Richard Johnson

Richard Johnson

Celebrity News

Justin Timberlake on new Michael Jackson album

Justin Timberlake will guest-star on the new Michael Jackson album, “Xscape,” according to Aaron Reid, who did A&R on the posthumous project.

The album, pieced together with unused music from various recording sessions, will be released May 13. The first single, “Love Never Felt So Good,” drops Thursday.

As for where the songs came from, “Michael Jackson didn’t trust anyone with his music. He stopped finishing songs,” said Aaron, “He had a whole bunch of material stored away. He had hooks. He had verses. Then we put it together.”

Aaron is the 24-year-old son of Epic Records mogul L.A. Reid and R&B singer/music manager Perri “Pebbles” Reid (who, as I reported last week, has filed suit against Viacom over the “defamatory” portrayal of her in a 2013 VH1 movie about girl group TLC, who she once represented). For the Jackson album, he worked closely with his father and executive producer Timbaland, and hired StarGate, Jerome “Jroc” Harmon and Rodney Jerkins to produce the eight songs. Guitarist Jesse Johnson, best known as a member of the Time, plays on the album.

Critics say Jackson, who died nearly five years ago, didn’t finish the songs because he didn’t think they were good enough. They say the lawyers running Jackson’s estate are just trying to cash in on his enduring fans.

But Aaron said making the album was “an amazing process. Michael Jackson is my favorite artist of all time. With this project, I got to carry on his legacy and even to contribute to it. There’s nothing like it.”