Three songs from Michael Jackson’s 2010 album have been pulled from streaming services amid allegations the King of Pop didn’t actually sing them.
Three songs from Michael Jackson’s 2010 album Michael have been pulled from streaming services amid allegations the king of pop didn’t actually sing them.
According to TheGrio, Keep Your Head Up, Monster, featuring 50 Cent, and Breaking News, which all appeared on the late singer’s 2010 album, are no longer available for sale or to stream on YouTube, Apple Music and other platforms around the world.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson from Jackson’s website confirmed three songs were no longer available, stating it “had nothing to do with their authenticity”.
“The Estate and Sony Music believe the continuing conversation about the tracks is distracting the fan community and casual Michael Jackson listeners from focusing their attention where it should be — on Michael’s legendary and deep music catalog [sic],” the Jackson website spokesperson said.
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Keep Your Head Up, Monster and Breaking News have disappeared from Jackson’s official YouTube channel but are still available via reposts from other channels.
Apple Music has seven out of the 10 songs from the album available to purchase while on Spotify, the three songs in question are darkened in grey and unable to be streamed.
The tracks have been the subject of an ongoing lawsuit against Sony Music and Jackson’s estate, alleging that Jackson did not sing them.
In 2014, a Jackson fan filed a lawsuit against Sony and the estate over the three songs for violation of consumer laws, unfair competition and fraud.
Sony and the estate were cleared from the case in 2018 and its appeal in 2020. The suit is currently in the California Supreme Court.
Prior to the album’s release, doubts were raised by Jackson’s family members whether songs were performed by the Grammy-winner.
In 2010, his mother Katherine claimed that “some of the tracks on the album are fake”, The Guardian reported.
The musician’s sister, LaToya, told TMZ, “It doesn’t sound like him”.
Taryll Jackson, his nephew, took to Twitter and said he was at the studio when the songs were delivered to Sony in their original form.
“How they constructed these songs is very sneaky and sly,” Taryll tweeted.
“I KNOW my Uncle’s voice, and something’s seriously wrong when you have immediate FAMILY saying it’s not him.”