2001 studio album by Michael Jackson
Invincible is the tenth and final studio album by the American singer Michael Jackson, released on October 30, 2001, by Epic Records. It was Jackson's last album before his death in 2009. It features appearances from Carlos Santana, the Notorious B.I.G., Fats, and Slash. It incorporates R&amp;B, pop and soul, and similarly to Jackson's previous material, the album explores themes such as love, romance, isolation, media criticism, and social issues. 
The album's creation was expensive and laborious, featuring the work of ten record producers and over 100 musicians. Jackson started the multi-genre production in 1997 and did not finish until eight weeks before the album's release. It was reported that it cost $30 million to record; as of July 2024, it remains the most expensive album ever made. Jackson refused to tour to support it, adding to the growing rift between him and Sony Music Entertainment. In July 2002, following Sony's decision to abruptly end promotion for the album, Jackson alleged that the CEO of Sony Music, Tommy Mottola, was a "devil" and a racist who used his African American artists only for personal gain.
"Invincible" debuted at number one on the US "Billboard" 200 albums chart and also reached number one in thirteen other countries worldwide. It was certified double platinum in the US in January 2002. The lead single, "You Rock My World", reached number ten on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 2002 Grammy Awards. "Cry" was also released as a single, and "Speechless" and "Butterflies" were released as promotional singles.
"Invincible" received mixed reviews and became Jackson's most critically derided album. Retrospective reviews have been more positive, and it has been credited as featuring early examples of dubstep. Sales of "Invincible" are estimated at 8 and 10 million copies, according to different sources. In 2009, it was voted by online readers of "Billboard" as the best album of the 2000s decade.
Production.
Prior to the release of "Invincible", Jackson had not released any new material since the remix album ' in 1997; his last studio album was ' (1995). "Invincible" was therefore viewed as Jackson's "career comeback".
Jackson began recording new material in October 1997, and finished with "You Are My Life" being recorded only eight weeks before the album's release in October 2001 – the most extensive recording of Jackson's career. The tracks with Rodney Jerkins were recorded at the Hit Factory in Miami, Florida. Jackson had shown interest in including a rapper on at least one song, and had said that he did not want a "known rapper". Jackson's spokesperson suggested a New Jersey rapper named Fats; after Jackson heard the finished product of the song, the two agreed to record another song together for the album.
Rodney Jerkins stated that Jackson was looking to record material in a different musical direction than his previous work, describing the new direction as "edgier". Jackson received credit for both writing and producing a majority of the songs on "Invincible". Aside from Jackson, the album features productions by Jerkins, Teddy Riley, Andre Harris, Andraeo "Fanatic" Heard, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, R. Kelly and Dr. Freeze Bill Gray and writing credits from Kelly, Fred Jerkins III, LaShawn Daniels, Nora Payne and Robert Smith. The album is the third collaboration between Jackson and Riley, the other two being "Dangerous" and "". "Invincible" is Jackson's tenth and final studio album to have been recorded and released during his lifetime. It reportedly cost $30 million to make the album, making it the most expensive album ever made.
"Invincible" was dedicated to the fifteen-year-old Afro-Norwegian boy Benjamin "Benny" Hermansen who was stabbed to death by a group of neo-Nazis in Oslo, Norway, in January 2001. The reason for this tribute was partly due to the fact that another Oslo youth, Omer Bhatti, Jackson's friend, was also a good friend of Hermansen. The dedication in the album reads, "Michael Jackson gives 'special thanks': This album is dedicated to Benjamin 'Benny' Hermansen. May we continue to remember not to judge a man by the color of his skin, but the content of his character. Benjamin ... we love you ... may you rest in peace." The album is also dedicated to Nicholette Sottile and Jackson's parents, Joseph and Katherine Jackson.
Music and lyrics.
"Invincible" is an R&amp;B, pop and soul record. The album's full length lasts over 77 minutes and contains 16 songs – fourteen of which were written (or co-written) by Jackson. It was noted that the album shifts between aggressive songs and ballads. "Invincible" opens with "Unbreakable"; the last line in the first verse recites the lyrics, "With all that I've been through/I'm still around". In a 2002 interview with the magazine "Vibe", Jackson commented on his inspiration for writing "Speechless", saying:
 ;templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" / ;"You'll be surprised. I was with these kids in Germany, and we had a big water-balloon fight – I'm serious – and I was so happy after the fight that I ran upstairs in their house and wrote "Speechless". Fun inspires me. I hate to say that because it's such a romantic song. But it was the fight that did it. I was happy, and I wrote it in it's ["sic"] entirety right there. I felt it would be good enough for the album. Out of the bliss comes magic, wonderment, and creativity."
"Privacy", a reflection on Jackson's own personal experiences, is about media invasions and tabloid inaccuracies. "The Lost Children" is about imperiled children. Jackson sings in a third person in "Whatever Happens". The song's lyrics, described by "Rolling Stone" magazine as having a "jagged intensity", narrate the story of two people involved in an unnamed threatening situation. "Invincible" features four ballads: "You Are My Life", "Butterflies", "Don't Walk Away" and "Cry". "Cry", similar to Jackson's "Man in the Mirror", is about healing the world together. The lyrics to "Butterflies" and "Break of Dawn" were viewed as "glaringly banal" and it was implied that they could have been written by anyone. "Threatened" was viewed as being a storyteller. The song was viewed as a "Thriller redux". The song "You Are My Life" is about Jackson's two children at the time, Prince and Paris. The song features Jackson singing, "You are the sun, you make me shine, more like the stars."
