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“Free”

Date range assessed by the facts in Mike Smallcombe’s “Making Michael” (“Over the course of the second half of 1985 and most of 1986, Michael and the B-Team created many demos… Michael wrote several ballads, including ‘Fly Away’, ‘Loving You’, ‘I’m So Blue’ and ‘Free’... these songs were never fully completed and wouldn’t be brought to the A-Team at Westlake”); vocals were most likely recorded in 1986.

Matt Forger, sound engineer, “The Atlantic” (September 11, 2012) (archived)

There were times when going back and listening to this stuff was really an emotional experience for me. That was especially the case when I started working on the song, 'Free.' When you listen to this song you hear Michael's spirit and joy. It's raw, it's loose, it's him in his element, doing what he loved to do. The first time I listened to it I broke down. This is what it was like every day.

“MJ Data Bank” (October 9, 2012) (archived)

“Free” is Jackson the balladeer at his best: soulful, happy and so into the moment. “This is one of my favorite songs here because you can hear Michael’s emotion, and his spirit, you can hear his happiness and his joy”, confirms Forger. “And this is the feeling that we had in the studio. The atmosphere in the studio would always be exciting. He would be happy and enjoy so much the work. When you hear Michael’s voice it makes you smile and feel so good that you can feel the joy. Anytime I hear the song Free, it makes me feel so good inside”.