Three songs from the 2010 album by Michael Jackson have been pulled from streaming services amid accusations that the King of Pop didn’t actually sing them.
According to TheGrio, Keep Your Head Up , Monster con 50 Cent y Breaking News which appeared on the late singer’s 2010 album, are no longer available for sale or streaming on YouTube, Apple Music and other platforms around the world.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Jackson’s website confirmed that three songs were no longer available, stating that “It had nothing to do with its authenticity.”
“The Estate and Sony Music believe the ongoing conversation about tracks is distracting the fan community and casual listeners of Michael Jackson from focusing their attention where it should be – on Michael’s legendary and deep catalog of music. [sic]”said Jackson’s website spokesman.
Keep Your Head Up, Monster, and Breaking News have all disappeared from Jackson’s official YouTube channel, but are still available through reruns of other channels.
Apple Music has seven of the album’s 10 songs available for purchase while on Spotify, the three songs in question are grayed out and unplayable.
The tracks have been the subject of an ongoing lawsuit against Sony Music and the Jackson estate, alleging that Jackson did not sing them.
In 2014, a Jackson fan filed a lawsuit against Sony and the estate over the three songs for violation of consumer laws, unfair competition, and fraud.
Sony and the estate were acquitted in the case in 2018 and their appeal in 2020. The suit is currently in the California Supreme Court.
Before the album’s release, members of Jackson’s family raised questions about whether the songs were performed by the Grammy winner.
In 2010, her mother Katherine claimed that “some of the album tracks are fake”The Guardian reported.
The musician’s sister, LaToya, told TMZ: “It doesn’t sound like him.”
Taryll Jacksonhis nephew, went to Twitter and said he was in the studio when the songs were delivered to Sony in its original form.
“The way they built these songs is very clever and cunning”Taryll tweeted.
“I KNOW my uncle’s voice, and something is seriously wrong when you have IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBERS who say it’s not him.”