Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Prince -- What It Was Really Like to Produce and Write with the Greatest Artists of a Generation
Part 1 was the foundation -- Jimmy Jam's extraordinary life and career in full. Part 2 is the deep dive into the room where it happened. Michael Jackson. Janet Jackson. Prince. These are not names Jimmy Jam drops for effect; they are people he worked alongside, wrote for, and produced in the most literal sense -- in studios, across mixing boards, in the specific creative conversations that produced records that billions of people have heard. And in this second conversation with Elmo, he talks about all of it with the specificity and clarity that only comes from having actually been there.
This is a master class disguised as a conversation -- what the creative process looked like with each of these artists, what they demanded from the people they worked with, what Jimmy learned from each relationship, and what he believes made those sessions produce music that has outlasted almost everything else from that era. If Part 1 told you who Jimmy Jam is, Part 2 shows you what he can do.
"Michael would hear something in a track that nobody else heard. He would pull it out and make you wonder how you almost missed it."
The specific experience of being in sessions with Michael Jackson -- what he was like as a creative collaborator, how he heard music, what he demanded from producers, and what it meant to be trusted with material at the level of what Michael was making at his peak. The details that you have never heard before from someone who was in the room.
The creative partnership with Janet Jackson that defined both of their careers: how it started, what the working dynamic actually looked like across decades, what Janet's specific genius as an artist required from Jimmy as a producer and writer, and what he believes the body of work they built together says about what a great producer-artist relationship can be.
Jimmy's account of working with Prince -- the complexity, the brilliance, the specific ways Prince approached production that were unlike any other artist Jimmy has encountered, and what it meant creatively to be in that orbit. The stories about Prince that only someone who worked alongside him could tell.
What Jimmy learned about production from working with three of the most demanding and gifted artists of the 20th century: the specific technical and creative lessons, what each artist taught him about the relationship between a producer and a vocalist, and how those lessons shaped the way he has approached every session since.
Jimmy's analysis of why the records from that era have endured the way they have -- the specific sonic decisions, the emotional truth, the production philosophy that he and Terry Lewis brought to every session that he believes separated what they made from everything else on the radio at the same time.
What Jimmy would tell a producer working today based on everything he learned from those sessions -- the specific things he believes matter most in a production career, what the greatest artists he worked with had in common, and what he thinks young producers most consistently underestimate about what it takes to make records that last.
Jimmy on Michael Jackson in the studio: specific, unguarded, and unlike anything you have read in a music biography -- what Michael was actually like as a creative collaborator, how he made the people around him better, and the particular thing about his musical instincts that Jimmy still marvels at decades later.
The Janet Jackson partnership explained from the inside: Jimmy breaks down the creative dynamic that produced some of the defining pop records of the 1980s and 1990s -- how they communicated, where the ideas came from, what Janet understood about her own artistry that made her so specific and demanding and ultimately so right about everything.
Prince stories: Jimmy's account of working with Prince is one of the most vivid and honest portraits you will hear of an artist who has been mythologized to the point where the actual human being gets lost. What Prince was like to work with, what he demanded, what he gave back, and what Jimmy took from that experience.
On the making of specific records: Jimmy walks through the creation of actual songs -- the decisions, the accidents, the arguments, the moments of inspiration -- in a way that makes you hear those records differently. The specific stories behind music you have known your whole life, told by one of the men who made it.
His theory of great production: Jimmy's articulation of what he believes a great producer actually does -- the specific role in a session, the relationship with the artist, the sound decisions, and the emotional intelligence required to help someone make the best version of what they are trying to say without making it yours instead of theirs.
Jimmy Jam at his best: the second half of a conversation with one of the most accomplished producers in the history of recorded music -- generous, specific, and genuinely inspiring. If you listened to Part 1, Part 2 is the payoff. If you haven't, listen to both.