R E V I E W !
| October 30, 2001. After 6 years of waiting the new Michael Jackson's album has finally been relased. Millions of fans were waiting for this event, and the 3 millions of copies sold in the first four days are the demonstration. The sixteen tracks on the album are a mixture of the older styles present in Thriller, Dangerous, and History, but with a lot of new stuff that reconfirm the artist as the King Of Pop. Let's start analyzing each song of this amazing album: |
| UNBREAKABLE A chugging piano stroke, so simple, yet so effective and the perfect companion to a voice so rhythmic it makes you want to dance. Definitely one of the ‘big ones’ on the album. It is Michael Jackson, yes, the king of pop and he just wants to make something clear right from the onset; “You’ll never break me, ‘cause I’m Unbreakable”. This piece of music flows so well, just when you want to criticise the harsh beat out he steps and complements it. At one point his vocals go into that ‘classic-high’ voice we used to hear from him. It’s creepy, it actually makes you think of the mike from 30 years of ago and just reminds you this is the same guy…… “Don’t you ever make no mistakes, Baby I’ve got what it takes…”. And while the memories of thriller flood back into your consciousness, the vocals steer sharply into the present…. “You can’ t believe it…”. You have to hear this to believe it. And just when you think this song couldn’t take you anywhere else an absolutely genius part makes the spine tingle …. “No matter what you do, I’m still gonna be-eee here”. Wow. A rap at the end by the late Notorious BIG puts the icing on this unbreakable cake. The only thing you can't criticize about this song is probably the length oth the song (6:25) but we know...it's MJ style! |
| HEARTBREAKER A totally different beat for this one; a fast, slick industrial ensemble of scrapes, clicks, hits, bits… He changes his voice, at the click of a switch, to a windy, raw funky sort of sound. It’s a song about a girl who he’s discovered to be a heartbreaker. He starts off with how she ‘got him’…. “Deceitful eyes, she’s got those come get me thighs”…. “She blew a kiss, I swear that it was meant”. His story telling here sounds very defiant. It then flows into an oozing chorus, “That girl I can’t take her, Should have known she was a heartbreaker”. All of a sudden he unclasps from his story telling and goes into full emotional overdrive … “I never thought that I would stop dreamin’ about you”. An electrifying piece that sees him almost let go and shout his defiance over this heartbreaker. The rap by FATS at the end rolls in like a roller coaster, it just oozes funk and is the perfect end to the song. Well this should have been the end to this song but the chorus rolls on for too long and detracts from the effectiveness of the song. |
| INVINCIBLE This is the third in the trilogy of the up tempo songs. Much like the girl was dangerous ten years ago, she turns out to be invincible. Poor Mike. It’s hard not to be lulled into this funky industrial beat, it’ll grab you sooner or later. The chorus literally sears through your ears when he sings… “Shizin- vinca – bal”, almost as if he’s vainly trying to break that invincible shield of hers. “So why ain’t you feelin’ me, she’s invincible”. But it is all in vain and in the end he concedes “Now some way I’ll have to prove… Then maybe you’ll change your mind…”. This final part is classic Jackson and almost rescues the song from sounding too boring. There was a similar point in ‘Heartbreaker’ just before the rap and again here he seems to ‘let-loose’ again just before the rap and wonderfully conclude the song. In comes FATS again with a perfectly complementary rap to rap it up. It’s no unbreakable but it is full of emotion and you get a real sense of how he is feeling and for that you have to give him credit. |
| BREAK OF DAWN Just give me a minute to compose myself, for you see this song is so, so good. You’ll be forgiven for thinking if Michael has actually aged since his thriller era, and indeed this would have been a standout track on ‘Thriller’ itself. The simplicity of this is eerie, its so effortless and that’s why its so good. Birds are chirping, flutes are sounding and finally Michael is singing like he used to. His vocals sound so perfect, they exhibit such a confident command… I remEMBAH, you an’ I ….. kiiis-en-touch, nuuuthin-much”. The chorus then comes along like it was meant to and you get to hear that trademark cheekiness in his voice, “I don-wan the sun-ta shiiiiinAH wanna make luuuuuuv to you”. Brilliant. There’s that ever so slight modern touch to the production when he sings, “ Break-a-dawn, break-a-dawn, there’s no sun up in the sky”. The songs just keeps flowing and flowing, like mike is coaxing it in for a finale, “Let’s not wait, the sun is out…” This song is amazing, it’s timeless and it deserves to be among his many ‘greatest’ hits. |
| HEAVEN CAN WAIT Even to the most modern of styles and sounds, Michael just gives it that little extra; he give it a certain hypnotic magic. When you listen to Break of Dawn and Heaven can wait back-to-back you get a sense of history, old and new, it’s really effective. It starts with those mysterious percussion effects that really set the mood for the song, and swoosh, all of a sudden you get Michael sail in like a cool wave, “tell the angels no..”. It really does feel like your midway in heaven, lazily pleading with the angels to let you back down, like you’re floating. There’s a female vocalist (sounds very much like Brandy) who really coheres this song and gives it that modern touch. “unthinkable, me sittin up in the clouds…. You’d be movin ooh ooh ooh ooo-o-onn”. Very nicely done. It ends beautifully when mike lets go of the vocals and just soulfully pleads, ‘just leave us alone”. |
| YOU ROCK MY WORLD This song is a pounding, funky kind of song and definitely one of the freshest on this album; it certainly has the best chorus. It starts with a great bouncing beat that wakes you up after the two previous songs and instructs you to start shaking those shoulders! The production is very tight and so are the vocals (you’ll know this if you’ve heard the a capella version). It’s a great song which has Michael Jackson written all over it .. “I don’t think they’re ready for this” jokes Michael. The violins blaze in and complement the beat well and remind you of billie jean for a second, but only a second. The chorus is mindblowingly effective, its so simple but it goes for that maximum effect and succeeds. A very good melody. However, the song is lacking that something which could have made it better; yes the beat is good and so is the chorus but the vocals sound a little off-balance and strained, not natural enough to warrant this a classic. Also there’s a part which sound ‘too’ much like remember the time and it’s just a step back. |
| BUTTERFLIES Back to old school for this one but it’s something new for Michael and he shows us yet another perfectly executed style of song. The album is really beginning to sound ‘real’ now, with each song full to the brim with feeling. You look at the name of this song and then when you listen to it you really get the sense that he is feeling butterflies. It begins so laid back and pure, with an almost incandescent beat to which he just grooves some sweet vocals. This minimalist beat showcases his voice well and he carries it of nicely. He sings of a girl who he can’t get close to, in a swaying, dizzy manner and then transforms to a high note when the butterflies set in. Yet another perfectly sweet song that has to be felt. |
| SPEECHLESS Faultless vocals that make your head spin like a carousel. The lyrics are so simple, not over extravagant but again, are so real. Who needs instrumentals when you have Michael Jackson in the studio? He orchestrates the opening of the song a capella, pleading his expressions of love, as if his attempt is strung in vain. The production and instrumental is also very good and grows off the vocals in an almost shy manner, then reaches a peak towards the end very much like ‘you are not alone’, before Michael tames it again at the end to close the way he started. |