, Jackson traveled to London to record vocals for the charity single "I Have This Dream", featuring such guests as Snoop Dogg and Jermaine Jackson.

Michael with "Big Boy", "Fuzzy", and will.i.am at the Palms Recording Studio (2008)

Leaving Bahrain in May 2006, Jackson went to Ireland, where he'd meet and craft new songs with a member of the Black Eyed Peas, will.i.am. Available titles confirmed to have come from this collaboration include "Still the King", "I Will Miss You", and "Dreaming". The two would later focus on

After moving to Las Vegas in December, Jackson continued working on new music in 2007 at the Palms Recording Studio. Ne-Yo and R. Kelly revealed they were in talks to work with Jackson respectively, and recorded demos for him, but Jackson is said to have never sang on them. Him and will.i.am continued on working together, remixing material from the Thriller album for a then-upcoming 25th-anniversary re-release. Akon soon became a part of the project as well, and would simultaneously make new songs with Michael, one of which was most notably "Hold My Hand".

In 2008, the King of Pop would be joined by such as RedOne or Neff-U. A lot of their work would end up becoming both new material (e.g. "Water") and reworks of much older songs (e.g. "A Place with No Name", "Hollywood Tonight", "The Way You Love Me", "Throwin' Your Life Away" or "Ghost of Another Lover"). Jackson had also met with a long-time collaborator, Rod Temperton, who previously worked on Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad. The King of Pop played several songs to the musician, in hopes of not only pieces of advice from Temperton but seeking his further input as well. That year, Michael also almost ended up on "Stop Playin'", a collaboration with T-Pain and Usher which never got released after getting leaked by one of the personnel. In December 2008, the King of Pop once again moved houses, this time to a mansion in Los Angeles, where he and Michael Prince set up a studio in the pool room.

David Michael Frank, a composer Jackson had previously worked with in 1989 on "You Were There", claimed that two months before the singer's death, he would be approached by Jackson yet again to conceive classical music. The King of Pop would invite Frank to his mansion in L.A. where the two would craft arrangements and instrumentals. The only title currently available is "Lady of Summer".

“	For one of them, he had a whole section of it done in his head. He had not recorded it. He hummed it to me as I sat at the keyboard in his pool house and we figured out the chords – I guess this recording I made is the only copy that exists of this music. [...] He mentioned more instrumental music of his he wanted to record, including one jazz piece. I hope one day his family will decide to record this music as a tribute and show the world the depth of his artistry.	”
–David Michael Frank for Billboard, July 2, 2009

As soon as Jackson and his personnel would settle in the UK for the This Is It concerts, works on any new material stopped, but would continue on days off and when the singer simply had the energy for such. Michael Prince also revealed that Michael planned on digital single releases taking place every once in a while, instead of the standard rollout formula. Prince believes it would later allow Jackson to compile these singles into an LP.

“	I'm not gonna release albums anymore. We're just gonna put out a single every couple of months.	”
–Jackson to Michael Prince

This would seemingly let each song released to become a hit, similar to Jackson's premise for Thriller, where he questioned "Why can't there be a pop album where every song is a killer?".

The King of Pop kept on making music 'til the last days of his life, his final song being an untitled classical piece made in June of 2009, written with Deepak Chopra, who Jackson was in contact with twenty-four hours before his passing.

Aftermath

Michael (2010)

After Jackson's death, his most recent unreleased music went on to stay in the vault for years to come. However, a few instances took place in which these recordings would get leaked online or even officially released. On December 10, 2010, the first posthumous album under Jackson's name would be released, simply titled Michael. This would feature four of the tracks the King of Pop had recently worked on before his passing; "Hold My Hand", "Hollywood Tonight", "(I Like) The Way You Love Me" and "Best of Joy".

While will.i.am was approached about including one of the songs he made with Jackson on the Michael album, he refused to release any of their collaborations out of respect for Jackson's creative process. Akon confirmed to never release his other recordings as well, as only two were in releasable state (likely "Hold My Hand" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008"), while the other songs were just rough ideas and concepts. Meanwhile, Kelly released his demos recorded for Jackson, one of which is commonly known to be "You Are My World". Ne-Yo later confirmed he still has his recordings, and that he might do something with them in the future.

