Billboard (US):
From almost the very start, when he was singing about burning the disco down on “Off The Wall,” Jackson’s music mixed celebration and terror, as if he was unable to find, or maintain, the division between the two. His music offered a place to both explore and escape those tensions. On this album, it does again. READ FULL REVIEW
Yahoo (US):
It’s an intense album with raw vocals but heavy production values, but one that shows the King of Pop can pack a punch, even from the grave. READ FULL REVIEW
The Independent (UK):
There’s nothing here to quite match his finest moments, but nothing stinks (though “”Do You Know Where Your Children Are”, stop tittering, does a little) and that, I suppose, is the best you can expect. READ FULL REVIEW
Guardian (UK):
Trying to guess what constitutes the true mindset of Michael Jackson is probably a pointless exercise anyway given this was a man who once commissioned an oil painting of himself, Abraham Lincoln, Einstein, the Mona Lisa and ET all wearing his trademark glittery glove and shades. Far better to judge the eight tracks here on their own merit, which, for all their inevitable lack of coherence as a set, serve to remind you why Jackson was once pop’s premier genius, still cited by the likes of Pharell Williams and Justin Timberlake. You could even say it’s a fitting bookend to the man’s career, although with the way things have panned out since his death, maybe that third posthumous album will be a stone cold classic. READ FULL REVIEW
LA TIMES (US):
By the conclusion, the producers have posited a future for hologram Michael, one that shimmers with surreality, capturing the idea of artist as cipher, and temporarily blinding us to the truth that his remains are entombed in Glendale. At the same time, “Xscape” offers a chance to once again be whisked back to his creative prime and recall the man before his flaws felled him, when he was untouchable. READ FULL REVIEW
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS (US):
“Xscape” skimps on length. It has just eight short songs, and the material isn’t about to eclipse “Thriller.” But it does a service by adding worthy songs to Jackson’s canon. Even better, it makes him sound, once again, alive. READ FULL REVIEW
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