Changes

Sources : My personal research, Wikipedia, Michael Jackson: For The Record by Chris Cadman & Craig Halstead, Twitter account of Damien Shields and the amazing archives of the MJCast.

ERA

RECORDING DATE

Changes (demo 1) : Written by Michael Jackson. Recorded in 1985 during the Hayvenhurst sessions with John Barnes, Bill Bottrell & Matt Forger. Described as “an upbeat piano-driven demo with rolling drum programming” and “incredibly catchy”. Features a “really rough” scratch vocal with MJ mumbling and humming a melody over the music. Remains unreleased. 

Changes (Demo 2) : Revisited in 1994-1995 during the HIStory sessions, with a gospel performance from the Andraé Crouch choir and a few ad-lib solos added. Damien Shields : “”John Barnes recalls the song originating from the Hayvenhurst sessions. When I asked him about it, he sang the hook to me, to confirm we were talking about the same song. It was brought back during the HIStory sessions, but never finished. Changes feels like church. Piano + gospel choir with a totally mumbled, low-effort scratch vocal. 0% chance of completing it. The only sensical lyrics are “can’t cope with changes. What are you trying to do to me?” The rest is mumbles. But it’s great as a demo. The choir on it is phenomenal. There are two epic vocal solos on the demo from members of the choir”.

Damien Shields on X (January 11, 2026) : “So according to John Barnes, the concept for Changes was done as a demo at Hayvenhurst, and then moved on from. Michael supposedly wanted to revisit it during the HIStory sessions, and it seems Brad Buxer has redone the track, plus recorded the choir at a major studio and added it.”

A short snippet leaked in August 2023. Another short snippet leaked online in August 2025. The full demo leaked on January 07, 2026 but remains unreleased.

 

STUDIO(S)

Hayvenhurst home studio in Encino, California

Hit Factory in New York City

SONGWRITER(S)

Michael Jackson

PRODUCER(S)

???

RELEASE DATE :

Unreleased

LABEL

Unreleased

LENGTH

???

ALTERNATE VERSIONS RECORDED BY MJ (covers and remixes by other artists are not included)

No other version known to exist

MUSICIANS

???

PEAK ON HOT 100 BILLBOARD :

Never released as a single in the US.

SHORT FILM

No short film

LIVE PERFORMANCES ON TV SHOWS

Never performed on TV

LIVE PERFORMANCES IN CONCERTS

Never performed in concerts