Invincible (album)

File:Invincible.jpg

Cover

Invincible is the tenth, and final, studio album by American recording artist Michael Jackson. The album was released by Epic Records on October 30, 2001. Invincible was the first release of new Jackson material since Blood on the Dance Floor in 1997 and first studio album in five years since HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. Jackson, Rodney Jerkins, R. Kelly and Teddy Riley, among others, received producing and writing credits. Similar to Jackson's previous material, Invincibles sixteen songs theme consist mainly of Jackson's personal experiences, romance and paranoia. The album art, an image of Jackson's face, was available in five different colors; red, green, orange, blue and silver. Invincible was generally well received by contemporary music critics.

The album released three singles; "You Rock My World", "Cry" and "Butterflies", "Butterflies" of which was released outside of the United States. The albums first and last singles charted within the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, as well as peaking at number one and within the top ten worldwide. "Cry" was less commercially successful. Following a conflict between Jackson and his record label, Sony Music stopped promoting the album. The album was the recipient of one Grammy Award nomination, for Best Pop Vocal Performance - Male, as well as being voted, by readers of Billboard magazine, the best album of the decade.

The album was a commercial success; peaking at number one in twelve territories worldwide, notably including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, France and Switzerland. Invincible charted within the top ten in six other territories, while it's least successful charting area was Mexico, where the album peaked at number twenty nine. Invincible re-entered music charts in 2004, and again in 2009 after Jackson's death. Despite the reported worldwide sales of ten million copies, the album has been viewed as a commercial failure compared to Jackson's previous albums sales.

Concept

During Jackson's time as a member of The Jackson 5, he frequent wrote material for the group and began working on projects as a solo artist, which eventually led to recording independent studio albums, notably including Off The Wall (1979) and Thriller (1982). The success of Thriller, which currently is the best selling album of all time with the sales of a reported 110 million units, often over shadowed Jackson's other projects. Prior to the release of Invincible, Jackson had not released any new material since Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix in 1997, or a studio album since HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I in 1995, leading to Invincible often being looked at as Jackson's 'career come back'.[

Jackson began recording new material for the album in October 1997, and finished with the albums recordings with You Are My Life being recorded only eight weeks before the albums release in August 2001. Jackson had shown interest in including a rapper on at least one song, and had noted that he did not want a 'known rapper'. Jackson's spokesperson suggested New Jersey rapper named Fats; after Jackson heard the finished product of the song, the two agreed to recorded another song together for the album. Rodney Jerkins stated that Jackson was looking to record material in a different musical direction than his previous work, describing the new direction as "edgier".

Jackson received credit for both writing and producing a majority of the songs on Invincible. Aside from Jackson, the album features productions by Jerkins, Teddy Riley, Andraeo "Fanatic" Heard, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, R. Kelly and Dr. Freeze and writing credits from Kelly, Fred Jerkins III, LaShawn Daniels, Nora Payne and Robert Smith. Invincible is the third collaboration between Jackson and Riley, the other two being Dangerous and HIStory. Invincible is Jackson's tenth and final studio album to have been recorded and released. It was reported that it cost thirty million dollars to make Invincible. The cover of Invincible was issued in five different colors; silver, red, blue, orange and green. Although, currently, the album being issued in red, blue orange and green have been discontinued.

Invincible is dedicated to the fifteen year old Afro-Norwegian boy Benjamin "Benny" Hermansen who was stabbed to death by a group of neo-Nazis in Oslo, Norway, in January 2001. The reason for this tribute was partly due to the fact that another Oslo youth, Omer Bhatti, Jackson's friend and once alleged son, was also a good friend of Hermansen. The dedication in the album reads, "Michael Jackson gives "special thanks": This album is dedicated to Benjamin "Benny" Hermansen. May we continue to remember not to judge man by the color of his skin, but the content of his Character. Benjamin ... we love you ... may you rest in peace." The album is also dedicated to Jackson's grandmother Nicholette Sottile and his parents Joseph and Katherine Jackson.

Composition

Invincibles songs musical style was credited as being R&B, hip hop, dance-pop, adult contemporary, urban. Fourteen out of the albums sixteen tracks were written by Jackson. The albums full length is seventy seven minutes eight seconds. The sixteen songs lyrical themes reflect on Jackson's personal experiences, which manly consist of romance, paranoia, invasion of privacy and threatening situations. It was noted that albums songs genres shift between the aggressive songs and the ballads.

