"Slave to the Rhythm" is a song by American singer

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

. The song is the 5th track of Jackson's second posthumous album '' Xscape''. The song appeared on several notable music charts due to digital downloads and streaming. Sony Mobile used a snippet of "Slave to the Rhythm" in their advertising campaign for the

Xperia Z2 The Sony Xperia Z2 is an Android-based smartphone unveiled, manufactured, and marketed by Sony and was released in April 2014. Under the codename "Sirius", Xperia Z2 serves as the successor to the Sony Xperia Z1. Like its predecessor, the Xperi ...

mobile phone. It was performed live at the 2014 ''Billboard'' Music Awards with a "

Pepper's ghost Pepper's ghost is an illusion technique used in the theatre, cinema, amusement parks, museums, television, and concerts. It is named after the English scientist John Henry Pepper (1821–1900) who began popularising the effect with a theatr ...

" of Michael Jackson. Due to streaming of the performance at the ''Billboard'' Music Awards, "Slave to the Rhythm" debuted at number 45 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, giving Jackson a posthumous 50th entry on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Background and leak

The song was written and recorded in 1990, with

L.A. Reid Antonio Marquis "L.A." Reid (born June 7, 1956) is an American record executive, A&R representative, and record producer. He is the founder and served as co-chairman of Hitco Entertainment. He also previously served as the chairman and CEO of Ep ...

and

Babyface Babyface or Baby Face can refer to: Nicknames * Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber * Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician * "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...

during sessions for the '' Dangerous'' album, but didn't make the final cut. In 2010, a version of the song remixed by

Tricky Stewart Christopher Alan "Tricky" Stewart (born January 4, 1974) is an American record producer, record executive, songwriter, and music publisher. In a career spanning over 30 years, Stewart has won 5 Grammys and is responsible for over 50 million rec ...

was leaked. This remix remains unreleased officially, but a snippet was played on ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was pro ...

'' in the weeks before the release of ''Xscape''. In 2013, another version of the song leaked featuring Jackson's vocals in a duet with Canadian artist

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

. In response to criticism over this remix, the Michael Jackson Estate had not authorized release of this recording, and has since made attempts to remove the song from as many sites and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channels as possible.

Release

In February 2014, Sony and Jackson's estate announced a partnership with Sony Mobile that saw the release of an ad incorporating a new version of the track "Slave to the Rhythm", which had been confirmed as one of the album tracks. The Re-tooled Version is produced by Timbaland and J-Roc. The commercial advertisement was for

Sony Mobile Sony Mobile Communications Inc. ( ja, ソニーモバイルコミュニケーションズ株式会社) was a multinational telecommunications company founded on October 1, 2001, as a joint venture between Sony Group Corporation and Ericsson. ...

mobile phone. Both Xperia Z2 and M2 come with "Slave to the Rhythm" while users can download the rest of the album The original version is found in the deluxe edition of the ''Xscape'' album. In 2014, a version of the song remixed by Audien was released.

Live performance

On May 18, 2014, a

(incorrectly referred to as a

hologram Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...

) illusion of Michael Jackson performed "Slave to the Rhythm", for the 2014 ''Billboard'' Music Awards. The selection of the song "Slave to the Rhythm" for the performance was made in late 2013. The Talauega brothers, Rich and Tone, were brought on right after New Year's Day, and they started to draw up dance moves for Jackson and for the other dancers in the film. The brothers' involvement with Jackson dates back to the

1995 MTV Video Music Awards The 1995 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 7, 1995, honoring the best music videos from June 16, 1994, to June 15, 1995. The show was hosted by Dennis Miller at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. David Sandlin was commissioned to ...

; they also were backup dancers for the

HIStory World Tour The ''HIS''tory World Tour was the third and final worldwide solo concert tour by American singer and recording artist Michael Jackson, covering Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and North America. The tour included a total of 82 concerts spanning ...

in 1997. Jamie King was brought in to direct the video, which was produced by Pulse Evolution and Tricycle Logic. A day after the coverage, the live performance of "Slave to the Rhythm" was uploaded to Michael Jackson's Vevo YouTube Channel.

Charts

References

{{Michael Jackson songs 2014 songs Michael Jackson songs Songs written by L.A. Reid Songs written by Babyface (musician) Songs written by Daryl Simmons Song recordings produced by Timbaland Song recordings produced by Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon Song recordings produced by L.A. Reid Song recordings produced by Babyface (musician) Song recordings produced by Daryl Simmons Songs released posthumously

Background and leak

Release

Live performance

Charts

See also

References