My life aint worth living
If I can't be with you
Center
When Siedah Garrett coupled with Michael Jackson for the single "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" on his hit album Bad, I'm sure she didn't realize that she was entering the realm of music-making history. The song became the first of five consecutive number-one Billboard Hot 100 singles from the album and MJ's second single to make it on the adult contemporary chart. It's no surprise that this song was an adult contemporary hit for Michael because here his love was grown-up, heady and passionate in a way that we had never expressed before.
The pairing with relative-unknown Siedah Garrett was unexpected. Even Jackson couldn't have predicted the chemistry to be discovered with Garrett since he had originally wanted to perform the song with either Barbra Streisand or Whitney Houston. But, chemistry there was. We can credit Quincy Jones, perhaps--for it was he who suggested Siedah be on the track after her song "Man in the Mirror" was selected for the album. Being the genius that he is, he knew that these two would work together magically.
This duet was raw with the same intensity that Michael channeled in his previous romantic odes "Lady In My Life" and even "Who's Loving You," which he performed as a child.
In this song, Michael is the romantic starry-eyed lover who is no one without his beloved beside him. The song opens with verse, penned by Jackson, that speaks to his lover's presence as a manifestation of heaven. The choral build towards the end punctuates the spiritual ideal of love that Michael conjures in this duet. I always feel like this song is a preface to his later Teddy Riley-produced song "Heaven Can Wait" that appeared on Invincible. In both songs, Michael Jackson conveys that the heaven up above is no better a place if his woman is not by his side. Now, how beautiful is that?
Michael Jackson feat. Siedah Garrett: "I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
