Pharrell says tracks on Justin Timberlake's 'Justified' were originally made for Michael Jackson

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Where would Justin Timberlake be today if Michael Jackson hadn’t passed on Justified?

In a new interview on the Revolt TV podcast Drink Champs, producer Pharrell Williams reminisced with NORE & DJ EFN about his storied career, including their Superthug collaboration and being rejected by both Prince and Michael Jackson.

“Michael turned us down too,” Pharrell shared, after telling the podcast hosts how Prince passed on one of his tracks.

NORE stepped in to share his memory of a call he had with Pharrell at the time. “You hit me and you said, ‘Yo I just sent Michael Jackson some beats,’” he recalled.

“John McClain was his manager at the time,” Pharrell continued. “We sent him pretty much all the stuff y’all are hearing on the Justified album. That’s all the Michael stuff.”

Justified is now best known as Justin Timberlake’s debut 2002 album. But according the Neptunes producer, all but one song was originally created for the King of Pop.

“All but one song, they were all written for Michael,” he said.

But Jackson wasn’t interested. Instead, he wanted something more like Pharrell’s iconic 1998 track with NORE.

“John McClain was like, 'Man Michael don’t want that s...,’” Pharrell remembered. “‘He want that s... you’re giving Noreaga….he want that ‘Superthug.’”

Elsewhere in the interview, Pharrell opened up about his feelings on the Drake vs Pusha T beef.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainme...fied-were-originally-made-for-michael-jackson
 
Such a shame. I can only imagine that Michael would be singing those tracks. These would be huge hits accompanied by amazing short films. The production of these songs a very much Michael like.
 
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Some great songs. Last Night is so slept on. Lyrically, I'm not sure it really fit MJ though. MJ probably never even heard these beats, just the manager I am guessing.
 
I love that news outlets are picking this story up like it’s a brand new revelation. We’ve known this for years now!

Personally, I’m glad the beats were rejected. I like most of them, but I never want to see a Pharrell x MJ collaboration, ever.
 
AlwaysThere;4313747 said:
I love that news outlets are picking this story up like it’s a brand new revelation. We’ve known this for years now!

Personally, I’m glad the beats were rejected. I like most of them, but I never want to see a Pharrell x MJ collaboration, ever.

Yeah. Agreed. Maybe Michael & Bruno Mars. It would be a great money maker and I think Bruno is a great performer in his own right, he'd certainly do Michael justice. I like Pharrell's music but his name isn't as big in the biz these days.
 
I'm glad Michael rejected those songs. I don't think very highly of the songs on Justin's album.
 
It has been written that Michael Jackson’s managers when they received these songs from Pharrell Williams, they did not pass them to him (as they should have).

In other words, his managers rejected the songs unbeknownst to Michael Jackson (this means that Michael Jackson never listened to these songs that were meant for him).

This appears to be true because Pharrell Williams stated in another interview that Michael Jackson when he listened to the ‘Justified’ album (when that album came out) he liked the album’s songs.

In a phone conversation they later had together, Michael Jackson congratulated Pharrell Williams on his work on that album, and Pharrell Williams then told him that actually these songs were originally meant for him.

Upon hearing what Pharrell Williams told him, Michael Jackson expressed his frustration that he never got a chance to get these songs and to record them for his own, upcoming album.
 
justin timberlake was inspire and influence by michael so this doesn't really surprise me. nice to know though.
 
AlwaysThere;4313747 said:
I love that news outlets are picking this story up like it’s a brand new revelation. We’ve known this for years now!

Personally, I’m glad the beats were rejected. I like most of them, but I never want to see a Pharrell x MJ collaboration, ever.

Chad Hugo was the mastermind behind their productions in that time. Chad has a great musical knowledge and is highly talented. He was the man behind the melodies and Pharrell was the one who did the rhythm sections. That combination was awesome. Listen to the instrumental of “Slave 4 U” by Britney Spears. It’s literally genius, the way that they respected sound as a whole. Also their production techniques back then brought back the analog instruments instead of the digital beats at that time.

If Michael would supervise them and co-produced those tracks it would be magic. Sure the lyrics are not sophisticated, but those were written for JT. Music first.
 
