The story behind Hollywood Tonight

The story behind "Hollywood Tonight"

Michael Jackson was so impressed by the dancer Sofia Boutella - she is the star of the new music video "Hollywood Tonight" - that he was willing to offer her the opportunity of a lifetime: the chance next to him in his "This Is It" show to appear at London's O2 Arena. Unfortunately, she was at the time still for Madonna's Confessions Tour under contract and could not get out. Seeing how disappointed was Boutella, Jackson turned to a few people and said, ".. I've got to meet Madonna I should call it"

While Boutella ultimately "This Is It" missed, it shows an admirable tribute to the King of Pop in his recent posthumous video that tries to paint the story of a young, ambitious girls who want to know it in Hollywood without and by their insignia illusions to be swallowed. It is a trite story, but has been tastefully carried out by director Wayne Isham and is complemented by the contagious energy and talent of Boutella. The video also shows - along with recent MJ tribute of Glee - how deep Jacksons influence still affects young generations (many of which he "discovered" after his tragic death in 2009).

"Hollywood Tonight" is the second single from the posthumous album "Michael". ("Behind the Mask" is the only alternative in other countries, including the United States).

The song has a long and tortuous history. Jackson has written the first text sketches in a hotel in Beverly Hills in 1999 for the first time. Soon after he started the music with his longtime friend and collaborator, Brad Buxer (the co-author of the song). The song traveled with them from Los Angeles to New York, Miami to Neverland, in the early 'Invincible' meetings. Jackson and Buxer have then outstanding material elaborated: "Beautiful Girl", "The Way You Love Me," "Speechless", "The Lost Children", "Shut Up and Dance" and "I Was The Loser" (a beautiful, melodic mid-tempo song about a lost love), among others. A few years earlier, also very good work with among others "Morphine" and had Jackson and Buxer "In the Back" worked.

Jackson liked parts of "Hollywood" - the Gregorian opening (his idea), the "West, Greyhound" harmonies, whistling in the Outro - but he has ceased to work on it, as a producer Rodney Jerkins for Invincible came aboard.

However, in the next ten years he changed the title several times. For the bass line, it was for something similar with "Billie Jean". "Do smooth muted bass on 'Hollywood", he indicated in a note. His early demos have two levels of bass lines (Michael Prince has the "Billie Jean" -like kick and snare incorporated in recent MJ Mix). Jackson and Brad Buxer continued their work in Las Vegas in 2007. For a while he liked the idea, with the sound of a bus which stops or continues to start. But he finally decided to finish with the pipes, this juxtaposition was a little awkward.

In October 2008, Jackson lives in Los Angeles, he asked the sound engineer Michael Prince to the latest mix of "Hollywood" and whether one could copy it to a CD so he could listen to it and improve. Unfortunately, he has not worked on.

The new single "Hollywood" is true, this last version than the album version. Of course, Jackson had determined it to continue working, which is why his legacy and Sony originally two of Jackson's closest collaborators brought on board, Theron Feemster (aka Neff-U) and Teddy Riley, to try to finish it. Feemster had the first jump and came up with a couple of solid mixtures, but Sony did not feel that it was right, and then Teddy Riley gave a shot to. Riley's production has retained much of Michael's and Brad's demo (including the intro and outro), added Feemster's mix elements (including the fantastically funky guitar sounds), and a bit more pressure added and it was the album version.

After it came out, many fans expressed worries about a) the revised singing and b) long spoken bridges. Jackson had indeed written for a deeper voice than it transposed Riley. Jackson sang:

She does not even have a ticket

She does not 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

While Jackson's version described highlights the tragedy and uncertainty of a dream, to Teddy Riley opted for a more positive and tidy ending resolution. "We let them succeed," said Riley. "She has completed her mission."

Riley would undoubtedly Michaels use version, but it was taken up not singing it. With the single Sony had not used the spoken text and has it determined the increase in the drama and the tension of Jackson for this section. They used his beatboxing, his idea and his operatic singing (from a tape that was created during a recording session in a hotel room). Next to the bridge of the song on the new single has remained unprocessed and production was scaled back. The result is a single, rough, funky, but less ready Felt album version.

"Hollywood Tonight" has gone through many incarnations: various demos of Michael Jackson with Brad Buxer and Michael Prince from 1999 to 2008 the two versions that worked Theron Feemster after Jackson's death (one of which is allegedly to have been very impressive); the polished Album Version by Teddy Riley, and of course the new single. All are unconditional approaches to what Jackson would eventually wanted to have a finished form. That's the kind of posthumous publications. You will always be imperfect and they will always generate a heated debate.

But for most music lovers, we will take what is new from Michael Jackson and we can get, whether demos, mixes or remixes. "Hollywood Tonight" could lie gathering dust in a vault, but it lets the people dancing in the streets.

Source: huffingtonpost.com & MJFC JAM