What More Can I Give - Background and Writing

Background and Writing

Michael Jackson originally started writing the song, originally titled "Heal L.A.", with Brad Buxer after the Rodney King verdict and following riots in 1992. The song was worked on throughout the making of the HIStory album and its subsequent world tour in 1996 to 1997. In late 1997, when work began on the Invincible album the song was put on hold, but its completion was always a passion of Michael's. Jackson was inspired to finish "Heal L.A." after a meeting with anti-apartheid activist and President of South Africa Nelson Mandela in 1999. The songwriter stated that during a conversation with the then-President, the concept of giving was discussed by the pair. The singer revealed that it was during this interaction that the words "what more can I give" came into his mind and he began writing. With the first version of the song completed, Jackson intended to premiere it at his Michael and Friends – What More Can I Give concerts, staged in Munich, Germany and the South Korean capital Seoul in June 1999. Ultimately, Jackson did not perform the song at the concerts and it remained unreleased.

"What More Can I Give" was also intended to be released as a charity single to aid the Kosavor refugees who had been forced out of their home during the Kosovo War (1998–1999). Jackson revealed his intentions for the release in an interview with the British tabloid newspaper the Daily Mirror. The pop singer stated that television footage of the war upset him and that he wanted to go to Yugoslavia to hug every one of the suffering children. Like before, however, the song failed to gain a release as a single and was not considered good enough for inclusion on Jackson's 2001 Invincible album.

In 2001, two separate concerts were held on September 7 and September 10 in celebration of Michael Jackson's thirtieth year as a solo entertainer (his first solo single, "Got to Be There", was released in 1971). Held in New York City, the shows sold out within five hours of going on sale. The concerts featured performances by artists such as Usher, Whitney Houston, Mýa, Liza Minnelli, James Ingram, Gloria Estefan and Marc Anthony. They also contained solo performances by Jackson himself, and marked the onstage reunion of the pop singer and his brothers (The Jacksons).

Hours following the second concert, the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon outside of Washington, D.C., and a crash near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, resulted in the loss of 2,993 lives. Following the events of September 11, Jackson rewrote "What More Can I Give" and expressed his views on the song, writing and music. "I'm not one to sit back and say, 'Oh, I feel bad for what happened to them I want the whole world to sing, to bring us together as a world, because a song is a mantra, something you repeat over and over. And we need peace, we need giving, we need love, we need unity."