Information about Invincible (album)

Invincible
Invincible cover
Studio album by Michael Jackson
Released	October 30, 2001
Recorded	October 1997 – June 2001
Genre	R&B
Length	77:08
Label	Epic Records EK-69400
Producer	Michael Jackson Rodney Jerkins Teddy Riley Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds R. Kelly Dr. Freeze
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Entertainment.ie link NME link Q link Robert Christgau (A-) link Rolling Stone link
Michael Jackson chronology
(1997) Invincible (2001) Greatest Hits - HIStory Volume I (2001)

Invincible is an album by Michael Jackson released on October 30, 2001. It was Jackson's first full album of only all-new material since 1991's Dangerous (his previous album, HIStory, was sold with some of his greatest hits included as an extra CD). The cover art of this album was a simple design of just Michael's face. It was available in the standard silver edition, or five limited colours: red, green, yellow, orange, and blue. The singles released from the album include "You Rock My World", "Cry", and "Butterflies" (see Michael Jackson singles discography for chart positions). The album included guests performances by Carlos Santana, Brandy and posthumous appearances by The Notorious B.I.G. and Rod Serling. On Invincible, Michael Jackson expanded his vocal abilities as well as his instrumental involvement on the album, playing most of the instruments and performing much of the programming tasks in collaboration with producers Rodney Jerkins, Teddy Riley, and Dr. Freeze.

Just before the release of Invincible, Jackson informed then Sony Music Entertainment head, Tommy Mottola, that he was not going to renew his contract,^[1] signed in 1991, which was about to expire in terms of supplying the label with albums of full-new material for release through Epic Records/Sony Music Entertainment. By 2002, sales and interest in the album had decreased rapidly, which prompted Mottola to cancel all single releases, video shootings and promotions concerning the Invincible album. Due to this abrupt canceling, Jackson made allegations about Sony not supporting its African American artists. In addition, reportedly racist remarks were made by Sony Entertainment's head, Tommy Mottola. As a result Jackson and other label artists claimed he was a racist who used black artists for his own personal gain.^[2] Jackson also insisted that Mottola called Irv Gotti a "fat nigger"^[3]. Sony issued a statement saying the allegations were untrue since Motolla used to be married to pop star Mariah Carey, who is of Venezuelan and African-American descent, and was currently married with Mexican pop star Thalía.

There were seven singles and videos that Sony and Jackson wanted to release from Invincible. Initially, Jackson wanted to release "Unbreakable" as the debut single from the album, partnered with a 20-minute music video. However, Sony wanted Jackson to release "You Rock My World" instead of "Unbreakable" due to shorter production time of the video accompanying the single. "You Rock My World" was the only worldwide single release from Invincible and would reach the top ten position in 22 countries. Jackson had also planned to release "The Lost Children", "Break of Dawn", "Butterflies", "Speechless", "Cry" and "Whatever Happens" (with Carlos Santana).

In 2002, Jackson announced that Invincible would be his last studio album with Epic Records.^[4]

Track listing

1. "Unbreakable" (Jackson) – 6:26
2. "Heartbreaker" (Jackson/Jerkins/Jerkins III/Daniels/Mischke/Gregg) – 5:09
3. "Invincible" (Jackson) – 4:46
4. "Break of Dawn" (Dr. Freeze/Jackson) – 5:32
5. "Heaven Can Wait" (Jackson/Riley/Heard/Smith/Beal/Laues/Quiller) – 4:49
6. "You Rock My World" (Jackson) – 5:39
7. "Butterflies" (Harris/Ambrosius) – 4:40
8. "Speechless" (Jackson) – 3:18
9. "2000 Watts" (Jackson/Riley/Gibson/Henson) – 4:24
10. "You Are My Life" (Jackson/Babyface/Sager/McClain) – 4:33
11. "Privacy" (Jackson) – 5:05
12. "Don't Walk Away" (Jackson/Riley/Stites/Vertelney) – 4:24
13. "Cry" (Kelly) – 5:00
14. "The Lost Children" (Jackson) – 4:00
15. "Whatever Happens" (Jackson/Riley/Cang/Quay/Williams) – 4:56
16. "Threatened" (Jackson/Jerkins/Jerkins III/Daniels) – 4:18

