Maps of Music

Invincible (2001)

Where the lyrics of Invincible take you, and where it was really made.

Reported to have cost close to $30 million, Invincible is described as the most expensive album ever made, yet Sony abruptly ended its promotion after release.

Key places

Where the Rodney Jerkins tracks were made (2001)

Recording site Criteria Studios — The tracks produced with Rodney Jerkins were recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida. Those songs were part of the album's multi-producer work. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Invincible: tenth and final studio album by Michael Jackson
• Released October 30, 2001 by Epic Records
• Features Carlos Santana, the Notorious B.I.G. (posthumous), Fats and Slash
• Blends R&B, pop and soul
• Explores romance, isolation and media criticism, as in Jackson's earlier work
• Final album of original material released before his death in 2009

Background

• Jackson had released no new material since the 1997 remix album Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix
• His last studio album before this was HIStory (1995)
• Invincible was therefore viewed as Jackson's career comeback
• Jackson began recording new material in October 1997
• Dedicated to Benjamin Hermansen, a teenager killed in Oslo in 2001, and to Nicholette Sottile and Jackson's parents

Recording

• Work of ten record producers and over 100 musicians
• Production ran from 1997 and was not finished until eight weeks before release
• Most of the album was written within the last year of production
• Tracks produced with Rodney Jerkins were recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida
• Jackson's spokesperson suggested the rapper Fats for one song

Cover

• Cover inspired by the 1992 photograph The Golden Boy by Albert Watson
• Watson shot Jackson through mirrors for the imagery
• Four color variants released: red, orange, blue, and green

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• Born August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana; eighth of ten children in the Jackson family.
• Debuted at age six as lead singer of the Jackson 5; the group signed with Motown in 1968 and had early number-one hits such as "I Want You Back".
• Moved to Epic Records in 1975 as the Jacksons, and began a solo career with Off the Wall (1979).
• Thriller (1982) became the best-selling album of all time, with an estimated 70 million copies sold.
• Bad (1987) was the first album to produce five US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles.
• Known as the "King of Pop"; credited with transforming music videos and popularizing the moonwalk.
• Died June 25, 2009 from a propofol overdose; a posthumous catalog continued to sell strongly.

Philanthropy

• Founded the Heal the World Foundation in 1992.
• Estimated to have donated over $500 million to charities over his life.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Invincible initially received average to negative reviews, becoming Jackson's most critically derided album
• Mixed reviews from critics; Metacritic gave a mixed score of 51 from 19 reviews
• Entertainment Weekly (David Browne): felt the album offered virtually no new twists and resembled an anthology of less-than-greatest hits
• Rolling Stone (James Hunter): said the later ballads made the record too long, but praised Whatever Happens
• The New York Times (Jon Pareles): negative review, calling the album somewhat impersonal and humorless
• NME (Mark Beaumont): called it a relevant and rejuvenated comeback album made overlong
• The Village Voice (Robert Christgau): said Jackson's skills seemed undiminished

Reappraisal

• AllMusic (Stephen Thomas Erlewine): said it has a spark and sounds better than anything Jackson had done since Dangerous
• PopDose (Mike Heyliger): said a leaner structure and more sympathetic production would have made a classic
• Screen Rant (Billy Frost, 2025): called it ahead of its time
• The track Heartbreaker has been cited as an early development of dubstep

Records

• Debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 363,000 copies
• Reached number one in 13 other countries
• Certified platinum by the BPI in the United Kingdom for over 300,000 units
• Certified double platinum in the US and has sold over eight million copies
• Received one Grammy Award nomination at the 2002 ceremony
• Voted by online Billboard readers as the best album of the 2000s in 2009

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Jackson's spokesperson suggested a New Jersey rapper named Fats for a song, and the two agreed to record another song together for the album
• For the cover, Watson's photo of Jackson in gold makeup was used as inspiration, while company executives reportedly preferred a desaturated form
• The liner notes feature a sketch by Jackson's friend Uri Geller
• Jackson refused to tour to support the album, adding to his rift with Sony
• Jackson elected to leave Sony shortly after the album's release, after learning his contract lawyer also worked for the label
• The album is also dedicated to Nicholette Sottile and Jackson's parents, Joseph and Katherine Jackson

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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