THE STORY OF THE DUO BETWEEN MICHAEL JACKSON AND MADONNA THAT NEVER HAPPENED
A producer reveals what were the reasons why this collaboration was never forged in the 90s
Michael Jackson was the King of Pop, and Madonna is the Queen of Pop. It would make all the sense in the world if the two had collaborated musically. But that never happened, although to tell the truth, they were close.
Jackson was already following the singer's career in the late 1980s. However, it was after a particular performance that he was struck by Madonna's musical gifts. It was at the 1991 Oscar Awards gala, one of the occasions when they appeared together and captured all the flashes of journalists on the red carpet. A more than intelligent marketing strategy to relaunch his career by stoking rumors of a possible relationship between them.
The artist saw the blonde ambition perform Sooner or Later, which won the award for best artificial song for the movie Dick Tracy. It was one of the great performances of Madonna, which she will remember forever, with a look very similar to that of actress Marilyn Monroe.
From that moment, Jackson insisted on making a collaboration with her, and wrote the song In the Closet. Associated from the first moment with the gay community for its reference to the closet, it was actually a heterosexual love song.
Almost 30 years after the events, producer Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds has discovered the story behind this quasi-collaboration between the two.
Jackson asked Madonna to write some new lyrics for the song, and she, following in the wake of the style she was wearing, wanted to make it more provocative. “I started writing words and having ideas, I presented them to him and he didn't like them. I think all I wanted was a provocative title and ultimately I didn't want the content of the song to live up to the title, "Madonna said years later.
In spite of everything, she finally agreed to participate in the video as long as it was done in an equally provocative way, and she was clear from the beginning what the perfect idea would be. The In the Closet clip was supposed to feature her dressed as a man and Jackson as a woman. According to biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli, the idea worried Jackson, due to speculation that existed among the press and fans about her sexual orientation.
Ultimately the artist not only declined the idea, but dispensed with Madonna for this collaboration, visibly upset with her for her suggestion. He came to release In the Closet as a single, but the female voice that accompanied him was not the singer of Like a prayer. To the surprise of many, that voice was that of Estefanía de Mónaco, who was making her first steps in music, and even reached number 1 of LOS40.
Because Jackson's plan for a Madonna duet fell through, he too had to think again about how to craft the video clip. It was model Naomi Campbell who was finally chosen to play the female character, thus frustrating the duo between the kings of pop forever.