Invincible opens with "Unbreakable"; the last line in the first verse recites the lyrics, "With all that I've been through/I'm still around". "Threatened" was viewed as having being a 'story teller'. "Threatened"s lyrics were viewed as a "Thriller redux". The song "You Are My Life", pertains to being in love as well as the person you love supporting you, which can be seen in the lyrics, which finds him singing lines like, "You are the sun, you make me shine, more than the stars.

"Privacy", a reflection of his own personal experiences, is about battling media invasions and tabloid inaccuracies. "The Lost Children," is about imperiled children. Jackson sings in a third person in "Whatever Happens", the songs lyrics, described as a "jagged intensity", narrate the story of two people involved an unnamed threatening situation. Invincible has four ballads; "You Are My Life", "Butterflies", "Don't Walk Away" and "Cry". "Cry", similar to Jackson's Man in the Mirror, are about wanting to help the world, but acknowledging that you can not do it alone. "Butterflies" and "Break of Dawn" lyrics were viewed as "glaringly" and being able to "emanate" it's listeners.[7]

Sony Music contract issues

Jackson was waiting for the licenses to the masters of his albums to revert back to him, thus allowing him to promote his old material and preventing Sony from getting a cut of the profit. Jackson expected this to occur early in the new millennium, however, due to the fine print and various clauses in the contract, the revert date is still many years away. Jackson began an investigation, and it emerged that the attorney who represented the singer in the deal was also representing Sony, creating a conflict of interest. Jackson was also concerned about another conflict of interest. For a number of years, Sony had been negotiating to buy Jackson's music catalog. If Jackson's career or financial situation were to deteriorate, it would be in Jackson's financial interest to sell his catalog. Thus, Sony had something to gain from Jackson's career failing. Jackson was able to use these conflicts as leverage to exit his contract early.

Just before the release of Invincible, Jackson informed the head of Sony Music Entertainment, Tommy Mottola he was leaving the record label. As a result, all singles releases, video shootings and promotions concerning the Invincible album were cancelled. Jackson made allegations in July 2002 that Mottola was a "devil" and a "racist" who did not support his African-American artists, using them merely for his own personal gain. He charged that Mottola had called his colleague Irv Gotti a "fat black nigger". Sony disputed claims that they had failed to promote Invincible with sufficient energy, maintaining that Jackson refused to tour in the United States. The singer accused Sony and the record industry of racism, deliberately not promoting or actively working against promotion of his album.

Promotion and singles

Main article: Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special

It was reported that the album had a budget of twenty five million dollars to promote the album. To help promote the album, a special 30th Anniversary celebration at Madison Square Garden occurred in September 2001 to mark the singer's 30th year as a solo artist. Jackson, performed songs from Invincible and his appearance onstage alongside his brothers was for the first time since The Jackson 5's Victory Tour in 1984. The show also featured performances by Britney Spears, Mýa, Usher, Whitney Houston, Tamia, 'N Sync, and Slash, among other artists. The show aired on CBS in November 2001, as a two-hour television special.

The album spawned three singles, "You Rock My World", "Cry" and "Butterflies". "Cry" was released outside the United Sates and "Butterflies" did not have a music video. "You Rock My World" was released in late October 2001. The albums lead single. "You Rock My World", peaked within the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, at number ten in its third week of release. The song was more successful internationally, mainly charting within the top five and charted within the top ten in twelve territories. "You Rock My World" peaked at number one France, and number two in Norwegian, Finland, Danish, Belgium as well as number three in Italy, number four in Australia, and five in Sweden and Switzerland.

The albums second single, "Butterflies" was released in early November 2001. "Butterflies" later peaked within the top twenty at number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and at two for five weeks on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Chart. Internationally, "Cry" mainly charted within the top forty; the songs most successful territories were Danish, France and Belgium, charting at number sixteen, thirty and thirty one. "Heaven Can Wait" also charted at the bottom of the R&B/Hip-Hop Charts at number seventy two due to radio airplay without an official release.; the song did not chart internationally. "Unbreakable" was suppose to be released as the albums fourth single, but was canceled for unspecified reasons.