IMWhizzle;4313899 said:
Listen to the instrumental of “Slave 4 U” by Britney Spears. .
Slave 4 U was first written for Janet... She recorded her version but then she let it go... It would be nice to her her version of this great song...
 
Rock Your Body would have been huge if by MJ. But not as huge as it was by Justin. The music world was changing and kids and teens wanted their own stars, MJ had a huge fan base in 2001 but the market was changing. And there's nothing wrong with that
 
Rock Your Body would have been huge if by MJ. But not as huge as it was by Justin. The music world was changing and kids and teens wanted their own stars, MJ had a huge fan base in 2001 but the market was changing. And there's nothing wrong with that

i agree. but at the same time it wouldn't work out anyway because around this same time You Rock My World was release. it wouldn't make sense for michael to have two songs that's basically the same being release a year after.
 
Michael was in his 40's around this time. he wasn't that old but like rumandraisin said yeah, kids and teenagers wanted their own stars to look up too. just like today. you talk about michael some kids and teenagers may not be interested or find that "old".

so yeah, at the end it's life. it happens to all artists because of age and like rumandraisin said the world changes.
 
Michael Jackson would have been sung the songs on "Justified" better than Justin Timberlake if he hadn't turned them down.
 
Rock Your Body would have been huge if by MJ. But not as huge as it was by Justin. The music world was changing and kids and teens wanted their own stars, MJ had a huge fan base in 2001 but the market was changing. And there's nothing wrong with that

Great point.
 
In the late 1990s/early 2000s, boy bands were all the rage. So when NSYNC announced a hiatus, fans were shocked. That “break” wound up marking the dissolution of the group, as Justin Timberlake went solo. Now music producer Pharrell Williams reveals that nearly every track on Timberlake’s first album was originally intended for none other than Michael Jackson.

Justin Timberlake went solo in 2002 with his ‘Justified’ album

During NSYNC’s run, Timberlake was often featured more prominently than his colleagues. So his decision to pursue a solo career felt like a natural extension of the group. But it all happened so fast. NSYNC’s 2001 album Celebrity — which put Timberlake front and center more than ever before — released in summer 2001. And its final single, “Girlfriend,” hit the charts in spring 2002.

By that August, Timberlake’s debut single, “Like I Love You,” established him as a solo career. That fall’s Justified album sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, effectively marking the end of NSYNC. Of course, Timberlake’s career blossomed from there. But early singles off Justified helped him escape the boy-band stigma and embrace a more soulful sound.

But nearly every track was once rejected by Michael Jackson

With Justified, Timberlake was suddenly going for a sound more akin to artists like Jackson. Now, in a recent interview on the Drink Champs podcast, Williams revealed the origin of Timberlake’s Justified tracks. As it turns out, there’s a big reason why the album sounds like one of Jackson’s.

“John McClain was [Jackson’s] manager at the time. We sent him pretty much all the stuff you guys are hearing on the first Justified album. That’s all Michael stuff. All but one song, they were written for Michael. … John McClain was like, ‘Man, Michael don’t want that s**t. He wants the s**t you’re giving Noreaga.’ He was like, ‘Yo, he wants that ‘Superthug.’’”

Even though songs like “Rock Your Body” didn’t impress Jackson, they certainly worked for Timberlake. The former NSYNC member went on to partner with Timbaland for subsequent albums. But of course, the comparisons between Timberlake and Jackson abound. The former even originally wrote the NSYNC hit “Gone” for the King of Pop.

Michael Jackson posthumously worked with Justin Timberlake

Truly, Jackson’s and Timberlake’s careers have a lot in common. And though they never recorded anything together, the singers still appeared on a duet together years later. After Jackson’s death, much of his unreleased material was reworked for posthumous albums in the following years.

As such, Timberlake joins Jackson on “Love Never Felt So Good” from his 2014 album Xscape. The song proves just how closely Timberlake’s voice matches Jackson’s own style. Obviously, the King of Pop was a huge inspiration, though his influence has naturally loomed large for decades.

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertain...s-admits.html/
 
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