OneRepublic ”The Good Life”OneRepublic have released a video for the fourth single from their sophomore album Waking Up. The song’s called “Good Life”, and like the band’s previous singles, it’s been slightly remixed from the album version, giving lead singer Ryan Tedder a little more room to ad lib on the chorus, and punching up the great, live-drum rhythm track. As its title would suggest, it’s a strummy celebration of life as a newly minted jet-setter. But as this ingratiatingly wide-eyed song catalogs the band’s more glamorous travels (including a shout-out to their home state of Colorado), the video finds them with all feet on the ground, singing (and whistling) their nice little song in a lovely, simple country setting. Like the band’s previous singles “Secrets” (which turns up in the trailer for the new movie Love & Other Drugs) and “Marchin’ On” (which was used in ads for the Lifetime TV series Army Wives), I expect that “Good Life” will be around for awhile, not so much as a radio staple, but one of those sleeper pop hits that finds its audience through persistent licensing.
Amidst the release of the Breaking News, the song that is streaming on Michael Jackon’s website that we wrote about earlier, are rumors that the vocals in the song aren’t actually Michael Jackson’s.
If you listen to the song, you can definitely hear some blending of vocals, which isn’t uncommon in R&B music. Some of the biggest hit records have background vocals blended in to make a singer’s voice sound more full. But the rumors aren’t that Jackson’s vocals are being blended with someone else’s. The rumors are that Jackson’s vocals aren’t anywhere on the actual song.
There’s many MJ vocal impersonators. Some better than others. But there is only ONE Michael Jackson. Deceptively merging shady vocals with MJ samples (from prior MJ records) will never fool me. Why they would ignore the obvious, look the other way and rush a suspicious track that was NEVER on my Uncle’s radar is beyond me. I’m disgusted, disappointed and saddened. And before the media starts to smear our name, just remember we are COMMITTED (as our Uncle Michael always knew) to protect his name and his amazing legacy he worked his whole life for. We have nothing to gain and we know they will try to drag our name through the mud. But we know how much he valued his legacy and his fans. And cheating either is unacceptable. “Lies run sprints, but the truth runs marathons”
He went on to apologize to fans and said that he thought it was Michael Jackson mimic Jason Malachi and that if you listened to the a capella version of the song you’d hear, “Sampled breaths after sampled breaths mixed in with fake vocals to try to fool you.”
The biggest Michael Jackson fan I know, Big Money Mike, who writes Popblerd!, sent me a note that said that he’s pretty sure the main vocals aren’t MJ’s.
What does everyone else think? Listen to the song below and let us know. MJ or not?
The song is interesting musically and I imagine he could’ve put together a hell of a dance routine for it, but sadly, it’s not the lane that fans want to see his music go. Fans were tired of the “people are being mean to Michael” routine in 1995, and really, it’s a terrible angle to go back to. It’s 2010 and because of his passing, there are more Michael Jackson fans than there has been in many, many years.
They don’t want to hear a paranoid Michael Jackson sing songs. If this is the type of material that is on the first posthumous album, I think many people are going to be disappointed.
And maybe it’s just me, but it’s weird hearing him sing his own name.
Amidst the release of the Breaking News, the song that is streaming on Michael Jackon’s website that we wrote about earlier, are rumors that the vocals in the song aren’t actually Michael Jackson’s.