The King of Pop is back.
Michael Jackson’s first postumous album, Xscape, is set for release May 13, according to an announcement made by the project’s executive producer, LA Reid.
“Michael left behind some musical performances that we take great pride in presenting through the vision of music producers that he either worked directly with or expressed strong desire to work with,” Reid said in a statement. “We are extremely proud and honored to present this music to the world.”
So what will we find on Xscape? We’ll get eight unreleased songs that have been updated by the tracks’ original producers. Reid, who parsed through 40 years worth of music in the Jackson estate vault, curated a list of songs with complete vocals and passed them on to Timbaland, the project’s lead producer. Rodney Jerkins, Stargate and others fill out the rest of the album’s liner notes.
Xscape is the first of 10 albums we can expect from the Jackson estate, thanks to a $250 million deal with Sony to release 10 albums over seven years.
Exciting stuff. While we’re on the topic, check out Beyonce’s 2009 Essence Festival tribute to Michael.