In 1991, Michael Jackson and Madonna were arguably pop music’s King and Queen.
They were spending time together, attending dinners and famously arrived together at the 63rd Academy Awards. Contemporary reports even noted that the two stars had been discussing the possibility of recording together. And one collaboration came surprisingly close.
Michael approached Madonna about “In the Closet,” a song being developed for his Dangerous album. Madonna later explained that Michael gave her the provocative title and asked her to develop lyrical ideas around it.
Madonna took him seriously. She began writing ideas that pushed the sexual meaning of “In the Closet” much further than Michael apparently intended.
But when she presented them, Michael did not like them. Madonna later said she believed Michael wanted a provocative title without making the actual song equally provocative. The creative mismatch effectively ended their planned collaboration.
There may even have been an equally wild idea for the video.
Producer Babyface later recalled Michael complaining that Madonna wanted him to dress like a woman for their proposed visual concept. According to Babyface, Michael rejected the idea immediately. Because this comes from Babyface’s later recollection, it is best treated as his account of what Michael told him rather than a directly documented Madonna proposal.
Michael Jackson – “In the Closet”
Michael ultimately recorded the song without Madonna. The mysterious female voice on the record was later identified as Princess Stéphanie of Monaco, while the 1992 short film starred supermodel Naomi Campbell and was directed by photographer Herb Ritts.
The finished video was still remarkably sensual, with Michael and Naomi dancing closely in the California desert.
But imagine the alternative. At almost exactly the moment Michael was entering his Dangerous era and Madonna was becoming increasingly provocative with her own work, the two biggest pop stars on Earth nearly put their voices and ideas into the same song.
They did not fall out because the idea was too small. If anything, their creative personalities were simply too different to fit inside the same “Closet.”