"We're Almost There" is a 1975 song released as a single 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 Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

, the first release from his final Motown album, ''

Forever, Michael ''Forever, Michael'' is the fourth studio album by the American singer Michael Jackson, released by Motown Records on January 16, 1975. The album is credited as having songs with funk and soul material. Eddie Holland, Brian Holland, Hal Davis ...

''. It was also released as the second single in Europe from the 1981 compilation '' One Day in Your Life''.

Background

As Jackson's voice changed from a

boy soprano A boy soprano (British and especially North American English) or boy treble (only British English) is a young male singer with a voice in the soprano range, a range that is often still called the treble voice range (in North America too) no m ...

to a

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

, Motown found it difficult to find material to suit the 16-year-old Jackson, who had sung in a higher voice for most of the duration of his Motown tenure, particularly between 1969 and 1972. With the return of the Holland brothers

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan (given name), Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish language, Irish and Breton language, Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan language, Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. ...

and

Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

, Motown had the duo write a collection of songs to fit Jackson's age.

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that "sweet strings soar high above a polished production as Michael Jackson's sugary vocal slides sexily along." ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' said that "it's the youthful Jackson's first single in almost two years, but well worth the wait."

Personnel

*Lead and backing vocals by

*Produced by

Brian Holland Brian Holland (born February 15, 1941) is an American songwriter and record producer, best known as a member of Holland–Dozier–Holland, the songwriting and production team that was responsible for much of the Motown sound, and numerous hi ...

Charts

The duo composed this song and the modest hit, " Just a Little Bit of You", which became a top forty hit after this single was released. Performing more modestly, the song eventually peaked at number 54 on the

pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

while hitting number 7 on the R&B chart. These two singles would end up being the last Jackson released as an active Motown artist though the label continued to release Jackson singles until 1984. The song was released as the second single from the 1981 compilation ''One Day in Your Life'' in the UK, France and Germany and reached number 46 in the UK following the chart-topping

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...

Samples and covers

*The song was covered by

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 and was signed by Columbia Records at 15. After d ...

and featured on the bonus disc of the 'Empire Edition' of her 2009 album,

The Element of Freedom ''The Element of Freedom'' is the fourth studio album by American singer and songwriter Alicia Keys, released on December 11, 2009, by J Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during May to September 2009 at the Oven Studios in Lon ...

. *The song was later sampled on the 2010 hip-hop release " Our Dreams" on the

Wu-Massacre ''Wu-Massacre'' is a collaboration studio album by American rappers and Wu-Tang Clan members Method Man, Ghostface Killah and Raekwon, under the group name Meth • Ghost • Rae, released March 30, 2010 on Def Jam Recordings. Production for the ...

album and on the 2009 hip-hop release "Almost There" on the Poindexter mixtape by

Donald Glover Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his musical stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American actor, comedian, musician, and filmmaker. While he studied at New York University and after working in Derrick ...

References

1975 singles 1981 singles Michael Jackson songs Songs written by Eddie Holland Songs written by Brian Holland Motown singles Song recordings produced by Brian Holland Song recordings produced by Edward Holland Jr. 1975 songs {{1970s-single-stub