Pharrell Williams has revealed that many of the songs on Justin Timberlake’s debut album were intended for Michael Jackson.
“That’s all Michael stuff,” Williams said during a recent conversation on Drink Champs with N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN, referring to 2002’s Justified. “All but one song, they were written for Michael.”
Williams and his Neptunes partner Chad Hugo co-wrote and co-produced seven of the 13 tracks on Justified, including hits “Like I Love You” and “Rock Your Body.” Timberlake has a co-writer credit on all the songs on his first solo album.
In 2002, Hugo told MTV News the trio spent hours listening to Jackson’s albums Off the Wall and Thriller “to really get the feel of them and create something that’s not a sample, but similar to those songs without recycling them.”
Jackson died in 2009.