A 17-second teaser was released on Michael Jackson's official Facebook page and YouTubeVevo page[4] on September 6, 2017, just after a 3D version of the 1983 "Thriller" short film premiered in Venice, Italy. Later that day, the album was classified as a "Halloween album" with mysterious theme songs.[5][6][7][8] The track "Blood on the Dance Floor x Dangerous (The White Panda Mash-up)" became available for purchase in digital format. Another track, "Thriller (Steve Aoki Midnight Hour Remix)" was also released digitally on September 29. However, this remix was not included on the album.
The album received generally mixed reviews. Some reviews criticized the album's tracklist. Joel Garcia from Evo News highlighted that few songs actually are Halloween-related, while other songs ("Leave Me Alone", "Scream", "Unbreakable", among others) have little to nothing to do with the theme of the album: "[The rest of the songs] are instead about either failed relationships or Jackson’s thoughts on the media."[12] Andy Kellman from Allmusic described the album as a "trivial gimmick" and wrote that the majority of the track list was "forced into the program, chosen for tenuous, superficial reasons" like song titles. Kellman called the mash-up by The White Panda "forgettable".[9]
Chuck Campbell from Knoxnews praised the hits included on Scream but called the included album cuts from Dangerous and Invincible "derivative and lazy".[11] In contrast, Dan Weiss from Consequence of Sound praised the album's inclusion of lesser known songs and felt that it was cohesive despite also describing it as a "cash-grab".[10]
Commercial performance
It debuted at number 28 in France,[13] selling 3,300 units.[14] In the United States, it debuted with 14,000 units, including 11,000 from pure album sales, in its first week of release, charting at number 33 on the Billboard 200.[15]
^"Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 40.Týden 2017 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