Outtakes

• "Another Day" (with Lenny Kravitz)
• "Color of My Soul"
• "Ekam Satyam (The One Truth)"
• "Escape"
• "Fall Again"
• Demo appeared on
• "I Have This Dream"
• "Kick It"
• "Maybe We Can Do It" (with P. Diddy)
• "On My Anger"
• "Seeing Voices"
• "Shout"
• Later appeared on the "Cry" single, released in 2001.
• "Soldier's Entrance"
• "This is Our Time"
• "What More Can I Give"
• Later available as an official download only.
• "Who Do U Be"
• Untitled/Unknown track featuring Method Man produced by Swizz Beats

Chart facts and positions

Being his first studio album in six years (after 1995's HIStory), expectations were high. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 album charts, selling 366,275 copies and beating out other strong debuts by Enrique Iglesias and the Backstreet Boys, artists who occupied the second and fourth positions, respectively. Although the album would debut at #1 in 13 countries it was seen by many as a disappointment. Invincible sold 5.4 million copies worldwide in two months and has sold an estimated amount of up to 11 million copies to date. The single "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.

Charts

Chart (2000/2001) Peak position Australian Albums Chart 1[5] Austrian Albums Chart 2[6] Brazilian Albums Chart 1 Canadian Top 50 3 Danish Albums Chart 1[7] Dutch Albums Chart 1[8] Finnish Albums Chart 7[9] French Albums Chart 1[10] German Albums Chart 1 Italian Top 75 2 Japanese Albums Chart 5 Norwegian Albums Chart 1[11] Portuguese Albums Chart 8[12] Swedish Albums Chart 1[13] U.S. Billboard 200 1 UK Albums Chart 1

Trajectory in Charts

"Invincible" - Billboard 200 Album Chart
Week	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28
Position	1	3	4	11	17	25	28	26	25	27	24	25	27	27	35	40	46	53	71	89	104	126	123	130	124	174	174	198

Certifications

Country	Certification	Shipments
Australia	2x Platinum	140,000
Brazil	Gold	70,000
France	2x Platinum	575,000[14]
Germany	Platinum[15]	300,000
Mexico	Gold	50,000
Switzerland	Platinum[16]	40,000
Sweden	Gold	30,000
UK	Platinum	350,000
U.S.	2x Platinum	2,100,000

According to this table, from the markets provided, Invincible has shipped at least 3,360,000 copies worldwide.

Trivia

• The first batch of Invincible featured four additional colors: blue, red, golden yellow and green. The regular album is in gray/white. Due to the album's perceived low sales a second batch was never launched.
• The song "Unbreakable" features a posthumous rap performance by The Notorious B.I.G. whom Jackson had previously collaborated with for the song "This Time Around" on the album HIStory.
• The song "Threatened" features a cameo by the late Rod Serling performing an introduction, conclusion and rap. This rap was constructed from clips from the narrations of the television series The Twilight Zone.
• Carlos Santana plays the guitar on "Whatever Happens".
• Mario Vazquez sings backup vocals on "Whatever Happens," the same song with which he auditioned for the fourth season of American Idol.
• Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds produced "You Are My Life".
• Brandy provided additional backup vocals on "Unbreakable" (you cannot clearly detect her voice). A very short vocal segment of Jackson was then used as a background loop on "It's Not Worth It" on Brandy's album Full Moon. Jackson was first considered to record it but discarded.
• Despite never being released as a single, "Break of Dawn" was featured on Jackson's 2003 best-of album Number Ones.

References

Preceded by The Great Depression by DMX	Billboard 200 number-one album November 17, 2001 - November 23, 2001	Succeeded by Britney by Britney Spears

•  • [ e] Michael Jackson
Album discography
Got to Be There Ben Music and Me Forever, Michael Off the Wall Thriller Bad Dangerous HIStory Invincible TBA
Tours
Destiny Tour Triumph Tour Victory Tour Bad World Tour Dangerous World Tour HIStory World Tour
Filmography
The Wiz Thriller Captain EO Moonwalker Ghosts
Records and achievements
List of Michael Jackson's awards
Controversies
Neverland Ranch 1993 child molestation allegations against Michael Jackson Living with Michael Jackson Michael Jackson 2005 child molestation trial Physical appearance Post trial lawsuits against Michael Jackson