A new Michael Jackson song will premiere during NBC’s broadcast of the iHeartRadio Music Awards on May 1, 2014, according to a commercial that aired for the first time during The Voice last night.
The inaugural iHeartRadio Music Awards will stream live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on NBC at 8pm PST (May 1), featuring performances by Drake, Pharrell, Kendrick Lamar, Pitbull, Shakira, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Ariana Grande, Arcade Fire and Ed Sheeran.
For many Michael Jackson fans, however, the reason for tuning in will be the unveiling of a new song from the King of Pop’s upcoming ‘XSCAPE’ album.
If available information regarding the album’s lead single is anything to go by, the track being unveiled would seem to be “Love Never Felt So Good” – which is schedule to begin worldwide radio rotation from May 5. Exact information regarding which song they’ll debut remains unconfirmed. Either way, the iHeartRadio Music Awards will provide the perfect platform to introduce the new song to the American public, and in turn, the world.
It is also unclear exactly how the iHeartRadio Music Awards will incorporate the Jackson premiere into their event’s schedule, but there are seemingly only two realistic options: a) streaming the track’s yet-to-be-announced music video during a break in the broadcast, or b) a live choreographed dance performance on the night.
In other news, five days ago, on April 17, Rich and Tone Talauega, otherwise known as ‘The Talauega Brothers’, tweeted that they were: “On a secret mission for the King of Pop in the Bay Area,” before advising that more details would be revealed soon.
The Talauega Brothers choreographed a number of Jackson’s short films and live performances throughout his career, and have most recently worked on posthumous Jackson projects including Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Immortal’ and ‘ONE’ productions, as well as the music video for “Hollywood Tonight”.
The brothers have not followed up with any further tweets since April 17. It’ll be interesting to find out whether their secret mission for the King of Pop is connected to the iHeartRadio Music Awards, or another Jackson-related project.
More information to follow as it becomes available.
Damien Shields is the author of the book Michael Jackson: Songs & Stories From The Vault examining the King of Pop’s creative process, and the producer of the podcast The Genesis of Thriller which takes you inside the recording studio as Jackson and his team create the biggest selling album in music history.
