Theatre
By Numbers
MJ The Musical By Numbers
Here’s your breakdown of every song on the MJ The Musical soundtrack
When it comes to the catalogue of Michael Jackson, the numbers speak for themselves. Thriller is still the best-selling album of all time. He holds a joint record for a male solo artist with 13 Billboard Hot 100 no.1 singles. Across his career, he’s only outsold by the Beatles, and he’s the only artist in history to have a top ten single in six decades. With credentials like this – not to mention a still-fanatic fanbase – a Michael Jackson jukebox musical was surely just a matter of time. MJ The Musical includes all the hits you’d expect, and maybe a few you wouldn’t – either way, these songs are guaranteed to be stuck in your head. Here’s your guide to every song on the MJ The Musical West End soundtrack.
‘Beat It’
The show opens in 1992, with rehearsals for the Dangerous tour underway. Jackson watches the dancers warm up and get in place, before they jump into this opening number. ‘Beat It’ was released in 1983 as a single from Thriller, after producer Quincy Jones suggested to Jackson that the album needed a rock song. As a favour to Jones, Eddie Van Halen performed the guitar solo on the original track, paid only in two six-packs of beer.
Key lyric: “Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it/No one wants to be defeated”
‘Jackson 5 Medley (The Love You Save/I Want You Back/ABC)’
The show now explores MJ’s earlier years, specifically his time in the Jackson 5. This medley combines three consecutive #1 hits for the Jackson 5, all released between 1969 and 1970. The three songs were all written and produced by a Motown collective known as “The Corporation”. At the time of releasing these songs, Michael was between 10 and 11 years old.
Key lyric: “Stop, the love you save may be your own/Darling, take it slow or someday you’ll be all alone”
‘I’ll Be There’
Katherine Jackson, Michael’s mother, takes centre stage for this emotional ballad, with 11-year-old Michael joining in. This was another Jackson 5 hit, coming directly after the three tracks in the previous medley and marking the group’s fourth no.1. On the original track, Michael’s lead vocals received a great deal of praise and attention, with many critics noting his musical maturity.
Key lyric: “I’ll be there with a love that’s strong/I’ll be your strength, I’ll keep holding on”
‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough/Blame It On The Boogie/Dancing Machine’
This medley combines a hit from Michael’s fifth studio album with two Jackson 5 songs. ‘Don’t Step ‘Til You Get Enough’ was the first track on Off The Wall, released in 1979. Going back in time, a teenage Michael takes the mic to perform ‘Blame It On The Boogie’, released by the Jacksons in 1978, and ‘Dancing Machine’, released by the group in 1974.
Key lyric: “Keep on with the force, don’t stop/Don’t stop ’til you get enough”
‘Stranger In Moscow’
This track was released a little later in Michael’s career, recorded for his 1995 album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I and eventually put out as the album’s fifth single. However, as presented in the show, Jackson conceptualised the song whilst on his Dangerous tour, looking out at the screaming crowds of strangers outside his hotel. The song is a reflection on being widely known and totally alone at the same time.
Key lyric: “How does it feel/When you’re alone and you’re cold inside?”
‘You Can’t Win’
Teenage Michael duets Motown records founder Berry Gordy in this explosive track from the soundtrack of 1978’s The Wiz. The movie, which was a retelling of the musical The Wizard Of Oz with an entirely African American cast, saw MJ star as Scarecrow, and was meant to be a reflection on subjugation and helplessness.
Key lyric: “You can’t win, child, you can’t break even/You can’t get out of the game”
‘I Can’t Help It’
Teenage Michael sings this track from his first solo studio album, Off The Wall, released in 1979. This was MJ’s first time working with producer Quincy Jones, and this particular track also featured Stevie Wonder as a co-writer. A lesser-known Michael track, ‘I Can’t Help It’ was the B-side to ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’, and later also served as the B-side for ‘Bad’.
Key lyric: “I can’t help it if I wanted to/I wouldn’t help it even if I could”
‘Keep The Faith’
Producer Quincy Jones encourages young solo artist MJ in this uplifting ballad. ‘Keep The Faith’ was the twelfth track on Dangerous, written with Glen Ballard, Jackson’s collaborator on other hits like ‘Man In The Mirror’.
Key lyric: “You can be a winner but you’ve got to keep the faith”
‘Wanna Be Startin’ Something’
As Michael comes into his own into as an adult artist, he performs this charged single from Thriller. Given an inspirational twist in the musical, the original track can be seen as a push back against the tabloid press and their agenda. ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Something’ was the fourth of seven top-ten hits from Thriller, translating Off The Wall’s disco sound into something fresh and innovative.
Key lyric: “Talkin’, stealin’, lyin’/Sayin’ you just want to be startin’ somethin’”
‘Earth Song/They Don’t Care About Us’
Act One closes with this rousing mashup of two protest songs, as MJ attends a press conference at Radio City Music Hall, where he announces the tour and his aims to raise $100 million for the Heal the World Foundation by Christmas 1993. ‘Earth Song’, from Jackson’s HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I, is a softer ode to a damaged planet, whilst ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ is a much angrier outcry against human rights violations across the world. In the years since it was released, the song has remained an important piece of political art and an anthem for protest groups, particularly in the US.
