Invincible appreciation thread

[Skylover]

I can agree with your review.

I'm a fan of the song Invincible but it doesn't help that it comes right after both Unbreakable and Heartbreaker.

I'm not sure about the lyrics but I think 2000 Watts has one of my favorite and most addictive beat on the album. And Threatened works well as an outro for the album (and even MJ career), I don't really see it as Thriller 2.0 beyond the horror theme. Sadly the chorus always reminded me too much of late 90s boys band.

Love The Lost Children.

 

[Hot_Street]

I'm not sure about the lyrics but I think 2000 Watts has one of my favorite and most addictive beat on the album.

I would have liked to have more stomping tracks like 2000 Watts on Invincible.

 

[Ronald Stain]

I love Invincible album because of 5 songs. IMO they are so underrated, and perhaps fans should definately at least give them a chance and listen to them. I'm talking about Heartbreaker, The Lost Children, Unbreakable, Whatever Happens and You Rock My World. These are the only songs I prefer listening from Invincible album. Although Michael's vocals were weak during that period, they manged to create pretty unique vibe for these songs. Maybe because of addictive beat and MJ beatboxing. I would like to see music videos for TLC and Heartbreaker, I think these songs deserved to be singles

 

[Ronald Stain]

A= Class
B= Good
C= mediocre
D= Ass

I hope you don't mind me writing my variant

- Unbreakable: infectious beat, tiresome lyrics with decent but tiring vocals with lacklustre chorus and bridge, repetitive and too long. Not very inspiring C

A

- Heartbreaker: fantastic beat and production, listen to it on headphones to hear the details. Best vocals on the album. A

A

- Invincible: Decent beat and decent overall performance yet it doesn’t really differentiate itself from the other 2 openers which bogs it down, it tends to suffer from the same problems Unbreakable has C

C

- Break Of Dawn: sounds like an attempt at a D’Angelo type of track but not half as good, it’s got a decent chore, the verses are good but it goes on and on and it is not good enough to sustain the length it has C

B

- Heaven Can Wait: Love the production, the song is really going nicely in each aspect and then the ad libs ruin it all which is surprising in MJ’s case, the vocals simply don’t fit the delicate rhythm C

B

- You Rock My World: welcome attempt at a good old pop song but it simply isn’t special enough and the intro is pure cringe C

A

- Butterflies: One of his better vocals on the record, vocally we hear a nice variation, very good production B

B

- Speechless: it’s got something sweet but I’m not a fan of the opening and closing nor the entrance of the choir C

B

- 2000 Watts: what’s with these vocals anyway? Nonsensical lyrics. Beat is possibly decent but not enough D

D

- You Are My Life: good production but supreme cheese lyrically which holds it down. C

C

- Privacy: poor distorted vocals, extremely tiresome lyrics, the chorus is laughable D

B

- Don’t Walk Away: Sounds like a movie score, break up songs are often faves of mine and this is no different. Love the string arrangements, lyrics and vocal performance, ad libs are magic A

C

- Cry: Silly lyrics and another attempt at past magic D

B

- The Lost Children: A song with a heart, love the instrumental and the kids choir B

A

- Whatever Happens: Michael hires Santana because he scored massive with Supernatural which is too little too late and the song and vocals aren’t any good . I can appreciate the latin flavour which was different for MJ but it doesn’t do better than the soundtrack of a a second grade western D

A

- Threatened: Can’t believe he tried to do a 2nd thriller, talk about being completely shot creatively and it is not even good D

B

 

[Blues_Away2023]

Listening to Heartbreaker now and it sounds so aggressive and modern. It was one of my favourites when Invincible first came out.

The mmmm at the start and throughout really adds to it. I also love the huge aowww at the end ha

 

[mj_frenzy]

I love Invincible album because of 5 songs. IMO they are so underrated, and perhaps fans should definately at least give them a chance and listen to them. I'm talking about Heartbreaker, The Lost Children, Unbreakable, Whatever Happens and You Rock My World. These are the only songs I prefer listening from Invincible album. Although Michael's vocals were weak during that period, they manged to create pretty unique vibe for these songs. Maybe because of addictive beat and MJ beatboxing. I would like to see music videos for TLC and Heartbreaker, I think these songs deserved to be singles

Only 'Heartbreaker' appeared to have a pretty unique vibe (that song has been described as the precursor to the dubstep genre, a genre which at that point did not exist yet).

