The main flaw of this song has less to do with music than promotion. Epic Records, Michael Jackson’s label ever since Off The Wall, is trying to push this as a new single despite the fact that it’s (apparently) at least six years old. Some of the vocals may be new, I don’t know, but the music; the drumbeat of which is a replica of Remember The Time; isn’t. That’s a major marketing glitch that could’ve easily been fixed by simply releasing the song as an outtake from the Dangerous album. It’s also a bad look for producer Teddy Riley, considering the fact that it’s only taken six years for his New Jack Swing to sound old.

Other flaws, like lack of bass on a song that should be pounding the club and subpar vocal melodies during the verses, are relatively minor. Aesthetically this is a good song. The protagonist, a knife-wielding killer named Susie, is bad, at least in a moral sense, but the chorus sounds catchy enough, especially during the final peak when Jackson starts hyping it with his signature ad-libs. The song goes from good to great for about twenty seconds. “It was blood on the dance floor,” Jackson sings with masterful inflections, “It was blood on the dance floor.” The last two times he says it are particularly striking.

my rating : 4 of 5

1997