| "This Is It" | |
|---|---|
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| Promotional single by Michael Jackson | |
| from the album Michael Jackson's This Is It | |
| Released | October 12, 2009 |
| Recorded |
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| Studio | Marvin's Room (Hollywood) |
| Genre | Pop |
| Length |
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| Label | Epic |
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Audio sample | |
"This Is It" | |
"This Is It" is a song co-written by American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson and Canadian singer-songwriter Paul Anka. The song was recorded by the former and featured as a track on the album of the same name which accompanies the 2009 concert documentary Michael Jackson's This Is It.
It was premiered worldwide on Jackson's official website on October 12, 2009, four months after his death on June 25, 2009. Although Sony Music Entertainment referred to the song as a "new single" during its promotion, it was later confirmed that the song would only be sent for airplay, and not be available to buy as a single release. According to Anka, the song was recorded in 1980 and intended to be a duet between him and Jackson on Anka's Walk a Fine Line album under the title "I Never Heard", but these plans fell through. Thereafter, Sa-Fire recorded the track for her album, I Wasn't Born Yesterday (1991). The duet version of the song was featured in Anka's 2013 Duets album. While putting together the This Is It album, Jackson's demo version of the song was found. His brothers' vocals and additional instrumentation were then added to the recording.
A pop ballad, the instrumentation includes piano, guitar, percussion, and strings. Jackson's version, styled as a pop ballad, was his first song to chart on Billboard's Hot Adult Contemporary Chart in over seventeen years. The song was generally well received by critics and enjoyed good chart performances globally. It became a top twenty hit on charts in Japan and Spain, and peaked at number 18 on both Billboard's US Adult Contemporary and R&B/Hip-Hop song charts. In 2011, it received a Grammy Award nomination. The song was also accompanied by a music video, directed by Spike Lee, which consisted of footage of Jackson as a child, clips of him throughout his career, and footage of tributes from Jackson's fans around the world.