Jared Braden A healthy obsession with pop music!
Epic records has released the new Michael Jackson single, “Love Never Felt So Good.” The song, which features production work from Jackson, John McClain, Giorgio Tuinfort and Paul Anka, is the first single from the forthcoming album Xscape, out May 13th.
“Love Never Felt So Good,” which is out now on iTunes, is also available as a duet version with Justin Timberlake. The duet version is available exclusively on the deluxe edition of Xscape. The track was written and originally recorded and produced by Michael Jackson and Paul Anka in 1983, around the time they recorded “This Is It.” Produced by John McClain, co-executor of the Estate of Michael Jackson, the contemporized recording is a magic combination of the new and the original production that retains the track’s analog, early 80s feel, while also sounding right at home with the disco-soul inflected music of today. USA Today wrote, ‘old school snap and tingle with warm leaping strings that recall the melodic and rhythmic punch of Jackson’s work with Quincy Jones.”
While Timbaland is the main producer on Xscape, the record will also feature production work from global hitmakers Rodney Jerkins, Stargate, Jerome “Jroc” Harmon and John McClain. Xscape will be released as a standard eight track album and as a Deluxe Edition, which includes all of the sourced Michael Jackson recordings in their original form.
I opted for the version of “Love Never Felt So Good” with just Michael, as it feels and sounds more like an original Jackson song when compared to the duet. It’s actually a bitter-sweet experience just listening to this new song. It makes the painful realization that he is no longer with us even more heartbreaking.
