“Just because you read it in a magazine or see it on a TV screen don’t make it factual.” Those are the words of Michael Jackson, taken from his song, Tabloid Junkie. And those very words couldn’t be more appropriately applied to a situation than they can be to the events of the past week.
All week we’d been hearing about what was supposed to be the late King of Pop’s triumphant return to the stage – via newly-developed hologram technology – at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, May 18.
The elaborate production – directed by Jamie King, choreographed by Rich and Tone Talauega and backed by The Estate of Michael Jackson – was officially promoted as presenting “Michael Jackson like you’ve never seen him before.”
The King of Pop was to perform “Slave to the Rhythm” – from the recently released Xscape album – with a stage full of dancers, pyrotechnics and special effects.
In the week leading up to the performance, it was hyped by those who’d seen it as being ‘beyond belief’ – a history-making, once-in-a-lifetime event.
Vegas-based reporter Robin Leach was given exclusive testimony from unnamed insiders who had seen a sneak peek of the Jackson illusion during rehearsals. Leach shared some of these insights in an article published on LasVegasSun.com. They are as quoted below:
“It’s as if he’s still alive. He’s totally real. It’s absolutely uncanny. People who have seen just a little of it have become so emotional, they have tears running down their face. They are sobbing because it’s as if he didn’t die.” Leach was told.
“[The technology used] was two years in development and took an additional six months to create for this network premiere. This is way, way beyond a hologram. It is way, way beyond what you know as 3D. This isn’t even digital. It is far more advanced and a totally new process.”
“This has never been done before. It is 100 steps beyond anything anybody has ever thought you’d experienced as a hologram. It is so real, it is so lifelike, there is no way an audience would know the artist is not there in front of them. So real an artist would actually never have to go out on tour again or need makeup for an appearance. The artist is there without being there. You cannot tell the difference.”
Sounds pretty amazing, right? I thought so, too.
And although I was extremely skeptical about the idea of a hologram, I had hope in my heart that this brand new technology would somehow make possible the projection of the authentic singing and dancing image of the artist I, and millions of fans around the world, love so much.
“And now we are all going to witness television history being made,” announced Ludacris, host of the awards ceremony, when introducing the spectacle.
“With an original performance of ‘Slave to the Rhythm’ this magic is something that you have to see for yourself. As you’ve never seen him before – live from the MGM Grand – Michael Jackson!”
And then, after a brief military sequence performed by backing dancers in front of a closed curtain, the hologram appeared.
But there was a problem. A BIG problem.
The image that appeared onstage via fancy (and ultra expensive) projection technology, was NOT Michael Jackson.
Instead, it was a digital projection of Michael Jackson impersonator Earnest Valentino attempting to replicate the iconic dance moves and mannerisms of the legendary artist.
Sources involved in the creation of this performance have confirmed this for me.
But they didn’t have to. To anyone familiar with Valentino’s impression of Jackson, it was clearly him.
Let’s get something straight. Michael Jackson is arguably the greatest performer in the history of live entertainment. Since he was in elementary school he had been dazzling audiences with otherworldly performances. He danced with flawless precision – with the electricity of a lightning bolt and the smoothness of silk. He had the power of a heavyweight boxer and the grace of a ballerina.
Yet at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards, in front of the entire world, Michael Jackson – with the permission of his Estate – was reduced to a mere imitation of himself.
Jackson’s longtime dancer and choreographer Lavelle Smith Jr., who was hired to help Earnest Valentino make his moves “more Michael-esque” during pre-production, told me how he felt watching the final product:
“It was sad. It didn’t look like Michael to me. It made me sad. When I saw the audience clapping and cheering, I was thinking to myself: ‘This has to be fake clapping and cheering.’ Because it just wasn’t good. The dancing is obviously not him. It’s not even close. It was just really strange to me. I couldn’t even watch the whole thing. I don’t know what I was expecting, but not that. Impersonators and tribute artists do their best. But there’s only one Michael Jackson.”
This is not the first time The Estate of Michael Jackson has been accused of using impersonators in official products and events.
Thousands of Jackson’s most loyal supporters, together with the Jackson family and many of his former collaborators, insist that a impostor is singing on three songs – “Breaking News,” “Monster” and “Keep Your Head Up” – released by Sony on the Michael album in 2010.
The release of these allegedly forgeries caused uproar and division within Jackson’s community of dedicated fans. Many of them – myself included – still haven’t moved on from that fiasco.
In January 2012, when discussing Cirque du Soleil’s Immortal touring show, Estate co-executor John Branca stated that using an impersonator in the production would be ‘unthinkable’:
“We wanted to have a live show, because, as Berry Gordy said, ‘Michael was the greatest entertainer that ever lived.’ We couldn’t ever imagine having an impersonator, or a tribute show, because no one’s Michael. That would just be unthinkable.”
Just over a year later, Cirque du Soleil launched a second MJ-themed show called Michael Jackson ONE – a theatre production based out of Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. And despite Branca previously stating that it would be ‘unthinkable’ to use an impersonator, one was in fact used to create a hologram within the show. (It should be noted that director of the 2014 Billboard Awards hologram, Jamie King, is also the director of Michael Jackson ONE.)
During the week leading up to the 2014 Billboard Music Awards, Hologram USA Inc., Musion Das Hologram Ltd. and Alki David filed an emergency lawsuit against The Estate of Michael Jackson.
In their lawsuit, the companies claimed that they controlled rights to the technology that was being used by the Estate in their Jackson hologram. In response, Estate attorney Howard Weitzman successfully argued otherwise.
One interesting thing, revealed in court documents, was that the Estate did not refer to their planned Billboard stunt as a “hologram,” but rather as “Virtual Michael”.
Perhaps by using the word ‘virtual’ they were attempting to dodge questions about whether or not they ever actually promised Michael Jackson at all, or just a “nearly as described” version of him.
virtual
ˈvəːtʃʊəl,ˈ-tjʊəl/
adjective
1. almost or nearly as described, but not completely or according to strict definition. “the virtual absence of border controls”
2. not physically existing as such but made by software to appear to do so. “virtual images”
Damien Shields is the author of the book Michael Jackson: Songs & Stories From The Vault examining the King of Pop’s creative process, and the producer of the podcast The Genesis of Thriller which takes you inside the recording studio as Jackson and his team create the biggest selling album in music history.