Singles.
The album spawned two official singles ("You Rock My World" and "Cry") and three promotional singles ("Speechless", "Butterflies" and "Unbreakable"), although all were given limited releases. "You Rock My World" was only released to radio airplay in the United States, consequently only peaking at number ten on the "Billboard" Hot 100. Internationally, where it was released as a commercial single, it reached number one in France, number two in Norway, Finland, Denmark, Belgium, and the United Kingdom, number three in Italy, number four in Australia, and five in Sweden and Switzerland. The second single, "Cry", was not released in the United States. It was only moderately successful, with the song's most successful territories being Spain, Denmark, France, and Belgium, charting at number six, sixteen, thirty and thirty-one.
"Butterflies" was only released in the United States to radio airplay. It reached number 14 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and at number two for five weeks on the Hot R&amp;B/Hip-Hop Singles Chart. "Heaven Can Wait" also charted at the bottom of the R&amp;B/Hip-Hop Charts, at number 72 due to radio airplay without an official release; the song did not chart internationally. "Unbreakable" was originally supposed to be released as a single, but it was ultimately cancelled, being issued as a promotional single only. Despite that, the song managed to chart inside the Romanian Top 100 chart, peaking at number 62. It was later included on "The Ultimate Collection" box set in 2004.
Promotion.
It was reported that the album had a budget of twenty five million dollars set aside for promotion. Despite this, however, due to the conflicts between Jackson and his record label, little was done to promote the album. Unlike with Jackson's post-"Thriller" studio albums, there was no world tour to promote the album; a tour was planned, but cancelled due to conflicts between Jackson and Sony, and the September 11 attacks (the latter of which had also motivated many other artists to cancel their then-upcoming concerts in late 2001 and early 2002.) There was, however, a special at Madison Square Garden in early September 2001 to mark Jackson's 30th year as a solo artist. Jackson performed "You Rock My World" and marked his first appearance onstage alongside his brothers since the Jacksons' Victory Tour in 1984. The show also featured performances by Britney Spears, Mýa, Usher, Whitney Houston, Tamia, Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync, 98 Degrees, and Slash, among other artists. The show aired on CBS in November 2001 as a two-hour television special and was watched by 45 million viewers according to Nielsen.
The album's promotion was met with trouble due to internal conflicts with Sony Music Entertainment and Jackson due to his part of ownership with the company and the contract to a deal with Sony that was originally signed back in 1991. The issue stemmed back during the production of "Invincible" when Jackson learned that the rights to the masters of his past releases, which were to revert to him in the early 2000s, would not revert to him until much later in the decade. When Jackson consulted the lawyer who worked with him in making the deal back in 1991, he learned that the same lawyer was also working for Sony, revealing a conflict of interest of which Jackson was never aware. Not wanting to sign away his ownership in Sony Music Entertainment, Jackson elected to leave the company shortly after the album's release. After the announcement, Sony halted promotion on the album, cancelling single releases, including a 9/11 charity single that was intended to be released before "Invincible".
In July 2002, following Sony's decision to abruptly end promotion for the album, Jackson alleged that the CEO of Sony Music, Tommy Mottola, was a "devil" and a racist who used his African American artists only for personal gain. He accused Sony and the record industry of racism, deliberately not promoting or actively working against promotion of his album. Sony disputed claims that they had failed to promote "Invincible" with sufficient energy, maintaining that Jackson refused to tour in the United States.
Critical reception.
"Invincible" received mixed reviews from professional critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a mixed score of 51 based on 19 reviews. David Browne of "Entertainment Weekly", felt that "Invincible" is Jackson's "first album since "Off the Wall" that offers virtually no new twists" and stated that the album "feels like an anthology of his less-than-greatest hits".
James Hunter of "Rolling Stone" critiqued that the album's later ballads made the record too long. Hunter also commented that Jackson and Riley made "Whatever Happens" "something really handsome and smart", allowing listeners "to concentrate on the track's momentous rhythms" such as "Santana's passionate interjections and Lubbock's wonderfully arranged symphonic sweeps". Mark Beaumont of "NME" called it "a relevant and rejuvenated comeback album made overlong", while "Blender" also found it "long-winded".
Reviewing for "The Village Voice", Robert Christgau said that despite being overlooked, Jackson's "skills seem undiminished [and...] he's doing new stuff with them--his funk is steelier and his ballads are airier, both to disquieting effect." He described the album's first three tracks as being the "Rodney Jerkins of the year". Nikki Tranter of "PopMatters" said that it is both innovative and meaningful because exceptional songs such as "The Lost Children" and "Whatever Happens" more than make up for overly sentimental songs like "Heaven Can Wait" and "You Are My Life". "Q" magazine said that it is an aurally interesting, albeit inconsistent, album.
In a negative review for "The New York Times", Jon Pareles suggested that the album is somewhat impersonal and humorless, as Jackson rehashes ideas from his past songs and is "so busy trying to dazzle listeners that he forgets to have any fun." In a retrospective review for "The Rolling Stone Album Guide", Pareles said that "Invincible" showed Jackson had lost his suave quality to "grim calculation".
"Invincible" received one Grammy Award nomination at the 2002 ceremony. The album's song "You Rock My World" was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance – Male, but