“That was a dream come true,” ‘Kon said Tuesday. “You know how you come into a career and set your goals as to where you wanna start and where you wanna end? I had a wish list of all the collaborations I ever wanted to do. Mike was at the top. I was saying, ‘Well, if ever I get to Mike, then that’ll be the sign I can retire.’ But I got to Mike 10 years earlier than I expected. So I decided not to make retirement goals anymore.

The song MJ and Akon put together is called “Hold My Hand” and it’s one of the first records we’ve heard Mike on in years. The two go back and forth on the verses.

“It’s a worldwide smash. It’s gonna be huge,” Akon promised. “The concept is to bring all the people together as one person linking as one world. At the state of where the world is now, with all these wars and conflict all over the place, I think a record like that is needed. That’s the best time when a voice needs to be heard. I felt like, ‘What better voice between me and Mike to be able to say something like that at the time we in?’ Outside of trying to do a club record or a record we expect to get thousand of [spins], it was more so, ‘Let’s do a record that fits all formats but also has some meaning to it.’ But, of course, for the future, we’ll be finishing up the rest of the record.”