I Just Can't Stop Loving You

Album: Bad (1987)
Charted: 1 1
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Songfacts®:

  • Jackson sang this as a duet with female singer Siedah Garrett. Whitney Houston and Barbra Streisand were asked to sing this with Jackson, but they refused. Garrett also co-wrote "Man In The Mirror," another track from Bad.
  • On the album, this song begins with a spoken intro: Jackson saying, "A lot of people misunderstand me. That's because they don't know me at all." His producer Quincy Jones had the idea to insert this intro, which gave a telling insight into Jackson's personality.
  • Jackson also released a Spanish version: "Todo Mi Amor Eres Tu."
  • On Jackson's 1987 tour, Sheryl Crow was a backup singer and sang this with him on stage. It was set up to look like there was sexual chemistry between them, which led to untrue rumors and tabloid stories that they were an item. Crow explained in a 2008 interview with National Public Radio that she got the job based on her all-American look, and felt Jackson's handlers wanted to pair him on stage with an innocent-looking girl so he would appear more "normal" - this was around the time that the press was picking up on Jackson's eccentricities.
  • Garrett recalled in an interview with SongTalk magazine in the late 1980s how she came to duet with Jackson on this song. "It came as a total surprise. Quincy called me after I had worked with him doing the background vocals for 'Man In The Mirror' to come back to the studio to do more work, but when I got there, I was surprised to discover that there was nobody else in the studio but Quincy, Michael and me. And the song they were working on wasn't 'Man In The Mirror.' It was a song that Quincy had given me a tape to learn. But I had no idea – I do lots of vocals on demos for Quincy, so this was nothing unusual.

    So Quincy said, 'You got the tape, right? Did you learn the song?' I said, 'Sure, I know the song.' He said, 'Well, go in there and sing it.'
    I go into the booth: there's two music stands. Michael Jackson is standing at one of them in front of a microphone and there's another microphone for me. This is the first time I realized what was happening. On the sheet music it said, 'Michael, Siedah, Michael, Siedah, etc.' I said, 'Wow! I get it.'"
  • Jackson and Garrett didn't take the recording entirely seriously. Siedah recalled to SongTalk magazine: "Michael is funny. He has a real keen sense of humor. Which surprised me, because you hear all these stories about how strange he is. I guess he felt relaxed with me because I wasn't in awe of him when we met. I was kind of, 'Yo, Michael, what's up?' I think he found that refreshing."

    She added: "If I was talking to Quincy and we were serious for some reason, Michael would toss cashews and peanuts at us. I would be talking to Quincy and these peanuts would fly by. [Laughs]

    You know, the duet is a very serious love song. And when I was doing my verse, Michael was making these faces at me so that I would mess up. Quincy would say, 'Siedah – come on! You're holding up the whole album!' And I would get in trouble!"
  • Michael Jackson's Thriller album is by far the best selling album worldwide, but his next album Bad was also a huge success. "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" was the first of a record five US #1 singles from that album.

Comments: 15

  • Chad Eicher from OhioMichael used that song on both the Bad world tour and the Dangerous tour. If he were alive, he would sing that song for his this is it concert residency at the O2 arena in London with Judith Hill. Also, there was a Spanish version called "Todo Mi Amor Eres Tu" and the Glee version was performed by both Cory Monteith and Leah Michelle.
  • Carol from West VirginiaI absolutely love this song. MJ was a wonderful talented artist.
  • Daniel from BrazilThere is also a French version of the song, Je Ne Veux Pas La Fin de Nous.
  • Robyn from Philadelphia, PaIt was cut for the following reasons: time, space & of course, MJ was shy about it.
  • Shauna from Atlatna, GaAnnabelle, maybe Mike the intro was too cheesy.
  • Erin from Boston, Massachusetts, Maquintessential love song.... RIP MJ 7/3/09
  • Jamie from Lancaster, EnglandSimply a superb song. Can somebody tell me if a video was ever released with this single. I can't ever remember seeing it......thanks
  • Helena from London, EnglandI LOVE THIS SONG! MJ true spirit never dies!
  • Chris from Saline, MiSiedah Garrett - one of the most ubiquitous singers of all time whom hardly anyone knows. She also co-wrote and sang on Jacko's "Man In The Mirror" from the same album.

    According to Siedah, she didn't even know she was going to duet with Michael on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" until the day she went to the recording studio expecting to work on "Man In The Mirror" and found only Michael and Quincy Jones there (she had expected to see the Andrae Crouch choir who also sang on "Man In The Mirror"). Quincy had already sent her a tape of "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" but Siedah had assumed the song was for her own album she was working on at the time. Quincy asked Siedah if she was prepared to sing the song, she said yes and stepped up to the mike, and the rest is history.
  • Chris from Saline, MiPaul - don't forget "If You Say My Eyes Are Beautiful" (it's because they're looking at you). That duet with Jermaine actually made it to Whitney's greatest hits.

    As for why the spoken intro was left off future versions of the song... it was probably cut off the single/the version of the song played on radio stations to make it shorter and more suitable for radio.
  • Francesca from Napoli, ItalyI LOVE THIS SONG,I LOVE MICHAEL JACKSON,HE IS THE KING OF POP
  • Sarah Floyd from Bloomingdale, Ilwhy did jacko leave the group. well at least he is happy the way he is right. and this song is my favorite song. and i wish i can meet him now but i think it is not going to happen.
  • Annabelle from Eugene, OrIn this song, there's a spoken intro that was left off of future Releases of "Bad" and the 1995 Release "History". What the heck? Was the spoken intro too provocative?
  • Jam Kemal from Lindua, South AfricaA classic duet with Siedah Garrett(he toured with him for his Dangerous world Tour 1992/93), actually Jackson wrote it to be a duet with Whitney.
  • Paul from Malibu, Cawhy did Whitney say no to Michael but duetted with Jermaine at least 3 times - take good care of my heart,Nobody Loves Me Like You Do ,shock me.is there more Whitney+ Jermaine duets ?
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