Chapter 4: Outta Sight, Into Mind

It was around mid afternoon and The King of Pop came into the studio to work on tracks before his producers and backup singers arrived. Michael always thought things happened for a reason. From the experience of being a Mega-Star, being in the tabloids and being mistrusted by people his whole life, he was taught with going with his gut feelings on things. That is why he felt like leaving Sony after this album was the best thing to do. He had had enough dealing with “The Devil”- also known as Mr. Tommy Mottola’s sneaky, conniving tactics toward him and other artists. The meeting last week when he broke the news to everyone didn’t go as well as he thought. He heard from his sound manager, Devin that Mottola was planning not to do any promotion or touring for his album since he was leaving. If it were true, it added another layer of problems between him and Sony. More than anything, he now wanted to pour his heart into this upcoming album, do the 30th Anniversary Special and prove to everyone that Michael Jackson still had it. Especially if he now didn’t have Mattola’s support.

That was the story of Michael J. Jackson. With all of the fortune, record breaking albums, success, and fame, there were huge downsides to it. He was accused, misused, and abused by people-especially the media. Because of that, he trusted very few people. His kids and animals were the ones he trusted the most. His kids never questioned his motives. They never judged him, and they were always putting a smile on his face. They were all the love he needed. However, he had to admit through….. he was a bit lonely. He wished he could find a woman that he could trust and give his all to. He wanted someone who looked at him as an individual and didn’t judge. She always could be trusted and had to be both vulnerable yet tough. She had to love unconditional, not be gullible, be good to his children, and share similar interests as he did. Good looks were always a bonus, but it didn’t have to be a must because he looked at what was inside first. However, because he was Michael Jackson, it was very hard to find his dream woman. He had countless fans, but who would ever love him as just a person and not just a star?

“Hey, what’s up Mike?” Teddy Riley appeared in the studio. This was the third consecutive album he helped him produced. Michael worked well with Teddy; he not only let him do his thing, but he had a lot of great ideas about what good R&B is. After all, he was considered the founder of New Jack Swing. “Backup singers are about to come in. I think we’ve got everything set.” Michael smiled as he rubbed his hands together. He was always excited about working on his music. He could escape, let out his passion, and send a message to the world through his art. “Great, great! I’m excited. I wanna work on Unbreakable first. I would really like that to be my first single.” “Yeah man, that song is hot.” Teddy agreed. “It sends out a good message to the media too. It kinda has that “Scream” feel to it, but better.” The two worked a few more minutes on a couple of songs when all of a sudden, Devin came in to greet them.

“Hi you two,” Devin began. “We have the backups outside. Want me to bring them in?” Michael simply nodded; he was ready to get this show on the road. With that, Devin motioned with his hand for all of the backup singers to come in. Two male singers, a female singer and Jaden followed inside the studio. As generous as always, Michael stood up to great his new studio entourage. “Hi everyone,” he began. “It’s an honor to have you all here for my album. I appreciate you taking the time to help me with the vocals for my tracks,” Smiling, he hoped that he was making everyone as comfortable as possible. The backup singers all smiled back, a bit star struck and not knowing what else to say. Michael went up to them, shook each of their hands and asked each of their names. When he got to Jaden, he was taken aback. His doe light brown eyes met her slanted golden ones. “Oh boy, she has really beautiful eyes,” he thought. He allowed his gaze to look over her entire presence. She was a natural beauty alright, in every way. She seemed to have an exotic look about her (which was a turn on for him) with curves for days.

For Jaden, she didn’t know how to take the way her idol looked at her. She was already beyond nervous to be in his presence. She was still in a complete state of shock that she was in his presence about to make music with him. “Oh God, he’s so fine….,” she breathed to herself. He looked even better than he did on television. He stood over her with his near six -foot slim frame. His hair was in a shoulder-length messy, sexy shag, which suited him well. His porcelain- tan colored skin complimented the purple button down shirt and black slacks he had on. His well defined facial features gave signs that he was a nice, approachable person.

Michael had to snap himself out of his trance before anyone would notice. “What’s your name?” he asked her. “Ja…Ja….” She began. “Damn, what’s my name?!!!” “Uh…Jaden. Riiiight?” Devin filled in for her with a laugh. He thought it was comical how people acted around celebrities. He hoped she would loosen up in time for everyone to start practicing. Everyone else started to laugh also. Jaden swallowed, pressing herself to speak again.

“Don’t be stupid. He’s a person just like everyone else!” “Yes, I’m Jaden,” she finally said, smiling. “Jaden Ross.” “Nice to meet you,” Michael greeted. As he shook her hand, the two eyes met again. For Michael something about this girl made him want to get to know her. It was like she had secrets he wanted to find out about. For Jade, this man was making her weak in the knees. They both quickly looked away. “Are you related to Diana Ross by any chance?” Michael joked. Everyone laughed again. “Well no…but I wish I was,” Jaden explained, loosening up a bit.

Teddy Riley then clapped his hands together. “Alright, enough with the talking! We can have meet and greet later on,” he said. “Let’s get together on these lyrics. You all need to know what beats you all are gonna come in on, the harmonies and the lyrics, so we have a lot of work to do. We’ve gotta do it extra-right because we are working on a legend’s album AND you all most likely will be performing with him at the 30th anniversary!” Jaden’s eyes widened in disbelief as the rest of the background singers murmured in excitement. There now was a chance that she was going to perform with Michael Jackson at what she sure was to be a world-wide event. Things for her just kept becoming more and more wonderful and unbelievable.