Michael Jackson has left a legacy in the musical world of pop. Often referred to as the 'King of Pop', the singer-dancer died on June 25, 2009, due to a cardiac arrest. A significant pop cultural figure, Jackson's hit songs like Billie Jean, Beat, and Thriller continue to be some of the most popular 80's pop songs across various streaming platforms.
Following his death, a posthumous album called 'Michael' was released in 2010 that consisted of some old unreleased songs that Jackson recorded before his untimely death. From this album, three songs, namely Monster, Breaking News and Keep Your Head Up made headlines after the songs were removed from streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music on July 5.
Why Were These Songs Removed?
The three songs that featured in his posthumous compilation album Michael have been removed after facing persistent backlash and claims that the songs feature fake vocals. From his loyal fan base to critics, musicologists and even musicians, there has been a decade-long suspicion that the songs do not feature Michael Jackson's actual voice.
A fan filed a court case claiming that the vocals in the songs are by a session singer. The songs were removed from streaming platforms by Sony Music and the Estate of Michael Jackson together. According to them, the removal of the songs has got nothing to do with the authenticity but to end the controversies surrounding the songs.
In a statement, they said their action is "the simplest and best way to move beyond the conversation associated with these tracks once and for all". They also said, "The album's remaining tracks remain available. Nothing should be read into this action concerning the authenticity of the tracks – it is just time to move beyond the distraction surrounding them".
With this, they also mentioned how "the focus remains where it belongs - on the exciting new and existing projects celebrating Michael Jackson's legacy". This includes the Broadway musical titled, 'MJ: The Musical' and a biopic produced by Graham King.
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The Controversy Regarding 'Michael'
After his death due to a cardiac arrest caused by acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication, many, including Jackson's family began to question if the late singer himself had performed on the songs. According to MJ's sister La Toya, "It doesn't sound like him". Before this, Jackson was working on an album after almost ten years following his success in 'Invincible', released in 2010.
The posthumous album 'Michael' was completed by Jackson's friends, musicians and Sony Music. Many critics and musicologists pointed out that the album was highly edited, using fragments from his previous verses that got combined with powerful orchestral music.
While Sony claims the album to be authentic, with a statement saying that it had "complete confidence in the results of our extensive research, as well as the accounts of those who were in the studio with Michael, that the vocals… are his own."
The back cover of the posthumous album said, "This album contains nine previously unreleased vocal tracks performed by Michael Jackson. These tracks were recently completed using music from the original vocal tracks and music created by the credited producers". If the songs are found to be fake, there's a lot in line for both the Estate of Michael Jackson and Sony Music besides just credibility.
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The Vera Serova Court Case, 2014
In 2014, Vera Serova, a Michael Jackson fan filed a class-action lawsuit under California's Unfair Competition Law and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act against Cascio, Angelikson Productions (Cascio's production company), Porte, John Branca (the co-executor of Jackson Estate), MJJ Productions (Estate's music label) and Sony Music.
Serova alleged that Porte, Cascio and Agelikson committed an "elaborate artistic fraud" where they sold tracks to the Estate of Michael Jackson for millions of dollars. But after Sony Music and Estate denied the allegations in 2018, the California court dismissed Serova's appeal.
With speculations going around the songs, Sony Music and the Estate of MJ decided to remove the songs. But many claim that if the songs had been originally sung by Jackson, they wouldn't have been removed by the label. Meanwhile, both Sony Music and the Estate aim to be looking for stopping the conversation and further speculations once and for all.
While the three songs: Monster, Keep Your Head Up and Breaking News are officially unavailable across streaming platforms like YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify, the internet has still got unofficial uploads of the removed songs.