Invincible

Invincible
Studio album by Michael Jackson
Released	October 30, 2001
Recorded	October 1997 – June 2001
Genre	Pop, R&B, pop rock, hip hop, new jack swing, dance-pop, adult contemporary, urban[1]
Length	77:08
Label	Sony EK-69400
Producer	Michael Jackson, Rodney Jerkins, Teddy Riley, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, R. Kelly, Dr. Freeze
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Entertainment.ie link Entertainment Weekly (C-) link The Guardian link The New York Times link NME link Q link Robert Christgau (A-) link Rolling Stone link Yale Daily News (positive) link
Michael Jackson chronology
Blood on the Dance Floor (1997) Invincible (2001) Number Ones (2003)
Singles from Invincible
"You Rock My World" Released: October 20, 2001 "Butterflies" Released: November 8, 2001 "Cry" Released: December 3, 2001 "Unbreakable" Released: Cancelled[2]

Invincible is the studio album by American singer Michael Jackson and the final in his lifetime. The album was released by Epic Records on October 30, 2001, four years after Jackson's 1997 remix album Blood on the Dance Floor. The album art, an image of Jackson's face, was available in five different colors - red, green, orange, blue and silver. Copies of the album with the red, green, orange and blue cover art have since been discontinued. To date, Invincible has an estimated sales figure of around 13 million copies worldwide.

Following Jackson's demise, the album received posthumous praise. Critics and audiences cited songs like "Unbreakable", "Threatened", "Break of Dawn", "Speechless" and "Whatever Happens" for the best material on the album.^{[citation needed]}

Production

The album was the first release of Jackson's to feature all new tracks since HIStory in 1995,^[3] In addition to production being handled by contemporary artists such as Rodney Jerkins, R. Kelly and Teddy Riley.

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.^[4] 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.^[5] Jackson was able to use these conflicts as leverage to exit his contract early.^[4]

Just before the release of Invincible, Jackson informed the head of Sony Music Entertainment, Tommy Mottola he was leaving the record label.^[4] 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.^[4] He charged that Mottola had called his colleague Irv Gotti a "fat nigger".^[6] Sony disputed claims that they had failed to promote Invincible with sufficient energy, maintaining that Jackson refused to tour in the US.^[7] The singer accused Sony and the record industry of racism, deliberately not promoting or actively working against promotion of his album.^[8]

Promotion and singles

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 appeared onstage alongside his brothers for the first time since 1984.^[9] The show also featured performances by Britney Spears, Mýa, Usher, Whitney Houston, Tamia, 'N Sync, and Slash, among other artists.^[10] The album spawned three singles, "You Rock My World", "Cry" and "Butterflies", the latter of which did not have a music video. "Unbreakable" was due to be released as a single, however due to the contract issues, Sony refused to release it, along with several others. "You Rock My World" peaked at #10 in its third week on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, and "Butterflies" later peaked at #14 on the same chart, and at #2 for 5 weeks on the R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart. "Heaven Can Wait" also charted at the bottom of the R&B/Hip-Hop charts due to radio airplay without an official release.

All in all, many fans felt the album would have been more successful had better singles been chosen. While You Rock My World was praised as a solid first single, Cry was criticized for being too slow and giving people a negative view of the album (a promotional video that did not even feature Jackson was also heavily criticized). In retrospect, many^[who?] have expressed opinions that another upbeat, or even mid-tempo song (like Unbreakable and Whatever Happens) with a solid video would have continued to spur interest in the album.

Additionally, in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Jackson helped organize the United We Stand: What More Can I Give benefit concert at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C.. The concert was aired on October 21, 2001, and included performances from dozens of major artists, including Jackson, who performed his song "What More Can I Give" as the finale.^[5]

Reception

Commercial

Being his first studio album in six years (after 1995's HIStory), expectations were high. Invincible competed a race for the top of the Billboard 200, Invincible won the top, selling 366,275 copies during its debut week. Jackson's other big rival of the week, the first Backstreet Boys compilation (called The Hits: Chapter One), was relegated to number four. Invincible not only debuted at number 1 in the U.S., but also 12 other countries, and sold over 6 million copies worldwide before the end of 2001. It received double-platinum certification in the US.^[11] However, the sales for Invincible were notably low compared to his previous releases, due in part to a diminishing pop music industry, the lack of promotion, no supporting world tour and the label dispute.^[5]

Commenting on the sales of Invincible back in late 2003, Bernard Zuel of The Sydney Morning Herald stated:

"Holly Valance or Delta Goodrem would think their Christmases had come at once if they sold five or six million copies of their albums worldwide. Michael Jackson did something similar in the past two years with his seventh solo album, Invincible, and he's been branded a failure in the industry and the media. Unfair? Yes, of course, because his Invincible figures are better than those for 95 per cent of the thousands of artists released each year and would provide a healthy retirement fund for anyone. What's more, that failure tag is consistently applied by comparisons with his 1982 album, Thriller, which has sold about 100 million copies and its follow-ups, Bad, that sold about 30 million copies. However, selling 10 million copies is still phenomenal compared to the album sales of most artists."^[8]

Critical

Reviews of Invincible were mixed. Some felt that it was one of Jackson's least impressive records, mostly because of its length (nearly 80 minutes). Allmusic gave the record three out of five stars saying, "Ultimately, the record runs too long, losing steam halfway through...[It's] not enough to make Invincible the comeback Jackson needed...but it does offer a reminder that he can really craft good pop".^[12] NME gave the record six out of ten, stating, "Invincible is a relevant and rejuvenated comeback album made overlong".^[13] Rolling Stone gave Invincible three out of five stars, believing that the early R&B tracks were good especially Whatever Happens, but the later ballads made the record too long.^[14] Reviewer Robert Christgau gave the album an A-, saying, "His skills seem undiminished...his funk is steelier and his ballads are airier, both to disquieting effect. At 78 minutes this is too long."^[15] This was the same grade he gave Jackson's landmark album Thriller when originally released.^[16]

MT reviews had an extremely favourable view to the album: "Invincible is quite simply the best album of the decade. Michael Jackson's skills and level of consistency are seldom reached by almost any other artist. While this is not quite a 'Thriller', 'Bad', 'Dangerous' or even 'HIStory', Jackson's Invincible is still light years ahead of 99.99% of albums released."

Grammy Awards^[17]

Dedication to Benjamin Hermansen

Invincible is dedicated to the 15 year old Afro-Norwegian boy Benjamin Hermansen who was stabbed to death by a group of neo-Nazis in Oslo, Norway, on January 26, 2001. The reason for this tribute was partly due to the fact that another Oslo youth, Omer Bhatti, a close friend of Jackson's, was also a good friend of Benjamin Hermansen.

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.

Track listing

Charts

The IFPI European Double Platinum Award includes sales in the following countries:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.^[52]

References

Further sources

• George, Nelson (2004). Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection booklet. Sony BMG.
• Taraborrelli, J. Randy (2004). The Magic and the Madness. Terra Alta, WV: Headline. ISBN 0-330-42005-4.