Key lyric: “All I wanna say is that they don’t really care about us”
‘Billie Jean’
Act Two opens with MJ presenting new ideas for the tour, despite his team telling him that his ideas are too expensive and they can’t afford them. In this presentation he performs ‘Billie Jean’, one of his biggest hits. The song was released in 1983 as the second single from Thriller and became Jackson’s fastest-rising number one single since his time in the Jackson 5. It remains one of the best-selling singles of all time. The unorthodox inspiration for the song came from a groupie who repeatedly claimed that Jackson had fathered her child.
Key lyric: “Billie Jean is not my lover/She’s just a girl who claims that I am the one/But the kid is not my son”
‘Smooth Criminal’
MJ continues his presentation with ‘Smooth Criminal’, a single from 1987’s Bad. This song became closely associated with Jackson’s 45-degree anti-gravity lean, an iconic move that made the song a highlight of his live sets. It tells the story of a fictional break in and attack of a woman ambushed in her own apartment by a man who leaves no trace. In the real life Dangerous tour, Jackson essentially recreated the song’s music video with four dancers, using specially designed ‘anchored’ shoes to achieve the famous lean.
Key lyric: “You’ve been hit by, you’ve been struck by/A smooth criminal”
‘Victory Tour (For The Love Of Money/Can You Feel It)’
This mash-up with the Jackson siblings features 1974 track ‘For The Love Of Money’ by the O’Jays and 1981 track ‘Can You Feel It’, from the Jackson’s fourteenth album Triumph. Combined, the songs represent the Jackson family’s skyrocket to fame and success, none more so than Michael himself.
Key lyric: “For the love of money/People will lie, lie, they will cheat”
‘Keep The Faith (Reprise)’
Michael, Rob and the cast of the tour share this reprise of Dangerous’ inspiring ballad as they bolster each other for the task they have ahead of them.
Key lyric: “Believe in yourself no matter what it’s gon’ take”
‘She’s Out Of My Life’
This heartbreak ballad from Jackson’s first album Off The Wall was originally intended to go to Frank Sinatra. However, producer Quincy Jones wanted MJ to record music with more mature themes and styles, so ‘She’s Out Of My Life’ ultimately went to him. Jackson revealed years later that to him the song represented everything he was missing out on by living so separate from the rest of the world.
Key lyric: “And it cuts like a knife/She’s out of my life”
‘Human Nature’
Michael speaks to Rachel, the MTV journalist assigned to profile him ahead of the tour. With Rob trying to keep the two separate, Michael disguises himself as a cleaner to find her, and explains to her that disguises are often the only way he can go out in public. ‘Human Nature’ was the fifth single from Thriller, written by Steve Porcaco of Toto.
Key lyric: “If they say why, why/Tell them that it’s human nature”
‘Bad/2 Bad ’
Whilst opening up to Rachel, Michael struggles to take responsibility for any wrongdoing in his life, convinced the press is against him. ‘Bad’ is the title single from Jackson’s 1987 album, and was originally supposed to be a duet with Prince. Of the possible collaboration, Prince said: “The first line of that song is ‘your butt is mine’. Then I said ‘Who’s going to sing that to who?’ … because you sure aren’t singing that to me, and I sure ain’t singing it to you.”
Key lyric: “And the whole world has to answer right now/Just to tell you once again/Who’s bad?”
‘Thriller’
The song the audience has been waiting for – Jackson’s defining hit. As the tour opening grows closer, Jackson duets his childhood self on the spooky pop smash. The titular track from the best-selling album of all time, ‘Thriller’ is also agreed by many to have the greatest music video of all time, and is one of the best-selling singles of all time to boot.
Key lyric: “’Cause this is thriller/Thriller night/And no one’s gonna save you/From the beast about to strike”
‘Man In The Mirror’
The whole cast of the tour prepares for opening night with this song about self-reflection and responsibility. ‘Man In The Mirror’ comes from Jackson’s seventh studio album, Bad, and uses a gospel sound to create its anthem feel. On the original track, the gospel choir Andrae Crouch Gospel Choir feature, who also sang on Madonna’s ‘Like A Prayer’.
Key lyric: “I’m starting with the man in the mirror/I’m asking him to change his ways”
‘Finale (Jam/Black or White/Wanna Be Startin’ Something)’
At the close of the show, Jackson appears onstage, ready to begin the Dangerous tour. This closing mashup combines two hits from Dangerous (‘Jam’ and ‘Black or White’) before closing out with a reprise of Thriller’s ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Something’.
Key lyric: “It ain’t too much for me to jam”
MJ The Musical is now booking at the Prince Edward Theatre until 28 Feb – find tickets here
