Michael Jackson 3D tribute to be shown at Grammys
A 3D video segment from Michael Jackson’s aborted O2 residency will air at this year’s Grammy awards, as part of a celebration to the singer. Jackson’s own rendition of Earth Song will be broadcast alongside tributes by Celine Dion, Smokey Robinson, Jennifer Hudson and Usher.
“To try and imitate him, to try and represent him, it just didn’t feel to me like it was something we should do,” explained Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich. “You just don’t ever necessarily want to see anybody but Michael doing [songs like] Beat It or Billie Jean. This felt to us like it was really a way of representing him. It’s like a tip of the hat.”
Earth Song originally appeared on Jackson’s 1995 album HIStory. It is an orchestral ballad, bombastic and eco-friendly, and Jackson planned to make it a highlight of his London residency. “The song was so important to him,” Ehrlich said. Jackson shot a new, 3D music video to accompany the song, but didn’t get the chance to screen it before an audience. Although an excerpt of the footage appears in the posthumous Jackson documentary, This Is It, the Grammy broadcast on 31 January will mark the video’s full debut.
Jackson himself does not appear in the clip. “[The video] starts out with some beautiful images of the world and our environment, and Michael’s child-like love for animals, birds and dolphins,” Ehrlich said. “It introduces a little girl, a beautiful little girl who at one point in the film basically goes to sleep, and when she wakes up – she’s in a forest and it’s very pastoral – and when she wakes up, all of a sudden it’s all changed and it’s bad. The environment is being affected and trees are being cut down.”
To fully appreciate the Earth Song footage, viewers will have to wear 3D glasses. These will be distributed to the Staples Center’s audience and through Target shops in the US.
Before the star’s death in June, Ehrlich said Jackson promised to perform at this year’s Grammy gala. This wasn’t the first time the King of Pop had made such vows. “[I have] some annual calls,” Ehrlich told the LA Times. “There would be a Michael call, there would be a Prince call, sometimes there would be meetings.” In 2008, CBS went so far as to air commercials advertising Jackson’s appearance at the awards show. “We had put together what I thought was a pretty exciting mash-up of his hits,” Ehrlich recalled. “We had a meeting with him, he listened to it, and he did one of those, ‘Boy this is really terrific’. [But] he ultimately chose not to do it.” Asked why, Ehrlich replied: “Michael was complex.”
via Guardian.co.uk
Tags: Grammy's, Michael Jackson, Nick Cannon, NickCannon.com, Rollin with Nick Cannon, The Latest
