In a recent post, Atlanta vocalist and master of autotune, T-Pain, unveiled that he nearly had a three-way R’n’B song featuring Michael Jackson and Usher that never got released.
Speaking to his followers, the ‘I’m Sprung’ singer explained that Jackson rejected the track due to an overexcited reference singer. After producing and writing the entire track, T-Pain (real name Faheem Najm) hired a vocalist to sing the parts of Michael and Usher. A standard industry practice that helps showcase a proposed song in its entirety.
Unfortunately for Najm, after singing the parts, his impassioned referenced singer screamed, “N*gga, I’m on a song with Michael Jackson and Usher and T-Pain!” Furthermore, he excitedly leaked a snippet to his peers, which spread like wildfire.
Taking to Twitter/X on January 23rd, Najm detailed what messed up the song’s release, explaining, “We are about to listen to a song that I wrote and produced that was meant for me, Usher, and Michael Jackson. Then the person that was in charge of doing the references and the person that sang it got too excited and was like, ‘N*gga, I’m on a song with Michael Jackson and Usher and T-Pain!'”
He continued, “Then he released it, and then Michael Jackson was like, ‘Nah, never mind. I don’t wanna do it anymore.’ Yeah, that pissed me off. Not gonna lie to ya.” Although fans still don’t know USher’s response, T-Pain decided to shelve the track.
Although T-Pain never got to collaborate with the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, he recently received praise from Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne after uploading a cover of their single ‘War Pigs’ to social media last month.
In response to the video, Osbourne commented, “This is the best cover of ‘War Pigs’ ever. Why didn’t you guys call me?” Najm then followed up writing, “You’re always invited. Top of the list, every time!! Thank you so much. Means a lot coming from the greatness himself.”
You can hear T-Pain speaking about his Michael Jackson track below.