Unreleased 2000s singles by Michael Jackson

“	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

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

Throughout the 2000s, American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson recorded multiple unreleased songs. It has been confirmed that he planned for digital single releases to take place periodically after the This Is It concert residency was finished, but during development, Jackson died on June 25, 2009, and so the project was cancelled. Sound engineer Michael Prince confirmed Jackson's plan during the fifty-second episode of the MJCast, with additional details being revealed by those who worked with Jackson over the years.

Background

On October 30, 2001, Jackson released his tenth studio album, Invincible, which polarized critics and fans alike, but was still met with much success. In 2002, Sony Music suddenly dropped any promotion for Jackson, and his ongoing behind-the-scenes conflict with the label executives only began to heat up. Jackson began protesting against them, calling the CEO of Sony, Tommy Mottola, "devilish" in a public statement. He ultimately left Sony Music sometime after, while owning half of their publishing. On multiple occasions through the following years, Jackson kept stating that "the best is yet to come."

Production

Rumors

Around 2003, two years after Invincible's release, a rumor emerged regarding a supposed new album titled Resurrection, which was allegedly scrapped following the Gavin Arvizo allegations coming to light. The album's existence is only regarded as gossip within the fan community, as none of Jackson's collaborators ever confirmed it, and it is most definitely a false rumor. To this day, some still believe the Resurrection album is real, despite no evidence available to support it.

Official information

Unlike the later sessions, there isn't much information regarding the 2002-2004 sessions. Jackson mostly recorded in his studio at the Neverland Ranch, and he seems to have mostly stuck with a small team of musicians and sound engineers, which included Brad Buxer, Michael Prince, and Bruce Swedien. Some notable tracks to have come out of these sessions include "All in Your Name" (2002), "I Am a Loser" (2003) and "Days in Gloucestershire" (2004). However, none of them saw a release, given that Jackson's hands were tied with the People v. Jackson trial, as well as his financial troubles.

Jackson in the studio recording "What More Can I Give" (2001)

Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, Jackson, alongside the supergroup The All-Stars, decided to pay tribute by re-recording "What More Can I Give", an Invincible outtake. However, it seems to have been shelved for a while, as it was made available for digital download on October 27, 2003, two years after it was re-recorded. A proper single release was scheduled, but cancelled for unknown reasons, possibly due to his protests against the head of Sony Music and the company itself. Only less than a month later, on November 22, Jackson released his last original single, "One More Chance", in support of the Number Ones compilation album.

After winning the court trial in June 2005, Jackson decided to move to Bahrain, where at the 2Seas Sessions studio, he steered his focus on composing new music 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

Jackson at Metropolis Studios, London recording "I Have This Dream" (October 7, 2005)

On October 7, 2005, Jackson traveled to London to record vocals for "I Have This Dream", with vocal guests such as Snoop Dogg and the former's brother, Jermaine Jackson. It was planned to be released as a charity single, though Jackson left 2Seas Records and Bahrain in May 2006, effectively abandoning the track. Sheikh Abdullah later sued Jackson, as he helped fund the song's release, as well as his financial struggles.

Upon leaving Bahrain, Jackson immediately flew to Ireland, where he met and crafted new songs with Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am. The process of these sessions has stayed relatively unknown, but the latter has confirmed three titles: "Still the King", "I Will Miss You", and "Dreaming".

In December 2006, Jackson moved to Las Vegas, where he continued working on new music through the following year at the Palms Recording Studio. Ne-Yo and R. Kelly revealed that they were in talks to work with Jackson respectively, and recorded demos for him. However, he's said to have only sent them notes on the tracks, and thus, never sang on them. Jackson and will.i.am continued their collaboration, by remixing material from Thriller (1982), for the then-upcoming 25th-anniversary re-release. Akon soon became a part of the project as well, but he and Jackson simultaneously began work on a new song, "Hold My Hand".

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

In early 2008, Jackson was joined by record producers RedOne and Neff-U. The latter became his go-to producer, and a lot of their collaborative work concluded in both new material as well as contemporizations of much older songs. Jackson also met with his long-time collaborator, Rod Temperton, who previously worked on the first three albums by Jackson released under Epic Records, Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad. Jackson played several songs to Temperton, in hopes of not only getting pieces of advice from him, but also seeking his further input. Jackson also began talks with T-Pain and Usher to collaborate on a new song, "Stop Playin'". In June 2008, one of the personnel leaked an early version of the track, which caused Jackson to drop it entirely, leaving the song unfinished. In December 2008, Jackson once again moved to Los Angeles, where he continued working at a home studio.

According to composer David Michael Frank, who previously met Jackson in 1990, two months before his death, he was invited to Jackson's mansion in Los Angeles to conceive classical music. They are said to have worked on a few arrangements and instrumentals, but no titles have been revealed, aside from Jackson having played "Lady of Summer" to Frank. It is unknown if he had any input in the song.

“	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.	”
–Frank for Billboard, July 2, 2009

When Jackson and his personnel began rehearsing for the This Is It concerts in California, works on any new material stopped. However, Jackson would continue working on new music whenever he had days off, or when he simply had the energy. According to Michael Prince, it was around this time that Jackson had decided to only have digital single releases taking place every few months from now on, instead of the standard album rollout formula. Prince believes it'd later allow Jackson to compile these singles into a record anyway, although when quoting him, it is mentioned that Jackson was "not gonna release albums anymore", which would seemingly let each song released become a hit.

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

According to Jackson's collaborators, more proper works on all new music were supposed to take place after the concert residency was finished (2010 and onwards). The final song Jackson ever made was "Breath" – an instrumental classical piece Jackson was supposed to co-write with Indian author Deepak Chopra, but wasn't able to due to the latter's death.