In 2010, the United States Copyright Office, ASCAP, and a bunch of other performance rights organizations received registrations for tens of previously unheard songs. While not available to the general public, these can currently be listened to at the USCO in Washington D.C.

Songs

• Song titles note #1 (2009)
• Song titles note #2 (2009)

1/2

In 2013, TMZ revealed Jackson's notes left in his house, two of which feature 35 song titles in total, spanning from 2002 sessions up until 2009. It is important to note, however, that this most definitely isn't the track list, but rather songs Michael simply planned on finishing.

On January 16 and 20, 2023, researcher and fan Damien Shields revealed more of these lists were found, but stayed unpublished to this day. These included songs that weren't present on the other, released notes.

Main article: List of unreleased songs

Note this list is based on the year each song was last worked on.

2002

• "All in Your Name" (feat. Barry Gibb)

2004

• "Adore You"
• "Beautiful Girl"
• "Gloucestershire"

2008

• "Best of Joy"
• "Bottom of My Heart"
• "Dark Lady"
• "Hold My Hand" (feat. Akon)
• "Hollywood Tonight"
• "Remember What I Told You"
• "The Loser"
• "Ways You Love Me"

Unknown

• "Breath"
• "Broken Chair"
• "Can't Stop Lovin' You"
• "Coco Butter"
• "D.I.E."
• "Deep in the Night"
• "Don't Be Messin'"
• "Don't Walk Away"
• "Everybody Wants to Be a Movie Star"
• "Ghost of Another Lover"
• "I Am That One"
• "I Love You"
• "Is She Coming Back"
• "Lady of Summer"
• "Leaving Today to Benin"
• "Lonely Bird"
• "Red Eye"
• "Rock Tonight"
• "Saturday Woman"
• "Scared of the Moon"
• "Shut Up and Dance"
• "Silent Spring"
• "Thank Heaven"
• "Throwing Your Life Away"
• "Too Late to Turn Back Now"
• "You Were There"

Gallery

Images

Michael in The Metropolice Studios, London (October 7, 2005)

Michael and will.i.am at the Grouse Lodge Recording Studios (2006)

Michael and will at the Grouse Lodge Recording Studios (2006)

Michael and radio personality "Big Boy" at the Palms Recording Studio (2008)

Michael and "Big Boy" at the Palms Recording Studio (2008)

Michael with radio personality "Fuzzy" at the Palms Recording Studio (2008)

Michael with "Fuzzy" at the Palms Recording Studio (2008)

Michael and "Big Boy" at the Palms Recording Studio (2008)

Michael and Akon at the Palms Recording Studio (2008)

Michael and T-Pain (2008)

Video

Access Hollywood - Michael Jackson Special 2006 (HD)

CDs

"Ghost of Another Lover" CD (April 29, 2009)

"Throwin' Your Life Away" CD

"Breath" CD

"Dance MJ McKellar" CD

"Love Heals" CD

"Dancing for Love" CD

"Earth Love" CD (April 22, 2009)

"Heaven With a Smile" CD (April 17, 2009)

"Ron great industrial age song" CD

Notes

"You Were There" lyrics #1

"You Were There" lyrics #2

"You Were There" lyrics #3

Trivia

• Pictures of the CDs and lyric sheets were discovered in court files for the 2022 Jeffré Phillips lawsuit. These would also include discs with albums Jackson would use as inspiration, learning the modern sound to eventually implement it into his creations. These included: FutureSex/LoveSounds by Justin Timberlake, Confessions on a Dance Floor by Madonna, The Dutchess by Fergie, The Emancipation of Mimi by Mariah Carey, Late Registration by Ye, Elephunk by Black Eyed Peas, and more (file no. 152).
• In 2014, a supposed "lost album" by Michael Jackson called Bible, conceived in 2007 and written by Eddie Cascio had leaked online. The original disc was auctioned three years later. The record was surrounded with controversy, as the vocals very clearly did not feature Jackson singing and wasn't his work at all. The album featured "Breaking News", "Keep Your Head Up", and "Monster", songs previously released on the posthumous Michael album which received similar reception as Bible overall.