Nearly five years after Michael Jackson's death, Epic Records is releasing material from the singer's archive vault for the upcoming album, Xscape, due out May 13. According to Billboard, the label CEO and executive producer, L.A. Reid, cultivated Jackson's completed vocal recordings and went about "contemporizing" each to give it a more current sound while maintaining what the label believes would've been Jackson's creative vision.
Timbaland was the lead producer on the project with Rodney Jerkins, Stargate, Jerome "Jroc" Harmon and John McClain contributing as well.
"Michael left behind some musical performances that we take great pride in presenting through the vision of music producers that he either worked directly with or expressed strong desire to work with," Reid said in a statement. "We are extremely proud and honored to present this music to the world."
As Billboard notes, Xscape, like many of Jackson's albums, was named after of its songs. The title track was written and produced by Jackson and Jerkins. The effort will feature eight songs that weren't released during the pop icon's lifetime.
A deluxe edition of the album will include all the sourced recordings in their original format. Xscape will be available for pre-order starting April 1, 2014. More information, including the tracklist, is expected to be released soon.
