New Michael Jackson song debuted at iHeartRadio awards

Jackson’s upcoming album will feature eight previously unreleased songs recorded between 1983 and 1999.

The first single from late singer Michael Jackson’s posthumous album premiered at the iHeartRadio Awards on May 1, ahead of the record release later this month.

Love Never Felt So Good, originally written and recorded by Jackson in 1983, is the debut single from Xscape, to be released on May 13 by Epic Records in partnership with Jackson’s estate. The song has been available for purchase since midnight May 1, reported Reuters.

The album will feature eight previously unreleased songs from Jackson that were recorded between 1983 and 1999.

Usher brought his best dance moves to Thursday’s iHeartRadio Music Awards with the global debut of Love Never Felt So Good.

Midway through the track, Usher emerged amongst a team of dancers to perform alongside the up-tempo, feel-good dance number. Usher’s performance came as a surprise to some fans, who may have expected Justin Timberlake to be doing the honours. Rumours started earlier in the day when Timberlake posted the single artwork (listing him as a collaborator) on his Instagram account. A Timberlake-assisted version of Love appears as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of Xscape.

Jackson, known as the ‘King of Pop’ and one of the most influential artistes in music, having sold one billion records worldwide, died in 2009 at age 50. His cause of death was found to be an overdose of anesthetic propofol, which was prescribed to him by his personal physician while he was rehearsing for a series of 50 comeback concerts in London.

The inaugural fan-voted iHeartRadio awards, held at the Shrine Auditorium on Thursday and broadcasted on NBC, kicked off with energetic performances from rapper Pitbull, country music singer Luke Bryan and British band Bastille.

Five artists — Timberlake, Imagine Dragons, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Maroon 5 and Rihanna contended for Artiste of the Year, the top award of the night, which was won by Rihanna.

The ultimate music producer L A Reid took charge in contemporising tracks that Michael had recorded before his death.

“Michael left behind some musical performances that we take great pride in presenting,” L A Reid said in a statement. “[This has been done] through the vision of music producers that he either worked directly with or expressed strong desire to work with. We are extremely proud and honoured to present this music to the world,” reported the Hollywood Life.

The album was also produced by Timbaland. Also on the album are Rodney Jerkins (Whitney Houston, Brandy), Stargate (Beyoncé, Ne-Yo), Jerome Harmon (Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake), and John McClain (Janet Jackson).

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2014.

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