Thursday, November 21, 2024

Exclusive: Michael Jackson’s “Hologram” will be a “Slave to the Rhythm”

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I told you exclusively last week that Michael Jackson would appear in the form of a hologram on the Billboard Music Awards this Sunday.

Here’s an update: the Jacksonian projection will “sing” or perform to “Slave to the Rhythm,” a track from the “new” “Xscape” album released officially yesterday.

“Slave” is a fragment of music Jackson left behind, recorded in the 1980s. Last year, Justin Bieber put out a version with his vocal on it after Jackson’s kids gave him an MP3 file of it. That version was not used on “Xscape.”

The hologram is either 3D or 2D, a la the 2012 “Tupac Shakur” which shook up the Coachella Music Festival that year. That image was created by John Textor, the same man who is said to be putting together the new one. Textor is rather a controversial figure these days. His company, Digital Domain, went bankrupt soon after going public in 2012. Investors were left high and dry. He has a new firm now, and is aiming at making holograms out of any dead celebrity whose heirs or executors want to resurrect them. Elvis Presley may be next.

By the way, the people themselves, not just their careers, have to be dead. Mel Gibson wouldn’t count.

Ghoulish or foolish? I guess we’ll see what the reaction to this is on Sunday.

 

 

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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