Review Summary: Considering what it could have been, Michael is a massive letdown.
It was to be expected that after Michael Jackson's tragic demise, there would be a load of posthumous albums. As a reminder to 2Pac and Notorious B.I.G., I really didn't expect much quality material. Despite my second thoughts, the expectations for this 'final album' were high, considering he worked together with a lot of different artists like Akon and Lenny Kravitz for this album.
If you heard the album's lead single,
Hold My Hand, you might be expecting a classic Michael Jackson album. This is exactly what this album is. Instead of adapting to a more modern sound, Michael stayed true to his roots, and made an album that closely resembles his past releases. Sadly, this album doesn't even come close to any of his past releases quality-wise, exept for the lackluster
Invincible.
The main problem with this album is that it lacks decent material. As expected from a posthumous release, it is filled with outtakes and tracks that Michael deemed to be not good enough to be put on a major release. The best example of that is the Lenny Kravitz collaboration
(I Can't Make it) Another Day. How can you expect a track that did not make the cut for his worst solo album to be any good? You honestly can't, and that is why most of this album fails to impress.
However, there are a few redeeming factors about this album. Take the album's lead single for example. While it does not live up to any of his previous hits (think
Billie Jean), it is still an energetic feelgood anthem, and an excellent sing-along. Arguably the album's best track,
Behind the Mask, breathes out more of said energy, and might be the closest this album ever comes to making The King of Pop shine again, like the star he once was. And lastly, the surprisingly strong
Hollywood Tonight gives us a sneak peak at the incredible talent that Micheal once posessed, but failed to express in his previous release.
Sadly, the good factors are not enough to outweigh the bad ones.
Michael fails to impress on almost every aspect. None of the tracks featured on
Michael were good enough to be featured on one of his albums, and I can surely understand why. If you really want to honor Michael, don't buy this album. Do yourself a favour and go listen to
Bad or
Thriller.
Dedicated to The King of Pop: ✝Michael Jackson 29/08/58-25/06/09✝
