大約在25年前，羅德尼·詹金斯已經為自己定下目標：與“流行音樂之王”一起工作。
這位與惠特尼·休士頓（Whitney Houston）、碧昂絲（Beyonce）等大牌巨星合作過的超級製作人1993年終于夢想成真，泰迪·瑞利（Teddy Riley）把詹金斯介紹給了他的害羞英雄。詹金斯成功說服了為千禧年的邁克爾製作新專輯。兩人不久後就開始合作，邁克爾想讓自己的音樂重新獲得一片叫好聲。19歲那年的詹金斯接到任務為邁克爾的錄音室大碟《無敵》製作大部分歌曲，當時的環境是新一代歌迷正熱烈擁抱著模仿傑克遜的新星。
盡管專輯的全球銷量達1300萬，但評論家卻對此吹毛求疵。就在傑克遜葬禮後的第二天，詹金斯打電話給加利福尼亞的《Vibe》雜志要回憶這張最後的專輯。
Vibe（以下簡稱V）：當你開始製作《無敵》專輯時才19歲。你們在工作期間成了朋友。這段友情怎麼樣？
Rodney Jerkins（以下簡稱RJ）：有時候他會來我家吃飯，或者我會和他跟他的孩子出去。這是真正的信任，你們彼此間建立信任。他曾一直對我說：“你真的是一個忠實的朋友。”他知道出現狀況時，我會挺他。
我不會忘記，邁克爾讓我帶上所有的朋友，真的給我夢幻莊園（Neverland Ranch）用。他說：“我得去德國一個月”然後就走了。我會叫上所有認識的人，說：“喲，來夢幻莊園開派對！”
我們還打賭，誰贏了就能得到100張DVD。他第一次打敗了我，我帶他去時代廣場的維京大賣場（Virgin Mega Store），買給他100張DVD。我們晚上很晚出去。他第一次去那兒時做了化裝，可是一個歌迷認出了他，一下子就暴露了。
V：為什麼這張專輯花這麼長時間才完成？你們製作了3年。
RJ：有許多的開始和停止。就像我們會停上3個月，然後邁克爾會說：“我得去德國幾個月。”然後他又去LA，是那種情況。我記得有次，他說：“讓我們從頭開始……我想我們能推翻之前做的一切。”那是他完美主義的一面。我說：“老兄，我們已經工作了一年，就這麼前功盡棄了？”但這表明他工作多麼努力。
V：你能接受那樣？
RJ：是的，我能。你得理解，當我跟邁克爾合作時，我已經和所有人合作過了。我賺了許多錢，只為能做這一件事。有一次他休息，布蘭蒂（Brandy）的《滿月》（Full Moon）專輯上來了，我告訴邁克爾：“我得做這張專輯。”當時，我在邁阿密的“金曲工廠”（ Hit Factory）錄音室同時製作這兩張專輯，我確實得來回跑。
V：我聽說你在《無敵》專輯製作期間拍下了全過程。發布了嗎？
RJ：噓！（笑）我得說是邁克爾讓我記錄下一切，我照辦了。我保證有朝一日會大白於天下，我得確保這是以邁克爾希望的方式做的。
V：你回頭看過這些錄像嗎？
RJ：一直。
V：傑克遜在錄音室是什麼樣的？害羞嗎？
RJ：不！他很強勢，親力親為。我是說從放攝影機的低架到一切。對他而言，聲音質量太重要了。他在顯微鏡下看著一切，說：“中頻部分太過了。” —— 他很專業。他過去總說：“旋律為王。”所以他真的很在乎旋律。
V：說真的：你對《無敵》專輯的效果滿意嗎？
RJ：有些東西我們沒有放在專輯裏，可我希望能放進去。我的第一組（伴奏）是我真正希望他做的。我想要走經典的、老派邁克路線。我開始的東西許多都是這樣的，那是我呈現給他的。他保留了《震撼我的世界》（Rock My World），但想要更新潮些。所以我會覺得自己像在垃圾場，我們會聽各種東西，創造我們的聲音。
我認為《無敵》需要再版。因為在我們完全付出心血和靈魂後，唱片公司（索尼）卻不推銷了。那張專輯他有5首單曲，但結果卻成了看誰能阻止誰，他身陷混亂。
V：許多評論家批評專輯等了這麼久。是傑克遜的主意讓專輯等這麼久嗎？
RJ：（笑）是邁克爾的主意。等了很久。他沒有做過短的專輯，就是這傢伙……《顫栗》（Thriller）專輯實際上有9首歌。我們其實談過，我說：“你應該作10首歌，就是這樣。”你不知道……也許他覺得那會是他最後一張專輯。
V：你還聽嗎？
RJ：有時。幾周前，我剛聽過。
V：它有讓你難過嗎？
RJ：一點也沒有。我內心傷痛的是我失去了一個朋友，他總是想要他的音樂感動大眾。那就是現狀。但能與他共事是我一生中的亮點。知道我經手了他最後一張第一名專輯感覺真棒。
V EXCLUSIVE: Rodney Jerkins Talks MJ's Last Studio Album, Invincible http://www.mjjcommunity.com/michael-jackson-news/v-exclusive-rodney-jerkins-talks-mj-s-last-studio-album-invincible Linda Hobbs talks to producer Rodney Jerkins about playing pilot on MJ's final studio album.
