I have a book and when I hear things that I like, I write it down. SIEDAH GARRETT: “The song came all came at once. That spirit of the singer, the song and songwriters is alive forever. Now all these years later, with Michael sadly long gone, the song itself is as powerful as ever, as soulfully funky and inspirational as ever.
“It’s like winning the lottery,” she said with some disbelief. Never did either of them attempt to suppress their immense excitement about this. Siedah and Glen met me for an interview at Warner Brothers’ Burbank headquarters, which was exultant. “Man in the Mirror,” the official video by Michael Jackson. (The following year, she, Glen and Michael co-wrote the song “Keep The Faith.”) He immediately enlisted her, and not other notables being considered (such as Barbra Streisand and Whitney Houston) to duet with him on his song “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.” She also was to learn that Michael wanted her to personally guide his vocal sessions for “Man In The Mirror” as he wanted to sing it like she did on the demo.
Not only did Michael fall in love with the song, but also by the singer, and the soulful beauty of Siedah’s voice on the demo (indeed, as the demo below shows, she sings the song with the same intensity of passion and purity of intention as Michael would also inject into it). The message of the song, essentially, is to get the message. The meaning of the song was heard and felt. It brought the outside world in the kids in the street with not enough to eat. Because it transcended the expected content of this new pop music with its beautifully etched socially-conscious lyric. This is a song written very deliberately for this one singer to sing. Not only does it have the soul, beauty and funk of great music, it was in perfect tune with his essence.
“If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change.” He loved it so much that it is the only song lyric to be quoted on the album. They succeeded, as the world already knows. She was already well-known for her own harmony vocals and brilliance in vocal (max-width: 767px) He wrote the music for “Man In The Mirror” and Siedah, who also added her distinctive vocal sound to Michael’s record of the song, wrote the words. Glen Ballard, as students of songwriting and pop music already know, went onto enormous success as a co-writer and producer with Alanis Morrisette on her first albums, as well as many other projects. As the editor of SongTalk, the journal of the National Academy of Songwriters, I invited Siedah and Glen to do an interview. Siedah was enlisted also to sing a duet with Michael on his song “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.” That her star was already blazing by the time we learned her name was fairly evident. Written by a great singer named Siedah Garrett and a composer named Glen Ballard, tt had the intriguing title, “Man In The Mirror.” It was, Quincy said, the first outside song Michael had accepted in two years. It was surprising, considering the unchained impact of his own songs on Thriller when we learned he cut a song he didn’t write. Suddenly news started to spread that he was working on the follow-up to Thriller, again to be produced by Quincy. Not only were multitudes entranced and enraptured by the pure passion he injected into anything he did, we were all waking up to the realization that this remarkable entertainer – one of the great song & dance men in the history of American show-biz – had become a seriously great songwriter. Michael seemed to be a miracle, all the things he was: the songs, singing, and of course, the dancing, crystallized by the magic moonwalk. Featuring “Billie Jean” and other classics produced by Quincy Jones, it’ s the astounding apex of Michael-mania, as few then could remain indifferent to this soul phenomenon. The year was 1988, and the world was in the enthralling season of Michael Jackson and his astounding album Thriller.