The album was produced by Theron "Neff-U" Feemster, John McClain, Giorgio Tuinfort, Teddy Riley, and Brad Buxer, among others, and features guest performances by Akon and Lenny Kravitz.

Michael debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the United States.

In 2022, three songs—"Keep Your Head Up", "Monster" and "Breaking News"—were removed from streaming and physical versions of the album, after nearly 12 years of controversy concerning the authenticity of Jackson's vocals.

According to Sony, the song was recorded in the home studio of Jackson family friend Eddie Cascio in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey in autumn 2007 and had been "recently brought to completion.

"[2][1][3] In the years prior to his death, Jackson was reported to be working with contemporary hitmakers such as singer-songwriter Akon and producer RedOne.

[4] The first official single from Michael, "Hold My Hand", was a duet with Akon recorded in late December 2007 at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada.

[5] Co-writer Claude Kelly told HitQuarters that it was the song's theme of friendship and togetherness that had struck a chord with Jackson.

[11] Musically, Michael contains a mixture of styles, including R&B, pop, rock, dance, hip hop, funk and gospel.

[12][13][14][15][16][17] Thematically, the album features "inspirational, uplifting anthems" and "melodic, sweetly sung ballads" alongside more pointed songs levelling criticism at the news media, Hollywood and society in general.

[16][23][24] The album cover artwork, a 2009 commissioned oil painting by African American artist Kadir Nelson, features two putti (one black, one white) placing a crown on Jackson's head against a mural depicting the images of the singer at different stages in his career.

The project stalled but was revived in 2009 by one of the estate's executors, John McClain,[4] who had worked with Michael's sister Janet during her time at A&M.

[2] The premiere of the song launched the public controversy about the authenticity of the vocals that plagued the album all the way through its promo campaign and ultimately resulted in lower than projected sales.

A casting call was posted on Jackson's official website, stating that the filmmakers were "looking for his fans of all ages who want to be a part of this iconic event.

The poster, made of PVC and weighing one ton, took engineers three hours to install and was located less than 3,000 meters from one of Heathrow airport's main runways, making it viewable by all planes arriving and departing.

"Everything's Just Fine"), "Black Widow", "Burn Tonight", "All I Need", "Water", "Fall in Love", "Ready 2 Win", and "Soldier Boy"), are known as the Cascio tracks.

Before the premiere of "Breaking News", Sony Music Group stated it had "complete confidence in the results of our extensive research, as well as the accounts of those who were in the studio with Michael, that the vocals on the new album are his own".

Riley, who had worked on "Monster" and "Breaking News", said that the confusion had come about as a product of processing Jackson's vocals using software such as Melodyne.

[59][better source needed] In a September 2022 interview, Riley finally admitted that the Cascio tracks are fake and weren't sung by Michael, adding that he was "influenced and pushed to say the things that were said.

"[60] Fans have suggested that Italian-American R&B singer Jason Malachi recorded vocals for the tracks, but this was denied by the Jackson estate's lawyer.

[63] Sony, the Estate, Cascio and Porte raised First Amendment defense, claiming that regardless of the songs' authenticity, they had a constitutional right to attribute them to Jackson.

The next day, Sony lawyer Zia Modabber dismissed the reports, stating that "no one has conceded that Michael Jackson did not sing on the songs".

[14] Joseph Vogel of The Huffington Post stated that "the bottom line is this: Michael contains some very impressive new material" and "His habits, his obsessions, his versatility, and his genius are on display at every turn.

Who else could move so seamlessly from social anthem to floor burner, fleet hip hop to cosmic rock, vintage funk to poignant folk ballad?

"[15] Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly called it "certainly no great affront to his name", while The New York Times said it was a "miscellany of familiar Jackson offerings: inspirational, loving, resentful and paranoid.

[13] She characterized the album as a "hotchpotch of odds and sods that often make plain their co-authors" but singled out the "breezy" and "carefree" "(I Like) The Way That You Love Me" and the "pugnacious" "Hollywood Tonight" for praise.

[77] Nima Baniamer of Contactmusic.com gave the album 4 stars out of 5 and stated that Jackson still seemed to hold the capability to effortlessly transgress music genres.