The other songs had nothing special, for example:

'Unbreakable' was merely a sped-up version of the 'Unbelievable' 1994 song (by The Notorious B.I.G.).

'You Rock My World' was very similar to songs that Rodney Jerkins had already produced by that time for other artists.

'Whatever Happens' was basically a cover version of the original song (named also 'Whatever Happens') by Gil Cang and Geoffrey Williams.

 

[filmandmusic]

Yeah I think Michael had better waited till he had better material. The years after Invincible he could have finished the album including praised demos like beautiful girl, in the back, innocent man, monster, adore you, dark lady, rocker etc
At least from what we know of those is that they sound more unique than what we got on Invincible

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

A= Class
B= Good
C= mediocre
D= Ass

- Unbreakable: infectious beat, tiresome lyrics with decent but tiring vocals with lacklustre chorus and bridge, repetitive and too long. Not very inspiring C

- Heartbreaker: fantastic beat and production, listen to it on headphones to hear the details. Best vocals on the album. A

- Invincible: Decent beat and decent overall performance yet it doesn’t really differentiate itself from the other 2 openers which bogs it down, it tends to suffer from the same problems Unbreakable has C

- Break Of Dawn: sounds like an attempt at a D’Angelo type of track but not half as good, it’s got a decent chore, the verses are good but it goes on and on and it is not good enough to sustain the length it has C

- Heaven Can Wait: Love the production, the song is really going nicely in each aspect and then the ad libs ruin it all which is surprising in MJ’s case, the vocals simply don’t fit the delicate rhythm C

- You Rock My World: welcome attempt at a good old pop song but it simply isn’t special enough and the intro is pure cringe C

- Butterflies: One of his better vocals on the record, vocally we hear a nice variation, very good production B

- Speechless: it’s got something sweet but I’m not a fan of the opening and closing nor the entrance of the choir C

- 2000 Watts: what’s with these vocals anyway? Nonsensical lyrics. Beat is possibly decent but not enough D

- You Are My Life: good production but supreme cheese lyrically which holds it down. C

- Privacy: poor distorted vocals, extremely tiresome lyrics, the chorus is laughable D

- Don’t Walk Away: Sounds like a movie score, break up songs are often faves of mine and this is no different. Love the string arrangements, lyrics and vocal performance, ad libs are magic A

- Cry: Silly lyrics and another attempt at past magic D

- The Lost Children: A song with a heart, love the instrumental and the kids choir B

- Whatever Happens: Michael hires Santana because he scored massive with Supernatural which is too little too late and the song and vocals aren’t any good . I can appreciate the latin flavour which was different for MJ but it doesn’t do better than the soundtrack of a a second grade western D

- Threatened: Can’t believe he tried to do a 2nd thriller, talk about being completely shot creatively and it is not even good D

Jesus this is too awful for words. Even the worst critic isn't this bad

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

Unbreakable - B,+, A-, really neat and super catchy. Could be a bit much sometimes.
Heartbreaker - A-, Also very catchy but I'm personally worn out on it in particular.
Invincible - C+, not as catchy, not strong enough. Still has unique interesting touches.
Break of Dawn - A, really has only gotten better with time production wise. Maybe not an amazing lyric session but vocally he sounds pristine. An amazing sound from Dr Freeze that could've definitely been expanded on. The writers demo Twilight is even better.
Heaven Can Wait - A-, I love this song, I always found it neat and honestly now it deserves the hype. What some might say is rough around the edges, I see as just straight Jodeci. The streets love it.
You Rock My World - A+, Come on, the song is just cool. It don't gotta be deep, it's just cool. So many neat touches. This is definitely proof MJ hadn't lost his touch, it's that simple.
Butterflies - A+, probably the best song on the album and even the two that follow. The promo edit is my preference though. Incredible glimpse of a well developed 40 year old MJ.
Speechless - C+, I don't like it much at all. But it's totally MJ and it is exceptionally well made. Your Bruno or Justin would kill babies for a song like this.

I'll stop for now. It's a lot to read anyway.

