MJ's two voices - duality, doubles?
MJonmind
Posts: 7,290
I was just searching around about MJ's deeper voice on 2000 Watts, thinking it had to be electronically altered, but some seem to think it's his other voice he only uses certain occasions for sexual or no nonsense themes. Okay so I found this interesting article. As I was reading it, I began to feel that his dual voice adds to the difficulty of trying to divide Michael into two identical twins theory. So maybe the double has a high voice and MJ has the lower voice. My point here is to say that because Michael is a complicated person, and chooses to portray himself differently at different times, it makes it torture for his fans forcing us to think there's two of him. It's fracturing MJ into even more of him -- taller/shorter, narrow nose/wider, aggressive/bashful, deeper voice/higher, healthy weight/skinnier, sexually promiscuous/pure and reprimanding others, business savvy/irresponsible and finally druggie or HIV positive/healthy. Have all these dual traits stayed true to one or the other, keeping up to the pure twin/double theory, or do these categories cross and mingle, proving it is all a hyper creative/complex Michael creating his mystery persona as a masterful work of art. LMP's comments are very telling also. Here it is from:
<!-- m -->http://allforloveblog.com/?p=1514<!-- m -->
Michael’s “Real” Voice…Did he Save It Just For The Sexy?
Posted by: admin on: March 12 2010 • Categorized in: General Info, Little Known Stuff
"Susie Got Your Number"
If you’re a diehard fan, this won’t be news to you. But if you’re one of those whose interest in Michael has been mostly of the casual variety, it might surprise you to know that the high, soft-spoken voice we so often heard in interviews was not Michael’s real speaking voice, nor was the tenor/falsetto that he most often used on his recordings.
Actually, I should probably clarify that because I don’t mean to imply that he was purposely using a fake or “phony” voice to fool the public. Rather, I like to think of it as being similar to the same thing an actor does, employing several aspects of his “range” depending on the situation. In our household, we’ve simply embraced it as one of Michael’s quirks-but one that makes him all the more fascinating. Sometimes we’ll even joke about it; for example, if we hear him doing a song in his normal range, such as 2000 Watts or In the Closet, we’ll say, “That’s Michael using his ‘man’ voice”-meaning, his “man” voice as opposed to his “wounded Bambi boy voice.”
But like a lot of people, I wasn’t even aware of this when I first got into Michael. I just assumed the velvety smooth tenor we usually heard was his normal voice. I’ll never forget how shocked I was the first time I heard 2000 Watts-that was one of those moments that make you go “whoa!”
Michael was actually a Mack Daddy with a voice to match…who woulda thunk it!
But then I started going back and listenting to a lot of other tracks that featured his rarely used, lower register. There are actually quite a few-Dangerous, In the Closet, Money, Who Is It, Blood On the Dance Floor (the verses, if not the chorus), Give In To Me (again, mostly the verses) and a good many of the tracks from Invincible. (Overall, on Invincible, he seemed to be going for a sexier, more mature sound, something I have also noticed on quite a few of his unreleased tracks that were recorded in the last decade).
"Seven Inches In"
Then I started noticing something else. Almost always, without fail, the songs in which Michael went for the deep end were…yep, songs about sex. Dangerous, In the Closet, Who Is It, Blood On The Dance Floor, 2000 Watts-these are all songs about lust and seduction, if not the actual act itself (and if you REALLY listen to 2000 Watts…”Too much of that/fuse blown”…well, I’ll just say, the audio metaphors have nothing to do with stereos…can anybody say “oral pleasures?”).
And as seemed to be the common thread with Michael, his songs of lust and seduction were almost always dark songs tinged with violence and the underbelly of lust’s consequences. In Michael’s creative world, sex was almost always just one step away from a brutal or bloody deed; the violence and wages of sin always lurking just beneath the pleasures of the flesh.
“She Came At Me In Sections
With The Eyes Of Desire
I Fell Trapped Into Her
Web Of Sin
A Touch, A Kiss
A Whisper Of Love
I Was At The Point
Of No Return
Deep In The Darkness Of
Passion’s Insanity
I Felt Taken By Lust’s
Strange Inhumanity
This Girl Was Persuasive
This Girl I Could Not Trust
The Girl Was Bad
The Girl Was Dangerous”-Michael Jackson, Dangerous
“Susie got your number
And Susie ain’t your friend
Look who took you under
With seven inches in
Blood is on the dance floor
Blood is on the knife
Susie’s got your number
And Susie says its right”-Michael Jackson, Blood On The Dance Floor
“(Who Is It?)
