Description
Michael Jackson You Rock My World
Label: EpiC 672029 2
Format: CD, Single
Country: UK
Released: 08 Oct 2001
Tracklist
1 Intro / You Rock My World 5:39
2 You Rock My World (Radio Edit) 4:25
3 You Rock My World (Instrumental) 5:06
4 You Rock My World (A Cappella) 4:47
Recorded At Sony Music Studios, New York City
Recorded At Record One (2)
Mixed At Marvins Room Los Angeles
Mixed At The Hit Factory Criteria Miami
Copyright (c) MJJ Productions Inc.
Credits?
Mixed By Bruce Swedien, Rodney Jerkins
Producer Michael Jackson, Rodney Jerkins
Recorded By Brad Gilderman, Dexter Simmons, Jean-Marie Horvat, Rodney Jerkins
Technician [Digital Editing] Harvey Mason, Jr.*
Vocals [Spoken Intro] Chris Tucker, Michael Jackson
Written-By Fred Jerkins III, LaShawn Daniels, Michael Jackson, Nora Payne, Rodney Jerkins
Barcode: 5099767202920
Label Code: LC0199
Rights Society: MCPS
Rights Society: BIEM
Rights Society: STEMRA
“You Rock My World” is a song by American recording artist Michael Jackson from his tenth and final studio album Invincible (2001). It was released as the lead single from the album in August 2001 by Epic Records. The lyrics pertain to being in love and trying to gain a womans affection. Produced by Jackson and Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins and written by Jackson, Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, LaShawn Daniels and Nora Payne, the song is musically a disco pop song with influences from Jacksons songs from his previous studio albums with Quincy Jones.
The song received mixed reviews from music critics, with reviewers commenting that Jackson could have made a better effort for it and that it was not his best material, while other reviewers generally praised the songs composition and Jacksons vocal performance. “You Rock My World” was commercially successful worldwide and peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Jacksons first top ten single in the United States in over six years, and his last in the country for the remainder of his career. “You Rock My World” topped the French music chart for three consecutive weeks. It also reached the top ten in Australia, Austrian, Canada, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Swedish, Swiss and the United Kingdom music charts.
As part of promotion for the song, a music video was released. The video, which is fourteen minutes long, was directed by Paul Hunter and features Chris Tucker. In the video, Jackson and Tucker portray men who are trying to gain a womans affection. The video has been compared to Jacksons previous videos, “Smooth Criminal” and “The Way You Make Me Feel”, and has received mixed reviews. The song was performed only twice by Jackson; at Madison Square Garden in New York City at two concerts in September 2001 to celebrate Jacksons career as a solo artist. Footage of the performance was shown in the two-hour CBS television special, Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special. The track was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 44th Grammy Awards. “You Rock My World” has sold 6 million copies worldwide.
Background:
“You Rock My World” was recorded by Michael Jackson for his studio album, Invincible (2001). The song was written and composed by Michael Jackson and produced by Jackson and Jerkins. “You Rock My World” was officially released as the lead single from the album in late August 2001, by Epic Records. Prior to the singles official release it had been leaked to two New York radio stations on Friday, August 17. Immediately after the songs radio airplay the radio stations had received “a herd of [radio] callers asking for more.” “You Rock My World” was first played on the WJTM-FM station at 6 p.m., with WKTU-FM airing the song 45 minutes later. Both stations had played the single every two hours until around 6 p.m. Saturday, when Jacksons record label, Epic Records, called the program director for both stations, Frankie Blue, and asked him to stop. “[They] informed me of the dangers of playing a song too early,” Blue said on Wednesday, August 22. “[They] said, ‘Please do me a favor and take it off the air.'” Blue, a friend of Jacksons, stated that he would not say how he got the single.
Composition: the song, which is a disco pop song, has been compared to Jacksons material from the 1970s and 1980s.
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“You Rock My World” is credited as being an uptempo disco pop song that has vibrating vocal harmonies. The song is played in the time signature of common time in the key E minor, with Jacksons vocal range spanning from the tonal nodes of E4 to Bb5. The songs composition has been compared to Jacksons previous material with Quincy Jones from the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the disco-theme from Jacksons 1979 single, “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough”. Chris Tucker voices the vocal introduction of the song while all the instruments heard on the track were played by Jackson and Rodney Jerkins. Lyrically, the songs lyrics are about being in love, as well as the effect that it can have, as evident in the opening line, “My life will never be the same, ’cause, girl, you came and changed the way I walk, the way I talk, I cannot explain”.
Critical reception:
“You Rock My World” received generally mixed reviews from music critics. Praise was mainly directed at the songs composition, while dissatisfaction towards the song was expressed by critics because they felt that the track was not Jacksons best material. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic listed “You Rock My World” as being a highlight for the Invincible album. Reviewer Andrew Hamilton of Allmusic stated that, “If anybody other than Michael Jackson had released ‘You Rock My World’ with the tons of publicity and promotion it was accorded, it would have slam dunked the charts and been a multiple award winner. It sold well and got play everywhere, but too many critics panned the song and the album it came from as not being good enough for an artist on Jacksons level.” Hamilton commented that people should “give Michael credit” because he was able to maintain a respectable career as a recording artist over the years of his later career.
James Hunter of Rolling Stone praised the songs vocal rhythms as being “finely sculpted” and “exquisite”. He noted that the song shows similarities to Jacksons previous material with Quincy Jones. Mark Beaumont, a writer for NME, described the song as being a “disco classic” and commented that he felt that the songs brief intro was “funnier than Chris Evans on fire”. Catherine Halaby of Yale Daily News stated that the song “showcases the best of ‘classic Michael'”, and described the song as being “funky, catchy, upbeat, not too creepy”.[9] “You Rock My World” was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance – Male at the 44th Grammy Awards, but it lost the award to James Taylors “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight”. It was Jacksons first Grammy nomination since 1997, for his single “Earth Song”, and his first nomination in that category since 1995.
Music video: The music video for “You Rock My World” was directed by Paul Hunter, and was released in 2001. The video, which is over thirteen minutes long, was described as being a short film. The dance performed during the video consists of fragments from the cancelled “Dangerous” music video. The video consists of Jacksons and Tuckers characters trying to gain a womans (Kishaya Dudley) affection by subsequently following her around the neighborhood. The video for “You Rock My World” was thought to be the last music video to feature any participation from Jackson before the video for “One More Chance” was unearthed (his following videos would consist of archive footage of himself and others). The video has been compared to Jacksons previous 1980s music videos for his singles, “Smooth Criminal” (1987), “Bad” (1987), and “The Way You Make Me Feel” (1987), both from his 1987 studio album, Bad. In the video, Jackson can be seen wearing a Blazer and his traditional hat. The video features appearances from Marlon Brando, Michael Madsen and Billy Drago. Catherine Halaby, a writer for Yale Daily News, who had given the song a positive review, described the video as being a “direct descendant” of “Smooth Criminal,” with the “nuances” of “The Way You Make me Feel”. Halaby commented that appearances by Marlon Brando and Michael Madsen were “indeed random” and that “few things Jackson does shock us anymore.” The video won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Music Video at the award shows 2002 ceremony.
In several instances in the video, Tuckers character makes several references to previous songs by Michael Jackson, such as “Beat It”, “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”, “The Girl Is Mine”, “Bad” and “Dangerous”.
The short version of the music video appears on Number Ones, and the long version appears on Michael Jacksons Vision.
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