Joe Vogel: Behind the scenes of Hollywood Tonight
Joe Vogel is a music critic and the author of the book “Man of Music: The Life and Creative Art of Michael Jackson.” The book has not yet been released. He has written an article titled (Exclusive Inside Michael Jackson’s Hollywood) about the behind-the-scenes story of the new Hollywood Tonight video for The Huffington Post, which you can read below. To watch or download this video, click.
In any case, Michael passed away and This Is It was not held. But Boutella’s praise-worthy performance of the Pop King in this new video is on display. This story is about a young girl who dreams of making it to Hollywood, without falling into its traps of luxury and glitter.
The story is beautifully developed by director Wayne Isham, and in it Sofia’s energy and talent shine. This video, alongside other tributes to Michael Jackson in Glee and an American Idol talent competition, shows just how widespread and deep Michael Jackson’s impact on the new generation is. Many of them discovered him only after his death.
Michael first brought the lyrics for this song to paper in 1999 while staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel. He soon got busy working on the song with his longtime friend and collaborator Brad Buxer. During the early stages of producing the album Invincible, the song traveled with them from Los Angeles to New York, Miami, and Neverland.
During this period, the two were also working on notable works such as:
Beautiful Girl
The Way You Love Me
Speechless
The Lost Children
Shut Up and Dance (a great dance track featuring Michael, Brad Buxer, Michael Prince, and Eric Kerkland — whose vocals unfortunately were not completed during Michael’s lifetime) and I Was the Loser (a beautiful, gentle song about a lost love that was almost finished).
A few years earlier, Michael and Buxer had also worked on rare tracks like Morphine and In the Back.
Michael loved Hollywood Tonight — the church-choir intro was his own idea — but when producer Randy Gerber arrived to work on Invincible, Michael stopped working on the song.
Over the next 10 years, he picked it up again many times. For the song’s bass, he was looking to create something similar to Billie Jean but distinct. He wrote on the song’s notepad: “Muted, soft bass on Hollywood.”
The song’s initial bass was two-layered (Michael Prince, at Michael’s request, used part of Billie Jean in the song’s mix). In 2007, in Las Vegas, Michael and Buxer were still working on the song. For a while, he considered ending the track with the sound of a passing bus. But in the end, he decided to end the piece with the whistle sound, because the previous combination didn’t turn out to be very interesting.
In October 2008, when Michael was now living in Los Angeles, he asked recording engineer Michael Prince to deliver the latest mixed version of the song to him on CD so he could listen and see what flaws remained. Unfortunately, after that date, he never worked on Hollywood Tonight again.
The version that will be released on CD is closer to the latest version Michael worked on than the version included on the album. Of course, Michael intended to keep working on it. That’s why, after his death, his foundation entrusted Hollywood Tonight to his nephew and two of Michael’s closest collaborators: Nefyu and Teddy Riley. First, Nefyu got to work; Sony did not welcome his version, and the task was handed to Teddy Riley. The version Teddy Riley delivered was a mix of Michael and Buxer’s demo, along with Nefyu’s mix. This version made it onto the album “Michael.”
After its release, many Michael fans were unhappy about Michael’s vocals being overdone and about the long spoken intro (read by Taryl Jackson). Michael had written the spoken intro, which makes it appear darker than what Teddy Riley rewrote.
Michael wrote:
He doesn’t even have a ticket
Even no way back home
She’s lost and she’s alone
There’s no place for her to go
She is young and she is cold
Just like her father told her so
--------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Jackson was so impressed by the dancing of Sofia Boutella (Sofia Boutella — the 28-year-old Algerian dancer in Hollywood Tonight) that he wanted to give her a life-changing opportunity: the chance to dance with him on stage in This Is It!
Unfortunately, she was under contract with Madonna and was busy organizing a tour. Seeing Sofia’s disappointment and sadness, Michael told a few of his colleagues that he had previously had contact with Madonna and that he should call her.
In any case, Michael passed away and This Is It was not held. But Boutella’s praise-worthy performance of the Pop King in this new video is on display. This story is about a young girl who dreams of making it to Hollywood, without falling into its traps of luxury and glitter.
