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>> STATUS READOUT :: WHAT THIS DRAWER HOLDS
WHY THIS DRAWER IS DIFFERENT :: everywhere else in the vault, Jackson recorded something and it was held back. Not here. These are songs other writers built for him that never reached a Jackson recording at all. There is no master to surface — so there is no LIKELIHOOD METER on this page. You cannot wait for a recording that was never made. ■
>> THE LIST :: FOUR ROADS THAT WENT NOWHERE (FOR HIM)
Wrote material tailored for Jackson — “Señorita,” “Like I Love You,” and “Rock Your Body.” Jackson's management rejected all three. Every one then landed on Justin Timberlake's Justified (2002). Pharrell's own account carries an internal tension we leave unresolved — see the intercept below. ■
Approached, and turned it down. His reasoning, documented: he preferred building new artists from scratch — “I can develop them from the ground up. There's no standard that I have to live up to.” ■
Co-wrote “(I Can't Make It) Another Day” with Jackson; left off the final album.
Written with and for Jackson during the 1999 sessions; never completed. The “Prince became ill” ambiguity is now resolved: Afanasieff's own words (dated January 2000) — “We worked to the point that we were three-fourths of the way finished,… then the incident happened when his son (Prince) got very sick. We're going to have to reserve a little spot to finish the song” — confirm “Prince” refers to Jackson's son, Prince Michael Jackson Jr. (a toddler at the time), not the musician Prince. The song was never finished. Afanasieff also links out to the vault's “The World Is No Church” entry. ■
Doesn't quite fit this section's “never recorded” framing. Jackson sketched lyrics/early ideas at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 1999, and ⌜Brad Buxer developed the music into the Invincible sessions before it was left off. Unlike everything else here, this one has a resolution: Jackson revisited it in 2007 with Neff-U, and it was completed and officially released posthumously on the 2010 Michael album. Kept here as a cross-link rather than its own Buxer List entry — it originated in the Invincible-era Buxer sessions but is no longer vaulted. ■
? OPEN QUESTION — PHARRELL'S ACCOUNT, UNRESOLVED
One thing stays open, on purpose — and one thing just closed. Pharrell's account contradicts itself: he says the songs “never made it to him,” then says Jackson later “sang me all those songs,” which implies Jackson heard them. We present both halves and resolve neither. The “Prince became ill” reference on “Fall Again,” by contrast, is now resolved — see above — and is no longer treated as an open question on this page.
INTERCEPT ┤ PHARRELL — THE SONGS THAT WENT TO JUSTIN
> “I did eight songs for him… that ended up on Justin's record. Later he sang me all those songs… they should have been his.”
REPORTED SPEECH, NOT VERBATIM · Pharrell Williams · internal tension left unresolved ⚠︎
INTERCEPT ┤ DR. DRE — WHY HE PASSED
> “I can develop them from the ground up. There's no standard that I have to live up to.”
REPORTED SPEECH, NOT VERBATIM · on preferring new artists to an established legend ⚠︎
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IN THE PHASES
II · the making
roads considered and not taken during the sessions
THE WRITERS
⌜ Pharrell / Neptunes
⌜ Dr. Dre ⌜ Lenny Kravitz ⌜ Thicke / Afanasieff ⌜ Buxer (Hollywood Tonight) Buxer is the one on the priority list
RELATIVES
▤ The World Is No Church · Afanasieff's other link
WHAT THE FANS SAID
"the album where Timberlake wore the songs Michael turned down"
— fan-press, on the Neptunes trio □
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