In 2001 came the final album of brand new material from the late great ‘King Of Pop’ Michael Jackson as he released “Invincible”. It gets the artist continuing once more to progress with the time (after a couple of albums filled with Hip Hop-inspired tunes) this one has him trying out the popular R&B style of this time. It was a big return for the artist (and were turn out to be his last).
1. “Unbreakable”
Getting the album going here, you have a posthumous appearance from The Notorious B.I.G> (who was featured on the album prior to this in 1995). You find that in this cut you find that immeditaly you are drawn in by a clearly modernised approach from the artist who goes at it hard and shows that he knows what to do with this ‘00s R&B.
**Five Stars**
2. “Heartbreaker”
It is highly evident through the production here that he knows exactly what is on-trend at this point for R&B as he jumps on the type of beats which Kandi Burress, Dark Child and Timbaland were coming up with at the time wit the freaky percussion being used and having Michael really make the most out of it.
**Five Stars**
3. “Invincible”
The titular track from the album finds that although he is clearly attempting to push things forward through the choices in the beats and the way that
he goes about singing it in general, the music clearly takes on aspects of such past hits as “Beat It” “Smooth Criminal” and “Bad” to come out with the desired sound here.
**Five Stars**
4. “Break Of Dawn”
He takes a big change with this one as he gets down into one where he calms down significantly in order to show that he can work with the lighter, more soulful styles which were prominent at this time in the R&B world. It is sung extremely well as he works with Dr. Freeze (who was responsible for Color Me Badd’s “I Wanna Sex You Up”.
**Five Stars**
5. “Heaven Can Wait”
It is found that with this one you get a return of Teddy Riley working with MJ (as he was responsible for lots of what went into “Dangerous”). In this one you get a slow and emotive song from the singing where he continues what was found in the tune prior to this as he blasts it out and makes sure that it stands right out.
**Five Stars**
6. “You Rock My World”
I saw this, the lead single form the album, to be the best song that the record had to offer listeners as you find that with it, he comes up with a heavy joint which has him acknowledging Chris Tucker’s role in bringing back to classic groove in his music (by performing “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” in ‘Rush Hour 2’) and so following a skit form him, you see Michael doing one of the biggest R&B songs of 2001.
**Five Stars**
7. “Butterflies”
Written by Floetry member Marsha Ambrosius, this was another fairly big single to come from this album and so I felt that it did him justice in support this album and representing it well as he comes up with a calming love song to show that even at this stage he can deliver this sort of thing without effort.
**Five Stars**
8. “Speechless”
The opening melody of this one bares may similarities to “You Are Not Alone” and so it is bound to appeal to the many who enjoyed the (relatively recent ballads that he brought) as his personally responsible for everything that goes into this one (and the way it is done supports this). I would say that it was the weakest up to this point, but still does its job.
**Four Stars**
9. “2000 Watts”
The Teddy Riley influence in this is more obvious than almost any other point as he suddenly gets into one where the music makes massive changes once more as he works his ay back towards the much more lively and energetic material and it seems to get the artist changing his vocal approach somewhat to suit the roughness of this joint.
**Five Stars**
10. “You Are My Life”
Without even taking the actual music into account, you can tell tha it was going to move towards the ballad material as the Quiet Storm singer Babyface comes to help out on this one and so helps by moving back towards this kind of material. I can’t say I really felt it, but he still did it well (it just wasn’t my thing).
You have another which deals with the issues which he addressed in “Leave Me Alone”, “Tabloid Junkie” and “Scream” with this one as he is seen to fight back against the heavy media attention which he receives bring his character down. He sings it in the more Rock-styled manner, and I felt that it was suitable in this case to reinforce its contents.
**Five Stars**
12. “Don’t Walk Away”
He gets into another ballad here and I felt that with it, he turned towards the much less impressive material where it seems to just stand as a rather average tune from the singer and really doesn’t do all that much to actually show anything different from him. It seemed like a bit of a filler for me and I wasn’t that impressed by it at all.
**Two Stars**
13. “Cry”
Just as with “You Are Not Alone”, this one gets R. Kelly taking on full writing credits for this song. I personally felt that it wasn’t actually doing as much as what was felt before. Although I still have to say that it was a good one when compared to other ballads which feature on the album as it is much more engaging.
**Four Stars**
14. “The Lost Children”
Michael gets into another here where he is the only act behind what is produced in the song and once again this becomes immediately apparent through the style and approach of the singer as he sings it and chooses to turn his attention to those who require the more attention. It was a bit plain, but I’m sure some will enjoy it.
**Three Stars**
15. “Whatever Happens”
This song has him up the tempo somewhat in order to show that he still had a bit more to give with this album and so wanted to push through a mid-tempo one in order to convey this as he teases you with one which seems to get him holding back to some degree and showing that he has the potential to do much more, but decides not to give it all away here.
**Four Stars**
16. “Threatened”
The final track on the album has him showing that the tune prior t this was just a transitional one and so with this final one he would make a massive impact with a funky R&B joint which really draws out all of the things which made the album start off in such a strong manner. It is big one and a good way to end things on.
**Five Stars**
I felt that this was a strong return album from the artist and it showed that he clearly knew what he needed to do here in order to get the most out of his music and bring it up with the times (whilst still balancing this with the traditional ballad work). It does its job and one that should be overlooked in his career.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
For such a boldly titled and apparently driven attempt to reinstate Michael Jackson at the ... more
centre of the pop world,Invincibleis a listless thing. Split between scratchy funk workouts and mid-tempo ballads that might have appeared asBadB-sides, the albu...
Postage & Packaging: £1.24 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
For such a boldly titled and apparently driven attempt to reinstate Michael Jackson at the ... more
centre of the pop world, Invincible is a listless thing. Split between scratchy funk workouts and mid-tempo ballads that might have appeared as Bad B-sides, the ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Jun 29th, 2009
very helpful by (100%):
![Bad [Remastered] - Michael Jackson](http://imagesa.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/340/prod_small-5968340.jpg)
![Thriller [Remastered] - Michael Jackson](http://imagesb.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/303/prod_small-5968303.jpg)
