Whatever Happens

You knew it was coming right? I’m sure you were counting the posts just wondering when you are going to finally say “A-HA”! Well here it is, the Michael Jackson post on my blog for the song that I feel got very little play. Granted it was on Invincible which was his last album and one on of his worse selling albums due to Sony’s reluctance to push it due to contract disputes. I however think this song is absolutely beautiful and that song is “Whatever Happens”. With Carlos Santana on guitar, this is Michael at his best or at least in his comfort zone. While like most artists, Michael has written the obligatory love song that talks about nothing and about how he could love some woman better than the next man where Mike really excels is in his story writing. His best songs are story songs. Listen to Billie Jean, Beat It, Thriller just to name a few to see what I’m talking about. While “Whatever Happens” is nowhere in any of those songs class it is in my opinion one of the few lone bright spots on Invincible.

With a definite western feel (played up in the video for the song) the musicianship is of course on point and Michael wouldn’t have had it any other way. I’m not a big Santana fan but I do admire his playing on this track and the strings are a nice dramatic touch. The song has a real sultry feel to it and it has that kind of sound that would make you think it would be great to drive to. The melody is catchy and Michael sings the hell out of the lyrics that don’t really make any sense but it’s not about the verses, this is one of those chorus songs. It’s the kind of song where you never find yourself singing the lyrics but you can’t keep that “whatever happens/don’t let go of my hand” from coming out of your mouth. Towards the end of the song it has that “Lethal Weapon”, Michael Kamen feel to it which is impressive when you realize it’s a Teddy Riley production.

It’s a beautiful song and well mapped out (hard not to love those strings in the background). A lot of time and energy was put into a song that was overlooked because of the other crappy songs it was surrounded by on the album but no ones perfect, not even Michael. Enjoy.