New Michael Jackson Song, “This Is It,” Premieres Online (original) (raw)
As Rolling Stone previously reported, the title track from Michael Jackson‘s upcoming concert rehearsal film This Is It made its debut last night on the King of Pop’s official Website at midnight. “This Is It” — a gauzy ballad filled with strings and piano that was recorded during Jackson’s sessions for 1991’s Dangerous, but reportedly written in 1980 (between his releases of Off the Wall and Thriller) — opens with Jackson singing, “This is it, here I stand/I’m the light of the world, I feel grand/Got this love I can feel/And I know yes for sure it is real” as he tenderly hits his signature high notes crooning about a new lover he feels he’s known “since 1,000 years” and never thought he’d fall for. Musically, “This Is It” sounds most similar to “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” the duet Jackson sang with Siedah Garrett on 1987’s Bad. The New York Times points out the song’s resemblance to the Jackson and Paul Anka-penned “I Never Heard,” which was released by Safire in 1991.
See photos from Jackson’s This Is It rehearsals here.
The new song features background vocals by Jackson’s brothers and will be played during the closing sequence of the film. Two versions of “This Is It,” the original and an orchestral take, will be included on the two-disc soundtrack due out October 27, just one day before the This Is It documentary premieres. The second disc also includes an unreleased spoken word track of a poem written by Jackson titled “Planet Earth.”
Look back at Michael Jackson’s life in photos.
In August, Rolling Stone reported that hard drives holding new Jackson songs and unreleased cuts from his ’80s peak were removed from the King of Pop’s estate by sister LaToya after the singer’s death on June 25th. Jackson’s manager Frank DiLeo told RS there are more than 100 unreleased MJ songs, and that the tunes on the hard drives contained music he worked on with Akon, Will.i.am and Ne-Yo. A previously unheard Jackson 5 song titled “That’s How Love Is” is also on the Web and coming to stores soon: As RS reported, the tune, featuring a young Michael, is part of a new Jackson 5 compilation called I Want You Back! Unreleased Masters due November 10th.
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