Aftermath

Michael (2010)

On July 9, 2009, the Michael Jackson Estate was launched, co-executed by John Branca and John McClain. On December 10, 2010, Jackson's first posthumous album was released, titled Michael, which featured some of his most recent songs. This includes "Hold My Hand" (2007-2008), "Hollywood Tonight" (1999-2008), "(I Like) The Way You Love Me" (1999-2008), and "Best of Joy" (2008). However, aside from the album's release, Jackson's most recent music has remained unpublished. On different occasions, some of these recordings were made available to the public through online leaks, but have often only surfaced in form of short snippets, or in low audio quality.

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. Despite his past stance, he did try to release "Dreaming" on his album #willpower, although he didn't receive approval from the estate. Similarly, Akon confirmed he'd never release his other recordings as well, as only two were in a releasable state ("Hold My Hand" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008"), while the others were left as just rough ideas. Meanwhile, Kelly did release the demos he recorded for Jackson, one of which is commonly known to be "You Are My World". In later years, Ne-Yo confirmed he still might repurpose recordings he made for Jackson someday.

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

Main article: From Heaven

On August 3, 2025, a tribute album titled From Heaven was announced, consisting of Jackson's collaborators, as well as those influenced by him, finishing some of the music he worked on at the Grouse Lodge Studio in Ireland. The studio's owner, Paddy Dunning, told The Sun the project was approved by Jackson's estate, although the MJ Online Team denied these claims, and so did one of the supposed collaborators. It is now presumed to have been most likely scrapped.

Songs

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

1/2

In 2013, TMZ revealed Jackson's abandoned notes discovered in his Los Angeles mansion, two of which feature multiple song titles spanning from the 2002-2009 sessions. However, this most definitely is just a list of songs Jackson considered finishing the most at the moment, and not a track listing for any LP.

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

Note that this list is based on the year each song was last worked on. It also only includes the songs that are featured on the released Los Angeles mansion notes, or are known to be featured on them. For the list of other songs Jackson recorded in the 2000s, click here.

2002

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

2004

• "Adore You" (instrumental + background vocals)
• "Days in Gloucestershire" (rough demo)

2005

• "Beautiful Girl" (rough demo)

2008

• "Best of Joy" (demo)
• "Bottom of My Heart" (instrumental)
• "Dark Lady" (rough demo)
• "Hold My Hand" (feat. Akon) (demo)
• "Hollywood Tonight" (demo)
• "I Was the Loser" (finished)
• "Remember What I Told You" (rough demo)
• "Shut Up and Dance" (writer's demo)
• "The Way You Love Me" (status unknown)

2009

• "Breath" (instrumental)
• "Ghost of Another Lover" (status unknown)
• "Lady of Summer" (instrumental)
• "Silent Spring" (instrumental)

Unknown

• "Broken Chair" (instrumental)
• "Can't Stop Lovin' You" (instrumental)
• "Cheater" (status unknown)
• "Coco Butter" (status unknown)
• "D.I.E." (instrumental)
• "Deep in the Night" (status unknown)
• "Don't Be Messin' 'Round" (status unknown)
• "Don't Walk Away" (status unknown)
• "Everybody Wants To Be a Movie Star" (status unknown)
• "I Am That One" (status unknown)
• "I Love You" (status unknown)
• "Is She Coming Back" (status unknown)
• "Leaving Today to Benin" (status unknown)
• "Lonely Bird" (status unknown)
• "Red Eye" (instrumental)
• "Rock Tonight" (instrumental)
• "Saturday Woman" (status unknown)
• "Scared of the Moon" (finished)
• "Thank Heaven" (rough demo)
• "Throwin' Your Life Away" (rough demo)
• "Too Late to Turn Back Now" (status unknown)
• "You Were There" (status unknown)

Gallery

Recording

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jackson and Akon at the Palms Recording Studio (2008)

Jackson and T-Pain (2008)

CDs and notes

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

"Throwin' Your Life Away" CD

"Breath" CD

"You Were There" lyric sheet

"You Were There" lyrics sheet

"You Were There" lyrics sheet

Video

Access Hollywood - Michael Jackson Special 2006 (HD)

Trivia

• Despite many speculating otherwise, a proper follow-up to Jackson's Invincible album (an eleventh studio album) was never confirmed, nor was he ever said to have been in talks to make one.
• Court files for the 2022 lawsuit against La Toya Jackson's ex-fiancé, Jeffré Phillips, revealed multiple CDs of her brother's new songs have been recovered, as well as other albums Jackson used as inspiration, learning the modern sound to eventually implement it into his new music. This includes: 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 Kanye West, Elephunk by Black Eyed Peas, and more (file no. 152).
• In 2014, a supposed "lost album" by Jackson had leaked online, tentatively titled Bible, and conceived in 2007 alongside Eddie Cascio and James Porte. The original disc was auctioned three years later. The tracks were surrounded by controversy, as fans were quick to point out they didn't feature Jackson singing and weren't his work at all. The album included "Breaking News", "Keep Your Head Up", and "Monster"; songs previously released on the posthumous Michael album, which received similar reception as Bible overall.
• Among the songs from Jackson's notes that have leaked online over the years are "All in Your Name", "Adore You", "Days in Gloucestershire", "Bottom of My Heart", "Dark Lady", "I Am a Loser", and "Remember What I Told You".
  • An early version of "Beautiful Girl" was also released on The Ultimate Collection (2004).
• Among other songs that weren't listed, but discussed to be included on the project was "She Was Lovin' Me" (later re-titled to "Chicago").