T-Pain Says Collab With Michael Jackson, Usher Was Thwarted By Reference Singer

Amber Corrine
·3 min read
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T-Pain is not only one of the greatest artist and trendsetters of our time, but also a student of those who opened doors for him. Recently, the Godfather of Autotune shared a story about a near-miss collaboration between himself, Usher and the King of Pop.

The track most likely would have been a hit, as not too many can say that they’ve collaborated with Michael Jackson and today’s R&B King, Usher. However, thanks to an unnamed reference singer, the track was never completed.

Pain took to X on Tuesday (Jan. 23), to recall the almost rare feat and even played a snippet of it for his fans.

“We are about to listen to a song that I wrote and produced that was meant for me, Usher, and Michael Jackson,” he began. “The person that was in charge of doing the references and the person that sang it got too excited and was like, ‘Ni**a, I’m on a song with Michael Jackson and Usher and T-Pain!’ And then he released it and then Michael Jackson was like, ‘Nah, never mind. I don’t wanna do it anymore.’ Yeah, that pissed me off. Not gonna lie to ya.”

The reference vocalist’s job is to record a conceptualized version of a song that’s meant for the actual recording artist(s) to follow.

Watch T-Pain explain the situation and hear the brief snippet above.

Last month, T-Pain paid homage to a plethora of music greats with his On Top of The Covers (Live From The Sun Rose) performance posted to Youtube. Backed by a live jazz band, Teddy gave live renditions of hits from Sam Smith, Isley Brothers, Black Sabbath and more.

“I’m not gonna lie to you, this is cool as f**k,” said T-Pain to the crowd while donning a tiger-print robe.

Mic on and autotune turned down a notch, Pain sang unique versions of: That’s Life” (Frank Sinatra’s version), “Don’t Stop Believin’” (Journey), “Shout” (The Isley Brothers), “Never Too Much” (Luther Vandross), “American Woman” (The Guess Who), “I Don’t Wanna Be” (Gavin DeGraw), “This Is How We Do It” (Montell Jordan), “Tennessee Whiskey” (Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove, popularized by Chris Stapleton), and “Stay With Me” (Sam Smith).

Additionally, he also performed, “A Change Is Gonna Come” (Sam Cooke), “War Pigs” (Black Sabbath), “Crazy” (Gnarls Barkley) and more. Even Ozzy Osbourne commented, “This is the best cover of ‘War Pigs’ ever. Why didn’t you guys call me?”

And of course, Pain couldn’t leave his fans without giving them a medley of his own classic hits, including “Buy U a Drank”.

Revisit T-Pain’s On Top of The Covers (Live From The Sun Rose) performance and watch him speak on almost having a rare hit on his hands above.

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