Xscape (album)

Xscape
refer to caption
Cover for original version of the album.
Compilation album by
ReleasedMay 9, 2014 (2014-05-09)
Recorded
  • 1980–2001 (original songs)[1]
  • 2013–2014 (reworked songs)
Genre
Length
  • 34:25 (standard)
  • 38:30 (vinyl)
  • 73:43 (deluxe)
Label
Producer
Michael Jackson chronology
Bad 25
(2012)
Xscape
(2014)
Scream
(2017)
Singles from Xscape
  1. "Love Never Felt So Good"
    Released: May 2, 2014
  2. "A Place with No Name"
    Released: August 12, 2014

Xscape is the second posthumous album by American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson.[4] It was released on May 9, 2014, by Epic Records, MJJ Music and Sony Music Entertainment. Xscape is the tenth release by Sony and/or Motown since Jackson's death in 2009. L.A. Reid, chairman of Epic Records, curated and served as executive producer for the album, enlisting Timbaland to lead a team of record producers, including Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon, Rodney Jerkins, Stargate, and John McClain, to remix and "contemporize" the eight selected tracks. The album was #1 in its first week of release in worldwide sales.

The standard version of Xscape features eight tracks, each reworked from 2013 to 2014, while the deluxe version also includes the original versions of the songs which were recorded from 1980 to 2001,[4] a bonus track and two videos. Xscape was promoted across the Sony group of companies; Sony Mobile used a snippet of "Slave to the Rhythm" in their advertising campaign for the Xperia Z2 mobile phone. A Pepper's ghost illusion of Jackson performed "Slave to the Rhythm" at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards in May 2014.[5]

Xscape debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in the United States. The album was preceded by the release of its lead single, "Love Never Felt So Good", which includes a newly recorded version featuring Justin Timberlake. It reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, giving Jackson his first posthumous top ten and his first since "You Rock My World" in 2001. Additionally, "Love Never Felt So Good" became Jackson's highest charting single on the Hot 100 since his final number one, "You Are Not Alone", in 1995. A second single, "A Place with No Name", was released later that year. Xscape received generally positive reviews and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

  1. ^ "Michael Jackson: Xscape". Pitchfork.
  2. ^ Michael Jackson's Xscape Review – Flavorwire
  3. ^ Hunter-Tilney, Ludovic (May 9, 2014). "Michael Jackson: Xscape - review". Financial Times. Retrieved December 31, 2019. plausible R&B and funk.
  4. ^ a b "Michael Jackson: Xscape". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).