New album: Fact or fake?

Proposed cover and title for new album (fanmade by Robonics, MaxJax)

"WHEN is the new MJ album coming out?" everyone asks me. "YOU're the MJ-fan, you should know," they say!
And what can I tell them? That it's been on its' way for years, that no one knows anything, and that Michael not tellin' anything is a good sign? Hardly anything a non-MJ fanatic will understand fully.

Michael Jackson always gets the question: "When will you come back to music? When is the big comeback?" And as Michael always tells us: "I never stopped. I'm always writing a potpourri of music, you know, it's how it is.."
According to official press releases, Michael has been in the studio since October/November 2006, working on new material. A press release in 2007 stated that "he's been recording with producers Rodney Jerkins, will.i.am and Neff-U".

But as it turned out in February 2008, the 25th Anniversary edition of Thriller was released - with new remixes and collaborations with will.i.am, Fergie, and others. Many thought that this might be the new material Michael had been recording, and that a new album might not be on its' way after all. There are more things that indicates that Michael has been recording new tunes, instead of just the T25-material.

One of these things comes from collaborator will.i.am. He hinted the new album already in October 2006 - which would be the early stages of recording the tunes: "Something needs to put a jolt back in the music industry. And the only thing that can do that is the jolt itself. The energy that sparked the imagination of the kids that are... me, you know, the Justin Timberlake's, we're all products of this. (Motions to Michael) So the only person that can put that jolt back in to that monstrosity of entertainment and music is the one who created that. (Motions to Michael again)"

We also have several quotes from after the release of T25 to indicate an album release - Ne-Yo talked to 60 Seconds in february 2008: "I think (releasing Thriller 25) is a good idea before he goes with the new album. He's coming up with a new one that I'm working with him on."

Also multiple quotes from will.i.am states, that the album is gonna be fantastic and "the Off The Wall for the new era!"

As any hardcore MJ-fan will tell you, not knowing ANYTHING at all is a good thing, when waiting for a new album - because it's the silence before the storm. The same thing happened in 2001 with the release of Invincible (which was one of the best-selling albums of the year), when the release was only made public very few months prior to release - usually the release on an album is made public at least four months in advance.

As for a release date? No one knows, but as Ne-Yo said in December of 2007: "He's taking his time on it and being extra extra picky, you know. This is gonna be a big album for him - so he's taking his time, yeah."

Well, we're all here waiting for ya, Mike! Good luck!

This article is inspired by a post on the Max-Jax forum by user 'damien', who is their official reporter. He has gathered a series of quotes from MJ Collaborators, concluding that there IS a new MJ-album on the way!
Source: www.maximum-jackson.com