Invincible
Released: October 30, 2001
Recorded: October 1997 through September 2001
Length: 77:01
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Album Details
Track Listing
Unbreakable
Heartbreaker
Invincible
Break Of Dawn
Heaven Can Wait
You Rock My World
Butterflies
Speechless
2000 Watts
You Are My Life
Privacy
Don't Walk Away
Cry
The Lost Children
Whatever Happens
Threatened
Album Singles
You Rock My World — August 22, 2001
Butterflies — November 27, 2001
Cry — December 5, 2001
Limited Release & Promo Singles
Speechless — June 21, 2001
Album Summary
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. and Slash. It incorporates R&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. Jackson started the multi-genre production in 1997 and did not finish until eight weeks before the album's October 2001 release. It was reported that it cost $30 million to record, making it the most expensive album ever made.
Invincible debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart in the United States and in ten other countries worldwide. It was certified double platinum in the US January 2002 and has sold more than eight million copies worldwide. The lead single, You Rock My World, reached number ten on the US BillboardHot 100 and was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 2002 Grammy Awards. Cry and Butterflies were also released as singles, and Speechless was released as a promotional single.
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. In 2009, it was voted by online readers of Billboard as the best album of the decade.
Album Editions
Original
Released 2001
Music
Unbreakable
Heartbreaker
Invincible
Break Of Dawn
Heaven Can Wait
You Rock My World
Butterflies
Speechless
2000 Watts
You Are My Life
Privacy
Don't Walk Away
Cry
The Lost Children
Whatever Happens
Threatened
Edition Notes: Originally released in 5 collectible colors, with the standard-release and subsequent pressings being the white cover.
Collectible Colors
Released 2001
Music
Unbreakable
Heartbreaker
Invincible
Break Of Dawn
Heaven Can Wait
You Rock My World
Butterflies
Speechless
2000 Watts
You Are My Life
Privacy
Don't Walk Away
Cry
The Lost Children
Whatever Happens
Threatened
Edition Notes: Available in 5 collectible colors, 4 of which were only for a limited time — orange, blue, red, and green.
Short Films
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You Rock My World
Long Version
Short Version
Director: Paul Hunter
Premiered: 2001
The music video for You Rock My World was directed by Paul Hunter and produced by Rubin Mendoza. The video was filmed from August 13 to 21, 2001, in Los Angeles, California, and was also released in 2001. The video, which is over thirteen minutes long, was described as being a short film. The dance performed during the video consists of fragments from the canceled Dangerous music video.
You Rock My World stars Michael Jackson, Chris Tucker, and appearances from Marlon Brando, Michael Madsen and Billy Drago. The video consists of Jackson's and Tucker's characters trying to gain the affection of a woman (Kishaya Dudley) by subsequently following her around the neighborhood. Ultimately, a fight breaks out between Jackson and the gang members in a bar, who are ordered by their leader (Michael Madsen) to get rid of Jackson. Jackson, who had begun to perform before the woman, walks up the stage where his backup dancers have arrived. The gang leader causes a disruption by smashing a bottle across the counter, one of the gang members (Billy Drago) proceeds to taunt Jackson, challenging him. A dance scene begins, as a man lights his lighter and one of the gang members uses a knife on Jackson, but Jackson tosses him down. Jackson then punches him in the face, who knocks over a lamp, starting a fire. As the fire spreads, Jackson screams for Tucker, who had been dancing to the song, and he knocks out some of the gang members. During the escape, the woman who met Jackson approaches him outside the bar. The two share a kiss, and Tucker quickly rolls in with a low rider, signaling for Jackson and his new lover to escape, leaving the bar which is consumed in flames.
The video for You Rock My World was thought to be the last music video to feature any participation from Jackson before the video for One More Chance was unearthed. The music videos that followed, would only consist of archive footage of himself and others.
You Rock My World has been compared to Jackson's previous 1980s music videos for his singles, Smooth Criminal, Bad, and The Way You Make Me Feel, all from his 1987 studio album, Bad. In the video, Jackson can be seen wearing a blazer and his traditional fedora.
The video won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Music Video at the award show's 2002 ceremony. In several instances in the video, Tucker's character makes several comedic references to previous songs by Michael Jackson, such as Beat It, P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing), The Girl Is Mine, Bad, Dangerous, and Billie Jean.
The short version of the music video appears on Number Ones, and the long version appears on Michael Jackson's Vision.
Cry
Director: Nick Brandt
Premiered:
The video for Cry was directed by photographer Nick Brandt, who had previously directed Earth Song, Childhood and Stranger In Moscow, all of which were featured on Jackson's HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I album. The video was filmed in six different locations, all in California. People featured in the video included members of a real life gospel group. The video begins with dozens of people of different ages, ethnicities and races holding hands. Long lines of people were stretched over mountains, across highways, in a forest and on the beach. Everyone stands in silence for a majority of the video. Following the bridge, everyone begins singing the chorus. Towards the final chorus, the group collectively clap their hands along with the song, taking hands once more as the song ends.
Cry was issued as a single against Jackson's original intentions to release Unbreakable, as was the release of You Rock My World months prior. Filmed in the weeks after 9/11, Jackson was too nervous to travel to the shoot in northern California. When Jackson saw the rough cut of the video, he and the director, Nick Brandt, agreed that the video was stronger without Jackson in it. Cry is the only Michael Jackson video to be included on an enhanced CD of the single.
Podcast Episodes
Invincible 20 Roundtable
The MJ Cast - Episode 139
What is Invincible’s true place in Jackson’s legacy? Did it deserve the critical pasting it received? Have the songs aged well? Would they have fared better if they had been released at a different time? This episode covers it all.
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