A review of Michael Jackson’s Scream

A new Michael Jackson album is coming out this month. Unfortunately, it is a pointless compilation album.

Scream is a 2017 compilation album featuring songs by Michael Jackson. It is the late artist’s first album of any kind since Xscape in 2014.

Unlike past compilation albums, which either collected Jackson’s time with the Jackson 5, his solo career, or just the singles, the songs featured on Scream try to feature a mysterious and scary theme. Based on both the album cover and press release, the compilation is trying to cash in on Halloween.

All but one of the songs come from the following albums: The Jacksons’ Triumph and Victory, Rockwell’s Somebody Watching Me (where Jackson sang the titular song’s chorus), five of Jackson’s solo albums, the remix album Blood on the Dance Floor: History in the Mix, and the aforementioned Xscape. Three albums, Bad, Blood, and Invincible, are represented with two songs each.

Only five of the previously released songs, “Thriller”, “Ghosts”, “Threatened”, The Jacksons’ “Torture”, and “Somebody’s Watching Me”, are appropriate for the holiday. “Blood on the Dance Floor” and “Dirty Diana” could also technically count since both are about men being pursued by obsessed women.

The rest of the songs thematically have nothing to do with Halloween and are instead about either failed relationships or Jackson’s thoughts on the media. For example, “Scream” was likely selected to justify the album’s title, but the song itself is about Michael and Janet Jackson calling out the tabloids.

If someone were to compile a Halloween playlist, they would probably not include the album’s other featured songs such as “Leave Me Alone”, “Dangerous”, or “Unbreakable” alongside “Monster Mash” and “Ghostbusters”.

The only new song featured on the compilation is “Blood on the Dance Floor x Dangerous (The White Panda Mash-Up)”. As the name indicates, it is a remix made up of some of the songs featured on the album. It is a decent song that is marginally better than some of the fan remixes on YouTube.

Besides the remix, there is no good reason to buy this compilation. Longtime fans may already own these songs on either better compilations or their original albums. The remix can be bought at this very moment by itself without having to pre-order the entire album. This album is the weakest compilation of Michael Jackson songs to ever be released.

Scream will be available to buy on September 29. This album is only worth buying if you just want the included songs, the great cover art, and low price. Otherwise, just buy either one of the better compilation albums (such as The Essential Michael Jackson) or the individual songs.

What do you think about Scream? Is it a pointless compilation album? Feel free to respond down in the comments section.