Search - Michael Jackson :: Wanna Be Startin' Something

What happened to Johnny Vicious on this remix?

Daniel W. Kelly | Long Island, NY United States | 04/16/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Aside from the new version of Wanna Be featuring Akon, you get the radio edit of the Johnny Vicious mix, as well as the full length 9 minute Johnny Vicious club mix. Question is, do you want it? Naturally, if you're a completist, it's a must have, but probably not something you are going to want to return to again and again. With the recent use of a sample from Wanna Be on Rihanna's mind blowing "Don't Stop The Music", I really expected Johnny Vicious, known for some amazingly aggressive club mixes, to go for broke and completely topping that track. Instead, we get a really watered down, fairly soft mix that features way too much of Akon's vocal. The real potential is in the middle of the song, where the sound and feel of the song changes completely to a harder, darker sound--while doing right and bringing in more of Michael's vocal. Happily, it doesn't return to the light and airy sounds of the first part of the mix, but it does get into a more of a 'drum track' feel, with numerous tribal drum rolls playing off the "mamma say, mamma sa" riff. I've heard that there's a Johnny Vicious dub floating around that is far better than the vocal mix. Too bad it wasn't included here."