The story is beautifully developed by director Wayne Isham, and in it Sofia’s energy and talent shine. This video, alongside other tributes to Michael Jackson in Glee and an American Idol talent competition, shows just how widespread and deep Michael Jackson’s impact on the new generation is. Many of them discovered him only after his death.
Michael first brought the lyrics for this song to paper in 1999 while staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel. He soon got busy working on the song with his longtime friend and collaborator Brad Buxer. During the early stages of producing the album Invincible, the song traveled with them from Los Angeles to New York, Miami, and Neverland.
During this period, the two were also working on notable works such as:
Beautiful Girl
The Way You Love Me
Speechless
The Lost Children
Shut Up and Dance (a great dance track featuring Michael, Brad Buxer, Michael Prince, and Eric Kerkland — whose vocals unfortunately were not completed during Michael’s lifetime) and I Was the Loser (a beautiful, gentle song about a lost love that was almost finished).
A few years earlier, Michael and Buxer had also worked on rare tracks like Morphine and In the Back.
Michael loved Hollywood Tonight — the church-choir intro was his own idea — but when producer Randy Gerber arrived to work on Invincible, Michael stopped working on the song.
Over the next 10 years, he picked it up again many times. For the song’s bass, he was looking to create something similar to Billie Jean but distinct. He wrote on the song’s notepad: “Muted, soft bass on Hollywood.”
The song’s initial bass was two-layered (Michael Prince, at Michael’s request, used part of Billie Jean in the song’s mix). In 2007, in Las Vegas, Michael and Buxer were still working on the song. For a while, he considered ending the track with the sound of a passing bus. But in the end, he decided to end the piece with the whistle sound, because the previous combination didn’t turn out to be very interesting.
In October 2008, when Michael was now living in Los Angeles, he asked recording engineer Michael Prince to deliver the latest mixed version of the song to him on CD so he could listen and see what flaws remained. Unfortunately, after that date, he never worked on Hollywood Tonight again.
The version that will be released on CD is closer to the latest version Michael worked on than the version included on the album. Of course, Michael intended to keep working on it. That’s why, after his death, his foundation entrusted Hollywood Tonight to his nephew and two of Michael’s closest collaborators: Nefyu and Teddy Riley. First, Nefyu got to work; Sony did not welcome his version, and the task was handed to Teddy Riley. The version Teddy Riley delivered was a mix of Michael and Buxer’s demo, along with Nefyu’s mix. This version made it onto the album “Michael.”
After its release, many Michael fans were unhappy about Michael’s vocals being overdone and about the long spoken intro (read by Taryl Jackson). Michael had written the spoken intro, which makes it appear darker than what Teddy Riley rewrote.
Michael wrote:
He doesn’t even have a ticket
Even no way back home
She’s lost and she’s alone
There’s no place for her to go
She is young and she is cold
Just like her father told her so
She doesn't even have a ticket
She doesn't even have a way back home
She's lost and she's alone
There's no place for her to go
She is young and she is cold
Just like her father told her so
Michael’s writing shows sadness and disappointment, but Teddy Riley rewrote it in a more positive and brighter way. He says:
"That way we show that her wish (the girl) comes true and she succeeds. She completes her mission."
If Michael’s voice on this track had been available, Teddy Riley would definitely have used it, but unfortunately he never recorded this track with his own voice.
Sony has decided to remove this spoken intro from the single version. Instead, they use Michael’s vocal artistry with his throat (which is considered his signature in his work): a voice that was left on a cassette tape in a hotel room. That tape is the result of one of Michael’s recording sessions.
Besides, the vocals that appear on the single version have not been fully finished. The result is a song that, although it never received a final stamp of completion, is closer to the version prepared by Michael.
All works released after an artist’s death are inevitably incomplete, and there are heated debates about them.
But as music lovers, we accept whatever we can get from Michael Jackson, whether it’s a demo, a mix, or fresh mixes.
Hollywood Tonight could have been buried under tons of dust. But now people dance in the streets to its sound.
Source: eMJey.com / huffingtonpost.com