It Is A Friend Of Mine
(Who Is It?)
Is It My Brother!
(Who Is It?)
Somebody Hurt My Soul, Now
(Who Is It?)
I Can’t Take This Stuff No More
I Am The Damned
I Am The Dead
I Am The Agony Inside
The Dying Head
This Is Injustice
Woe Unto Thee
I Pray This Punishment
Would Have Mercy On Me”-Michael Jackson, Who Is It
Similarly, even in the sexy songs that are missing the violent undertones, Michael uses his deeper register to convey the role of seducer. In the Closet, for instance, is a song about a relationship that must be kept hidden. The song’s narrator feels dirty and defiled by the relationship, but by the same token, can’t resist it.
“If it’s aching, you have to rub it“-Michael Jackson, In the Closet
Taking all of these songs as a collective whole, Michael’s strategy becomes obvious. If one might ask, “Why didn’t he let us hear his ‘real’ voice more often, I think there’s a good reason. He chose to reserve this voice almost exclusively for his “sex” songs, and for one simple reason-it was all about the power of seduction. And it goes without saying, a breathy baritone is always sexier any day than a high-pitched tenor. The beauty of Michael’s range was that it enabled him to pull off such songs effortlessly, even as he remained noted mostly throughout his career as a tenor.
"If It's Aching, You Have To Rub It"
The thing about these “deep” songs is that they hit so suddenly, and unexpectedly, and when they do, they leave you feeling more than a little bitch slapped. Which is exactly what I love about them.
There are a few exceptions, of course. Money, for instance, is not about sex, but in some ways, one could argue that it is still a song very much about lust-the lust for the green. The song begins with Michael, rapping in his normal “man” voice about all the evil ones out to “do him” for his money:
“So you call it trust
But I say it’s just
In the devil’s game
Of greed and lust
They don’t care
They’d do me for the money
They don’t care
They use me for the money
So you go to church
Read the Holy word
In the scheme of life
It’s all absurd
They don’t care
They’d kill for the money”-Michael Jackson, Money
As the song builds to its crescendo, of course, the deep-voiced, angry rap gives way to Michael’s more familiar tenor/falsetto range as the narrator’s feelings of paranoia and desperation increase. Again, Michael uses the range of his voice as an instrument to convey the song’s mood swings, from anger and protest to desperation as he realizes the walls are closing in.
Michael used his vocal range the same way actors change their appearance and personaes to take on certain roles. His deeper, natural voice was one he kept in special reserve, and judging from those rare songs in which we hear it, its primary function-aside from the obvious one of seduction-was also to let the listener know he meant business.
Even in real life, Michael’s “real” voice was usually reserved for serious business. While he might employ his “wounded Bambi voice” for certain situations (as in, playing Martin Bashir along for starters), his “real” voice was the one used for his business dealings, for those times when he had to assert his authority as a parent to his children, and-well, of course, for “the sexy.” There are stories of people calling him who didn’t recognize his voice on the phone, because it wasn’t “the Michael Jackson voice.” Reportedly, even Lisa Marie used to chide him by saying, “Why don’t you ever talk in your real voice?” Of course, Lisa had a very long list of all the things he “ought to do,” which, according to her, would have made life with him so much “easier”…partly the reason she drove him nuts, as much as he cared about her…but, anyway, that’s another blog.
"Who Is It...Is It My BROTHER!?"
Personally, I find the duality of Michael’s two “voices” one of the most intriguing things about him. And just as with so many other aspects of his life, his voices left people wondering, Who is the real Michael? Was he really the wounded, soft-spoken man reportedly shy to the point of painfulness, or the suave-talking Mack Daddy?
As with most such questions, it’s nearly impossible to pinpoint the answer by looking at his life. Instead, one has to look to the music, which is really the essence of that life. In his body of work, Michael revealed himself in all of his human compexities. One doesn’t have to read a biography to understand Michael. They only have to look to his songs.
The truth was, he was all of those things. And he knew exactly how to play whatever part was called for. As a natural tenor, he possessed one of the most recognizable voices in pop-or any genre, for that matter. But when it came time for the sexy, he knew there was only one way to do it and do it right…
And that was, do it dark and do it deep.
