How Immortal Was Made (Video)

A video about how the music for Michael Jackson’s Immortal tour and album was made has been released. In this video, Kevin Antunes—who produced the album—and Jamie King—the tour director—each explain their work.Download the video

At the beginning of the video, we see Kevin Antunes in the studio listening to the master track of “Man In The Mirror.” He says:

“Michael didn’t just want to listen. He wanted to perform. I read in Bruce’s book (Sweden, the sound engineer on Michael’s albums) that they would build a stage for him in the studio so he could perform on it! Perform in the studio! He didn’t come to the studio just to record his voice—he came to perform. And you can hear that in the very fibers of his sound. That performance exists in his songs, and if you listen closely, you’ll hear it.”

Antunes took the master tracks, the result of 40 years of Michael Jackson’s nonstop work, and by re-arranging them, he created the beautiful music of the Immortal tour. In this tour, which is performed in Canada and North America and will eventually become a permanent show at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, acrobats and Cirque du Soleil dancers perform on stage alongside Michael’s songs.

Kevin Antunes has done an incredible job re-arranging the songs in a way that suits live tour performances. He had to condense 40 years of Michael’s artistic work into short tracks without losing any of their grandeur and splendor.

Epic Records, after hearing the music, realized that these re-arranged songs could themselves form a standalone album. With the Michael Jackson Foundation’s support for this idea, just a few days ago the Immortal album entered the market in two versions: deluxe and standard.

But how did Kevin Antunes get involved in this project?

The Cirque du Soleil director contacted Jamie King and asked whether he would be interested in collaborating on a project about Michael Jackson?! The answer was definitely yes, and then King started thinking: who should the tour music be entrusted to? He says:

“Every part of my being told me that the person had to be Kevin Antunes. He’s a Michael fan. I’m a Michael fan, and our thoughts about what needed to be done were the same.”

Antunes, who has worked with people like Justin Timberlake, Madonna, and Rihanna, says that Michael’s songs for Cirque du Soleil performances had to become a bit more danceable. Besides that, Kevin wanted Michael’s voice to dominate these new remixes—unlike older songs, in which Michael tried to match his voice with the instruments.

Antunes says: “In some of his songs, the power is so strong that you completely forget what his vocal range even is!”

One of the amazing tracks on the new album is “I’ll Be There,” released in June 1970 with the voice of 11-year-old Michael.

Antunes says the voice of this 11-year-old is so pure and beautiful that even today it teaches all of our singers how to sing.

For the track “Immortal Intro,” a variety of sounds have been used—from songs and videos to TV shows that older fans should remember. One of these sounds is from the video “Jam,” in which Michael Jackson teaches Michael Jordan, the world basketball champion.

In producing this album, Antunes tried to use pieces that had not been used before in songs. For example, the beautiful song “They Don’t Care About Us” includes a choir section that Michael recorded but had never used. Antunes also used the military march that Michael had created for the This Is It tour.

He says this album will affect you wherever you listen to it. This is Michael Jackson’s album—with a new arrangement.

Kevin Antunes believes: “Michael Jackson was the greatest stage and entertainment artist in history… and he will be.”

Source: eMJey.com / CNN