New Michael Jackson album online

Gulfnews.com readers are among the first in the world to listen to the new Michael Jackson album, titled Michael, on Wednesday, as the posthumous album is previewed in full ahead of its global release on December 14. The album is available, free, in full below (best viewed in Internet Explorer).

The video for the first single from the 10-song album, Jackson’s duet with Akon titled Hold My Hand, will be released online on Thursday, said Jackson estate co-administrator John Branca. It will play at Jackson’s official site, www.MichaelJackson.com.

The tracks on the album were recorded before the superstar’s 2009 death.

The hyperkinetic, four-and-a-half-minute video shows Jackson in concert, Akon singing and dancing, sentimental scenes of children, families and old people holding hands and a woman weeping.

The song opens with the prescient line, “This life don’t last forever... so tell me what we’re waiting for... Hold my hand.”

-With inputs from AP