Some songs in which we get to hear Michael’s “real” voice:
2000 Watts:
<!-- m -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHd1rLurxNk<!-- m -->
In the Closet:
<!-- m -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwvix7uEQg0<!-- m -->
Dangerous:
<!-- m -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-DyQ268AFs<!-- m -->
Who Is It
<!-- m -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjvoVpOrlbM<!-- m -->
Blood On The Dance Floor:
<!-- m -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_5w3rPbHF4<!-- m -->
Money (Fire Island Radio Edit)
<!-- m -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtuXq9f15LU<!-- m -->
<!-- m -->http://allforloveblog.com/?p=1514<!-- m -->
Michael’s “Real” Voice…Did he Save It Just For The Sexy?
Posted by: admin on: March 12 2010 • Categorized in: General Info, Little Known Stuff
"Susie Got Your Number"
If you’re a diehard fan, this won’t be news to you. But if you’re one of those whose interest in Michael has been mostly of the casual variety, it might surprise you to know that the high, soft-spoken voice we so often heard in interviews was not Michael’s real speaking voice, nor was the tenor/falsetto that he most often used on his recordings.
Actually, I should probably clarify that because I don’t mean to imply that he was purposely using a fake or “phony” voice to fool the public. Rather, I like to think of it as being similar to the same thing an actor does, employing several aspects of his “range” depending on the situation. In our household, we’ve simply embraced it as one of Michael’s quirks-but one that makes him all the more fascinating. Sometimes we’ll even joke about it; for example, if we hear him doing a song in his normal range, such as 2000 Watts or In the Closet, we’ll say, “That’s Michael using his ‘man’ voice”-meaning, his “man” voice as opposed to his “wounded Bambi boy voice.”
But like a lot of people, I wasn’t even aware of this when I first got into Michael. I just assumed the velvety smooth tenor we usually heard was his normal voice. I’ll never forget how shocked I was the first time I heard 2000 Watts-that was one of those moments that make you go “whoa!”
Michael was actually a Mack Daddy with a voice to match…who woulda thunk it!
But then I started going back and listenting to a lot of other tracks that featured his rarely used, lower register. There are actually quite a few-Dangerous, In the Closet, Money, Who Is It, Blood On the Dance Floor (the verses, if not the chorus), Give In To Me (again, mostly the verses) and a good many of the tracks from Invincible. (Overall, on Invincible, he seemed to be going for a sexier, more mature sound, something I have also noticed on quite a few of his unreleased tracks that were recorded in the last decade).
"Seven Inches In"
Then I started noticing something else. Almost always, without fail, the songs in which Michael went for the deep end were…yep, songs about sex. Dangerous, In the Closet, Who Is It, Blood On The Dance Floor, 2000 Watts-these are all songs about lust and seduction, if not the actual act itself (and if you REALLY listen to 2000 Watts…”Too much of that/fuse blown”…well, I’ll just say, the audio metaphors have nothing to do with stereos…can anybody say “oral pleasures?”).
And as seemed to be the common thread with Michael, his songs of lust and seduction were almost always dark songs tinged with violence and the underbelly of lust’s consequences. In Michael’s creative world, sex was almost always just one step away from a brutal or bloody deed; the violence and wages of sin always lurking just beneath the pleasures of the flesh.
“She Came At Me In Sections
With The Eyes Of Desire
I Fell Trapped Into Her
Web Of Sin
A Touch, A Kiss
A Whisper Of Love
I Was At The Point
Of No Return
Deep In The Darkness Of
Passion’s Insanity
I Felt Taken By Lust’s
Strange Inhumanity
This Girl Was Persuasive
This Girl I Could Not Trust
The Girl Was Bad
The Girl Was Dangerous”-Michael Jackson, Dangerous
“Susie got your number
And Susie ain’t your friend
Look who took you under
With seven inches in
Blood is on the dance floor
Blood is on the knife
Susie’s got your number
And Susie says its right”-Michael Jackson, Blood On The Dance Floor
“(Who Is It?)
It Is A Friend Of Mine
(Who Is It?)
Is It My Brother!
(Who Is It?)
Somebody Hurt My Soul, Now
(Who Is It?)
I Can’t Take This Stuff No More
I Am The Damned
I Am The Dead
I Am The Agony Inside
The Dying Head
This Is Injustice
Woe Unto Thee
I Pray This Punishment
Would Have Mercy On Me”-Michael Jackson, Who Is It
Similarly, even in the sexy songs that are missing the violent undertones, Michael uses his deeper register to convey the role of seducer. In the Closet, for instance, is a song about a relationship that must be kept hidden. The song’s narrator feels dirty and defiled by the relationship, but by the same token, can’t resist it.
