Complex sentence: Despite rising mainstream success, the new pop-oriented direction proved to be too polished and commercial for Michael: he left during the recording of the album and only appears on two songs, leaving Jay as the main songwriter of the band's songs.
Split into simpler sentences: Despite rising mainstream success, the new pop-oriented direction proved to be too polished and commercial for Michael. He left during the recording of the album and only appears on two songs, leaving Jay as the main songwriter of the band's songs.