CrabalockerFishwife said:

Militant said:

The 8 songs on the album are believed to be:

Slave 2 The Rhythm
Xscape

She Was Lovin Me

Love Never Felt So Good

Chicago

Blue Gangsta

Place With No Name
Do You Know Where Your Children Are

According to Joe Vogel, "Chicago" (which is not "Chicago 1945") and "She Was Lovin Me" are the same song, and the 8th track will be a midtempo song from the '80s that we've never heard.

https://twitter.com/JoeVo...4051871745.
https://twitter.com/JoeVo...9543905280.

That may or may not be accurate. People at the listening session described "Chicago" and "She Was Lovin Me" separately.

http://www.damienshields.com/xscape-reviewing-the-reviews-and-analysing-the-clues-regarding-the-new-michael-jackson-album/

THE CHICAGO DEBATE

Now to the issue of the mysterious “Chicago”. Back in August 2013 Timbaland revealed that he had been invited the head of Epic Records, L.A. Reid, to work on a new album of unreleased Michael Jackson material.

“LA Reid came to me like, to my house, like, ‘I got something big I wanna do … How would you feel about doing Michael Jackson?’”

Timbaland, who never had the chance to work with Jackson during his life, said: “Of course I’ll do it,” while acknowledging that re-producing and releasing the music of deceased artists is not an easy thing to do.

“It’s hard to bring anything out because now you’re just going to hear my music with his voice over it.”

The producer also announced the title of his preference for the project’s lead single.

“I can tell you the first single is gonna be the song ‘Chicago’ … I think it should be, because ‘Chicago’ sounds like today.”

Okay, sounds straight-forward, right? But here’s the thing: Yesterday, Joseph Vogel, author of ‘Michael Jackson: The Man Behind The Music’, tweeted that the song “Chicago” was actually Cory Rooney’s 1999 track “She Was Lovin Me”.

“I will say: I listened to “Chicago (She Was Lovin’ Me)” twice and couldn’t get it out of my head for days,” read the tweet, which certainly got Jackson fans talking.

After a serious of questions directed at Vogel, he re-confirmed his earlier statement, tweeting: “For those asking: Chicago and She Was Lovin’ Me are the same song. Recorded in 1999. Produced for the new MJ album by Timbaland… Chicago 1945 is from the 1980s (early Bad sessions); Chicago (She Was Lovin’ Me) is from 1999 (early Invincible sessions)… It (She Was Lovin’ Me / Chicago) goes by both names. There’s a lyric in it about Chicago. This is the song Timbaland referred to months ago.”

Vogel is correct in stating that “She Was Lovin Me” has the lyric “Chicago” in the song. As detailed in my “She Was Lovin Me” article and review (above), the opening lyrics to the songs are as follows:

“I met her on the way to Chicago, and she was all alone, and so was I so I asker her for her name. She smiled and looked at me, I was surprised to see, that a woman like that was really into me.”

However, here come the discrepancies:

When reviewing the album, some journalists who attended the playback session listed song titles. Kevin Hughes, well-known as a major Jackson enthusiast, recalls eight individual song titles, including both “She Was Lovin Me” and “Chicago” – separately – as two unique, individual songs. If they were, in fact, the same song, that would mean the journalists in the playback session would have only heard seven songs, not eight. All recall being shown eight tracks, and have detailed this in their reviews.

Also, the song “She Was Lovin Me”, although it makes mention of “Chicago” once in the opening line, has absolutely nothing to do with Chicago. The location itself, Chicago, is of absolutely no relevance throughout the song. The lyrics: “She was lovin me” do, however, make repeated appearances in the choruses. Therefore it would make sense, in my opinion, to call the song “She Was Lovin Me” – as Cory Rooney did.

The song “Chicago 1945″, on the other hand, which was often referred to by Michael Jackson simply as “Chicago”, is about Chicago – the location. The entire song tells the story of Chicago. The World’s Fair (which visited Chicago), The Chicago Tribune (local newspaper), Al Capone (of ‘The Chicago Outfit’ fame), and so on. Not to mention dozens of specific mentions of the word “Chicago” throughout. At the end, Jackson even ad libs the word “Chicago” repeated.

My main queries is are: If what Vogel is saying turns out to be correct, which it may or may not, why would Epic Records, or Timbaland, or whoever, re-name “She Was Lovin Me” as “Chicago” when there is a real “Chicago” out there that will be released, eventually. Then there’d be two songs called “Chicago” and none called “She Was Lovin Me”. It just doesn’t make sense to me, especially considering “She Was Lovin Me” is the true title of the song. Why confuse people? Also, what was the eighth track previewed the playback session? And why did Kevin Hughes, an MJ fan, cite “Chicago” in his review right after citing “She Was Lovin Me” in the previous paragraph? Hughes was there, in the room, listening, after all. I’d assume he, as a journalist, would have fact-checked and cross-examined his review before publishing it?

Lot’s of questions, quite a few indicators, but no concrete confirmations. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what the official track list says when The Estate and Epic Records finalize and announce it. Until then, let the wondering continue!

It's just been confirmed by someone who attended an album listening party in Paris that "Chicago" and "She Was Lovin' Me" are two different songs.

So Vogel was wrong.

Militant said:

It's just been confirmed by someone who attended an album listening party in Paris that "Chicago" and "She Was Lovin' Me" are two different songs.

So Vogel was wrong.

I was thinking Timbaland was going to pull a Justin Timberlake and form the two tracks together as one. Guess not.

D’angelo, Questlove, Mary J. Blige & More Confirmed To Be On Michael Jackson’s Posthumous ‘XSCAPE’ LP

http://www.okayplayer.com/news/dangelo-questlove-mary-j-blige-and-more-to-be-featured-on-michael-jacksons-xscape-lp.html

Michael Jackson‘s recently announced posthumous XSCAPE LP is getting a few more stars to fill out the roster, with Jesse Johnson confirming D’angelo, our faithful leader Questlove, Mary J Blige, D’s right-hand bass-man Pino Palladino, Eric Leeds and his own involvement on a yet to be revealed track off what is already shaping up to be an astral release. You read that correctly. The neo-soul army is strapped and tapped for an album that will be sure to quench your thirst for the funk.

The track has only been referred to as ”H** ** *** *********e” by the former axeman for The Time, but we’ve got our suspicions as to whats under their sleeves. With the treasure trove of unreleased material that was found following the legends untimely death and his purchase of some hig...catalogues, we’ve got our suspicions as to what will surface, but until then, let the guessing game begin! Keep it locked for more on this titanic collaboration and whet your pallet with D’angelo, Chuck D and Isaac Hayes‘ rework of Sly’s “Sing A Simple Song” and be sure to peep D’s ill cover of Al Green‘s “I’m So Glad You’re Mine” from his recently released reissue of Live At The Jazz Cafe. Michael Jackson’s XSCAPE is due out May 13th, but you can pre-order via iTunes today. Hop on it.

In other news D'Angelo's long awaited album reportedly has contributions from MJ, Whitney, Amy Winehouse, Lisa 'Left Eye Lopez', and Gil Scott Heron.

kenkamken said:

...

In other news D'Angelo's long awaited album reportedly has contributions from MJ, Whitney, Amy Winehouse, Lisa 'Left Eye Lopez', and Gil Scott Heron.

Wait. What?