Loving You

Album: Xscape (2014)
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Songfacts®:

  • This bass-heavy song about unrequited love was originally written and produced by Michael Jackson during the 1987 Bad sessions. It never made the album cut but was reworked by Timbaland and Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon for his 2014 posthumous set Xscape. Timbaland admitted to Billboard magazine that the first version they came up with was terrible. "I was like, 'I don't think Mike would like this. We got to go back. We got to simplify it,'" he said.

    Their second attempt, which Timbaland said felt like "Boyz II Men meets today" went better and the producer is convinced that he heard Jackson's voice saying, "That's it, Tim."

    "I'd look around, and nobody be in the room," he said. "I never shared this story, even with my co-producer, Jerome. He like, 'You all right?' I'm like, 'Nah, I'm cool, man. I'm just ...' And I'm sitting and I'm like, 'Yo, I just heard something. I know I ain't crazy. I know what I heard.' So it's like his spirit resonated through me to give me the OK."

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