It’s wild how some artists have songs that were dead on arrival when they were first recorded, but that found huge audiences decades later. Elvis Presley recorded “A Little Less Conversation” in 1968, and it stalled on the charts at 69. In 2002, JXL gave the song a big-beat remix, and it became a worldwide smash.
Pavement recorded “Harness Your Hopes” in 1999, and it was relegated to B-side status. But in the 2020s, Spotify algorithms and a viral run on TikTok made it the band’s most popular with over 261 million plays, six times more than their number 2 song, “Cut Your Hair.”
Given the phenomenal success of Michael, the Michael Jackson biopic, four songs by the late King of Pop are currently in the Billboard top 100. Three of them aren’t shockers—“Billie Jean” (19), “Human Nature” (31) and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough (43)—but coming in hot at 30 is “Chicago,” which wasn’t even featured in the film.
What is Michael Jackson’s ‘Chicago’ about?
“Chicago” is a dark R&B song about a woman whose been lying about being married.
She said she didn’t have no man
Raised the kids the very best she can (She was lovin’ me)
She told me she was all alone
Sad at home, she didn’t have no one (She was wantin’ me)
She said just to give her a page
Fifty-nine was the code she gave (She was lovin’ me)
She’d lied to you, lied to me
‘Cause she was lovin’ me, lovin’ me, yeah
The song was written by Cory Rooney in 1999, who was inspired after speaking with Jackson’s confidant, Carole Bayer Sager. “Michael is one of the world’s most amazing storytellers,” Sager told Rooney, according to Variety. “He’s really good when he’s singing a song that has a story.” Jackson initially loved the song and recorded it at New York’s Hit Factory studios under the title “She Was Loving Me.” Unfortunately for Rooney, the song was never included on Michael’s 2001 Invincible album, and was shelved.
‘Chicago’ finally gets released
The song was considered for release on 2010’s Michael, a posthumous collection of unreleased material, but it was eventually decided against. Finally, the song appeared on the second posthumous album, 2014’s Xscape, but wasn’t released as a radio single.
However, the song has slowly gained notoriety in Jackson’s canon. In 2023, a sped-up version of the song became popular as a lip-sync on TikTok with people miming the lyrics, “She smiled and looked at me / I was surprised to see that a woman like that was really into me.” The song has now risen to become Jackson’s eighth most popular on Spotify, with more plays than classics such as “Man in the Mirror” and “Bad.”
The success of “Chicago,” 27 years after it was recorded and shelved, is a great lesson for artists everywhere. Never give up on the creations you love, even if they aren’t appreciated in the moment. If Michael Jackson, Elvis, and Pavement are any example, sometimes things take time to find an audience.
