Invincible (Michael Jackson album)

Invincible is the tenth and final studio album by American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson, released on October 30, 2001, by Epic Records. The album features appearances from Carlos Santana, the Notorious B.I.G. (posthumous), Fats, and Slash. It incorporates R&B, pop, and soul, and similarly to Jackson's previous material, Invincible explores themes such as romance, isolation, and media criticism. It was the last album Jackson released before his death on June 25, 2009.

The creation of Invincible 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. With reported expenses of close to $30 million, it remains the most expensive album ever made. The lead single, "You Rock My World", was Jackson's final hit single during his career, reaching number ten on the US Billboard Hot 100. It was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 2002 Grammy Awards.

Invincible debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart with first-week sales of 363,000 copies. It also reached number one in 13 other countries. Besides "You Rock My World", "Cry" was also released as a single, and "Speechless" and "Butterflies" were released as promotional singles. Invincible initially received average to negative reviews, becoming Jackson's most critically derided album. However, in retrospective reviews it has been viewed more positively, with praise for its musicality and production in particular.

In July 2002, following Sony's decision to abruptly end promotion for Invincible, Jackson openly condemned the CEO of Sony Music, Tommy Mottola. Jackson refused to tour to support the album, adding to his rift with Sony. Invincible was certified double platinum in the US and has sold over eight million copies. In 2009, following Jackson's death, it was voted by online readers of Billboard as the best album of the 2000s.

Production

Prior to the release of Invincible, Jackson had not released any new material since the remix album Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix in 1997; his last studio album was HIStory (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. Most of the final album was written within the last year of production, with only "You Rock My World", "Privacy", "Break of Dawn", "Speechless" and "Cry" dating to an earlier period. The tracks produced with Rodney Jerkins were recorded at Criteria Studios 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". The album is the third collaboration between Jackson and Riley, the other two being Dangerous and Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix. 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. pop 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:

"Privacy", a reflection on Jackson's own personal experiences, is about media invasions and tabloid inaccuracies. The song features Jackson singing, "You are the sun, you make me shine, more like the stars." 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 released in the United States only to radio airplay. It reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number two for five weeks on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Chart. A three-track commercial single of the song was scheduled for release on January 15, 2002, but its release was canceled. A remix of the song by Track Masters was released promotionally which features singer Eve. Jackson had reportedly wanted "Unbreakable" to be the album's first single, but it was ultimately only issued promotionally. The song peaked at number 62 on the Romanian Top 100 chart. "Heaven Can Wait" charted at number 72 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Chart due to radio airplay without an official release; the song did not chart internationally. 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 canceled 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 30th Anniversary Celebration 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, largely based on his ownership stake within the company and the contract Jackson had originally signed with the label 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 supposed to revert to him after 1999, would be retained by Sony until the end of the decade. When Jackson consulted the lawyer who had negotiated his contract, 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 to Sony Music Entertainment, Jackson elected to instead leave the company shortly after the album's release. After the announcement, Sony moved to cancel all promotional and marketing efforts for Invincible; this included stopping the release of a 9/11 charity single that Jackson had recorded.

In July 2002, Jackson publicly 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 average to negative reviews by 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".

Other critics were more praiseful. Mark Beaumont of NME called Invincible "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". Q magazine said that it is an aurally interesting, albeit inconsistent, album. Precious Collins in The Ironton Tribune was highly praiseful of the album, writing, "Once again, Michael Jackson has succeeded" and further praising Jackson by saying that Jackson and his new album are "Invincible".

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 lost to James Taylor's "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight". Due to the album's release in October 2001, it was not eligible for any other nomination from the 2002 Grammy Awards. In a retrospective review for The Rolling Stone Album Guide in 2004, Pareles said that Invincible showed Jackson had lost his suave quality to "grim calculation".

Retrospective reviews

In retrospective reviews, Invincible has gained more positive reviews. AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine commented that it has a "spark" and "sound[s] better than anything Jackson has done since Dangerous." The track "Heartbreaker" has been cited as an early development of dubstep. In 2025, Billy Frost of Screen Rant called Invincible "ahead of its time" and a feat of musicality and production. In another article from the same publication, Molly Brizzell said, "Invincible is now getting its proper appreciation, especially as it continues to age like fine wine."

Jackson later admitted to have been very proud of Invincible: "It is tough because you’re competing against yourself. Invincible is just as good or better than Thriller, in my true, humble opinion. It has more to offer." Producer Jerkins also give his thoughts about the album: "There's stuff we didn't put on the album that I wish was on the album. My first batch [of beats] is what I really wanted him to do. I was trying to really go vintage, old school Mike. And that's what a lot of my first stuff was, that I was presenting to him. He kept 'Rock My World'. But he wanted to go more futuristic. So I would find myself at like junkyards, and we'd be out hitting stuff, to create our sound.

I think Invincible needs to be re-released. Because something happened at the record company [Sony] that caused them not to promote it no more after we put our heart and soul in it. He had about five singles on the album. But it came down to who can stop who [sic]. And he was caught up in that mess." In December 2009, following Jackson's death that year, readers of Billboard voted Invincible the best album of the 2000s.

Commercial performance

Invincible was Jackson's first studio album since HIStory six years earlier. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 363,000 units, ousting rapper DMX's album, The Great Depression from the position. It was Jackson's fifth Billboard 200 number-one, the former slipped to number three, selling 202,000 copies with a 45% drop. Invincible also charted at number one on the Billboard R&B/Hip Hop Albums Chart for four weeks. After eight weeks of release, in December 2001, Invincible was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of five hundred thousand units. In the same month, the album was certified platinum for the sale of one million units. As of 2009, Invincible had sold 2.4 million copies in the United States.

Invincible left the Billboard 200 in June 2002 after charting there for 28 weeks. Shortly after the release of the album, in a poll conducted by Billboard magazine, "an overwhelming majority" of people—79% of 5,195 voters—were not surprised by Invincible entering the Billboard 200 at number one. Billboard also reported that 44% agreed with the statement, proclaiming that Jackson was "still the King of Pop". Another 35% said they were not surprised by the album's ranking, but doubted Invincible would hold on for a second week at the top of the chart. According to different sources the album sold 8 million, or 10 million copies worldwide.

Following Jackson's death on June 25, 2009, his music surged in popularity. Invincible charted at number twelve on the Billboard Digital Albums Chart on July 11, 2009. Having not charted on the chart prior to its peak position, the album was listed as the ninth biggest jump on that chart that week. On the week of July 19, 2009, Invincible charted at number eighteen in Italy. In the Chinese edition of the box set The Collection released in 2013, all 16 tracks are included.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Invincible album liner notes.

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|24

!scope="row"|Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)

|73

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|17

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|37

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|37

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|44

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|23

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|14

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|45

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|28

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