“If it’s aching, you have to rub it“-Michael Jackson, In the Closet
Taking all of these songs as a collective whole, Michael’s strategy becomes obvious. If one might ask, “Why didn’t he let us hear his ‘real’ voice more often, I think there’s a good reason. He chose to reserve this voice almost exclusively for his “sex” songs, and for one simple reason-it was all about the power of seduction. And it goes without saying, a breathy baritone is always sexier any day than a high-pitched tenor. The beauty of Michael’s range was that it enabled him to pull off such songs effortlessly, even as he remained noted mostly throughout his career as a tenor.
"If It's Aching, You Have To Rub It"
The thing about these “deep” songs is that they hit so suddenly, and unexpectedly, and when they do, they leave you feeling more than a little bitch slapped. Which is exactly what I love about them.
There are a few exceptions, of course. Money, for instance, is not about sex, but in some ways, one could argue that it is still a song very much about lust-the lust for the green. The song begins with Michael, rapping in his normal “man” voice about all the evil ones out to “do him” for his money:
“So you call it trust
But I say it’s just
In the devil’s game
Of greed and lust
They don’t care
They’d do me for the money
They don’t care
They use me for the money
So you go to church
Read the Holy word
In the scheme of life
It’s all absurd
They don’t care
They’d kill for the money”-Michael Jackson, Money
As the song builds to its crescendo, of course, the deep-voiced, angry rap gives way to Michael’s more familiar tenor/falsetto range as the narrator’s feelings of paranoia and desperation increase. Again, Michael uses the range of his voice as an instrument to convey the song’s mood swings, from anger and protest to desperation as he realizes the walls are closing in.
Michael used his vocal range the same way actors change their appearance and personaes to take on certain roles. His deeper, natural voice was one he kept in special reserve, and judging from those rare songs in which we hear it, its primary function-aside from the obvious one of seduction-was also to let the listener know he meant business.
Even in real life, Michael’s “real” voice was usually reserved for serious business. While he might employ his “wounded Bambi voice” for certain situations (as in, playing Martin Bashir along for starters), his “real” voice was the one used for his business dealings, for those times when he had to assert his authority as a parent to his children, and-well, of course, for “the sexy.” There are stories of people calling him who didn’t recognize his voice on the phone, because it wasn’t “the Michael Jackson voice.” Reportedly, even Lisa Marie used to chide him by saying, “Why don’t you ever talk in your real voice?” Of course, Lisa had a very long list of all the things he “ought to do,” which, according to her, would have made life with him so much “easier”…partly the reason she drove him nuts, as much as he cared about her…but, anyway, that’s another blog.
"Who Is It...Is It My BROTHER!?"
Personally, I find the duality of Michael’s two “voices” one of the most intriguing things about him. And just as with so many other aspects of his life, his voices left people wondering, Who is the real Michael? Was he really the wounded, soft-spoken man reportedly shy to the point of painfulness, or the suave-talking Mack Daddy?
As with most such questions, it’s nearly impossible to pinpoint the answer by looking at his life. Instead, one has to look to the music, which is really the essence of that life. In his body of work, Michael revealed himself in all of his human compexities. One doesn’t have to read a biography to understand Michael. They only have to look to his songs.
The truth was, he was all of those things. And he knew exactly how to play whatever part was called for. As a natural tenor, he possessed one of the most recognizable voices in pop-or any genre, for that matter. But when it came time for the sexy, he knew there was only one way to do it and do it right…
And that was, do it dark and do it deep.
Some songs in which we get to hear Michael’s “real” voice:
2000 Watts:
<!-- m -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHd1rLurxNk<!-- m -->
In the Closet:
<!-- m -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwvix7uEQg0<!-- m -->
Dangerous:
<!-- m -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-DyQ268AFs<!-- m -->
Who Is It
<!-- m -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjvoVpOrlbM<!-- m -->
Blood On The Dance Floor:
<!-- m -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_5w3rPbHF4<!-- m -->
Money (Fire Island Radio Edit)
<!-- m -->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtuXq9f15LU<!-- m -->
Comments
Mr. Jackson. knows us very well. He has women around the world craving him. He has studied us and knows which buttons to push. <!-- s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzIQlVSH8GU&feature=related
This is the voice I'm used to hearing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFDkyglJYk4&feature=related