 

[filmandmusic]

Unbreakable - B,+, A-, really neat and super catchy. Could be a bit much sometimes.
Heartbreaker - A-, Also very catchy but I'm personally worn out on it in particular.
Invincible - C+, not as catchy, not strong enough. Still has unique interesting touches.
Break of Dawn - A, really has only gotten better with time production wise. Maybe not an amazing lyric session but vocally he sounds pristine. An amazing sound from Dr Freeze that could've definitely been expanded on. The writers demo Twilight is even better.
Heaven Can Wait - A-, I love this song, I always found it neat and honestly now it deserves the hype. What some might say is rough around the edges, I see as just straight Jodeci. The streets love it.
You Rock My World - A+, Come on, the song is just cool. It don't gotta be deep, it's just cool. So many neat touches. This is definitely proof MJ hadn't lost his touch, it's that simple.
Butterflies - A+, probably the best song on the album and even the two that follow. The promo edit is my preference though. Incredible glimpse of a well developed 40 year old MJ.
Speechless - C+, I don't like it much at all. But it's totally MJ and it is exceptionally well made. Your Bruno or Justin would kill babies for a song like this.

I'll stop for now. It's a lot to read anyway.

Oh c’mon don’t stop, my attention span is still top notch, I read through this in 30 seconds. Don’t be a lazy ass!

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

Oh c’mon don’t stop, my attention span is still top notch, I read through this in 30 seconds. Don’t be a lazy ass!

You try me in every conceivable way.

 

[filmandmusic]

You try me in every conceivable way.

You just couldn’t find any nice words for the rest of the album

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

2000 Watts - C, the song is neat. Sounds good on stereo, is aging well and I like the vocal tricks. It makes no sense being on here when it's Tyrese's title track though. That's just so random.

You Are My Life - B+, it's actually my favorite ballad off the album. It's sweet and sentimental and he does have a lotta passion in it. I would actually prefer Shout on the album personally but, I can't say it doesn't belong.

Privacy - C-, D+, this will always be my pick for worst MJ song (that isn't Rockin Robin) and it's not even close. It's not even a real solo by Slash. More than anything it's just tired and as by the numbers as it gets. Can't believe he signed off on this when so many better choices was there.

I will say, I have a way harder time remembering the tracklist of Invincible than the other albums. I can list them all right now but not it. Says something maybe, not sure what.

Don't Walk Away - A+, it is an incredible song actually. Smooth, understated, pretty. She's Out of My Life done right really, maybe not as defining and not MJs own pen like Much Too Soon but all together more ambitious and the one id play before both actually.

Cry, C+, it is not as lazy as Privacy but it's definitely just by the numbers. Ironically it is like Speechless in that your JT or Bruno would kill for a song this good, but it's not nearly as passionate or clearly crafted with love as Speechless. It's R.Kelly trying to make Man in The Mirror while the Man in the Mirror stares at him. But it is not unpleasant and it does have some nice subtleties.

The Lost Children, B+, this song definitely has the most passion, and the most MJ in it actually. It's such a strange little ditty and it really could only come from his mind. It makes essentially no sense being here, being involved. And yet I can't imagine anything less. The finale is not as good but I love the chorus and the Celtic influence.

Whatever Happens, A+, The entirely unacknowledged super hit that never was. It is bristling with so many potentials, video, performance, and the fact that it is still MJ on autopilot turning out something so deftly him even in interpretation of another writers song just speaks to his mastery of the craft. Teddy's nuanced work on the production also adds to it though. It's an immaculate song that you pour into and it gives right back to you. I always get lost in this one.

Threatened, A-, it's very easily the best of the Rodney Jerkins collabs in a lotta ways. The Y2K aspect of the melody blends very well with your traditional MJ-isms, the sampled rap is the coolest production trick I've ever seen, and the beats are very catchy. It actually does get the point acoss faster than Unbreakable, and dare I say it's the most empowered MJ has sounded next to Is It Scary. As essentially the last song in the 10 album solo canon MJ put out, it's a fitting end. If he had never touched the media angle again, it would fit in that way too.

It does loop the album in an excellent way, just like Bad, Dangerous, and HIStory do as well.

Invincible is still slick in ways, but it is also not. It's 40 year old MJ, not his slickest but still MJ and you gotta at least admire it for it.