About twenty-five years ago, Rodney Jerkins had his mind set on one goal: to work with the King of Pop.
The super-producer, who has worked with Whitney Houston and Beyonce among others, wish came true around 1993 when Teddy Riley linked Jerkins with his shy hero. Jerkins convincingly campaigned to produce new millennium Michael. The two soon began work on what became Michael's earnest attempt at recapturing praise for his music. At 19-years-old, Jerkins was given the task of producing the bulk of Michael's last full studio album, Invincible, amongst a teeny-bop generation who were embracing his copycats.
Even though it sold 13 million copies worldwide, the album was picked apart by critics. A day after Jackson 's funeral, Jerkins calls VIBE from California to reminisce on the album that got away.
VIBE: You were around 19 when you started working on Invincible. You guys became friends in the process. What was the friendship like?
RODNEY JERKINS: Sometimes he would come to my house for dinner, or I'd go out with him and his kids. It's really trust. You build trust around each other. He use to tell me all the time, "You're a true loyal friend." And he knew that when certain situations arose, I had his back.
I'll never forget, Michael just let me take all my friends and literally gave me Neverland Ranch. He'd be like, "I have to go to Germany for a month," and just leave. I'd call everybody I knew, like, "Yo, party at Neverland!"
Plus we would have bets, like whoever wins gets like a 100 DVDs. He beat me the first time and I took him to Virgin Mega Store in Times Square and got him like a 100 DVDs. We went late at night. The first time he went to the store, he was in disguise. But a fan noticed him and blew the whole cover.
Why did the album take so long to finish? You guys were going at it for three years.
It was a lot of starting and stopping. Like, we would stop for three months and then Michael would be like, "I got to go to Germany for a couple months," then he'd go to LA, it was that kind of situation. And I remember one time, he was like, "Let's start from scratch...I think we can beat everything we did." That was his perfectionist side. I was like "Man, we been working for a year, we gone scrap everything?!" But it showed how hard he goes.
You were cool with that?
Yeah, I was. You got to understand, when I worked with Michael I had already worked with everybody. I was making a lot of money to be able to work on just one thing. And there was a time where he took a break, and Brandy's Full Moonproject came up, and I told Michael, "I got to do this album." I was working on both at exactly the same time, at the Hit Factory in Miami . And I was literally running back and forth.
I heard you videotaped the Invincible studio sessions. Have you released that yet?
Shh![laughs]. I'll just say Michael asked me to document everything. And I did. And I'm sure one day it'll see the light of day. I got to make sure it's made in the way Michael would want to see it.
Do you ever go back and watch the footage?
All the time.
What was Jackson like in the studio? Timid?
No! He was super vocal. He was so hands on. I'm talking about from the high hat to everything. The sound quality was so important to him. He looked at everything under a microscope, like, "The middle frequency is too much"--he was very technical. He use to always say, "Melody is king" so he really focused in on melody.
Let's be honest: are you proud of the outcome of Invincible
There's stuff we didn't put on the album that I wish was on the album. My first batch [of beats] is what I really wanted him to do. I was trying to really go vintage, old school Mike. And that's what a lot of my first stuff was, that I was presenting to him. He kept "Rock My World." But he wanted to go more futuristic. So I would find myself at like junkyards, and we'd be out hitting stuff, to create our sound.
I think Invincible needs to be re-released. Because something happened at the record company [Sony] that caused them not to promote it no more after we done put our heart and soul in it. He had about five singles on the album. But it came down to who can stop who. And he was caught up in that mess.
A lot of critics criticized the album for being so long. Was it Jackson 's idea to make the album really long?
[Laughs] It was Michael's idea. It was long. He didn't make that transition of doing shorter albums, and this is the guy...it was literally nine songs on Thriller. We actually had that conversation where I was like, "You should make it 10 songs and that's it." You never know... maybe he felt like that would be his last album.
Do you still listen to it?
Sometimes. A couple of weeks ago, I listened to it.
Does it make you sad?
Not at all. I'm sad inside that I lost a friend. He always wanted his music to touch the masses. And that's exactly what it's doing right now. But it was an amazing period of time in my life to be able to work with him. It feels incredible to know... I handled his last number one record.
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