Less than two weeks from now, “Michael” will arrive in stores and online. For the six of you who are unaware, it will be the first wave of unreleased material from Michael Jackson’s adult years to receive an official release. The promotion machine is certainly ramping up for this release, and this week alone we’ve witnessed the release of a third song from the project as well as an excerpt from the official video of the single, “Hold My Hand”.
The new song is called “Much Too Soon” , and it’s currently streaming on Ping. It was apparently recorded around the time of “Thriller”, and it does kinda have an early Eighties adult contemporary quality to it. I could picture it on the dentist-office radio station alongside Kenny Rogers or John Denver. Michael’s vocal is pretty, but to me the song sounds a little overproduced (thanks, John McClain), and it’s certainly one of his more goopy, watery efforts. So, add it up folks–two mediocre songs and one absolutely terrible song have surfaced so far. I haven’t even bought “Michael” yet and I’m already kinda regretting my purchase.
A 30-second snippet of the “Hold My Hand” video has also surfaced, and well…without Michael around, there’s no way the video would have even had the chance to measure up against Michael clips of old. What you get is a lot of familiar stock footage of MJ (which we’ve all seen before), some dancing kids, and…Akon. Sigh. While I enjoy the song, the bit of the video that’s featured here isn’t too rousing.
I don’t know. What do you guys think?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6mqCwxXywk