New Michael Jackson Song, 'This Is It,' To Debut Online Monday

Posted: Oct 9 2009 1:04 PM EDT 18,245 | By: Gil Kaufman | MTV.com

"This Is It," the first single from the upcoming documentary "Michael Jackson's This Is It," will debut online Monday at midnight. The new song, featuring backing vocals by the late pop star's brothers, will get its world premiere on MichaelJackson.com.

The track will appear on a two-disc set due October 27 that features master versions of some of Jackson's biggest hits in the sequence they appear in the film. The movie will play a limited two-week engagement in theaters worldwide beginning October 28.

"This Is It," which Rolling Stone reports was recorded during the sessions for Jackson's 1991 album Dangerous, will appear on the album in two versions. The collection will end with the recorded version of the song — which plays during the closing sequence of the movie — as well as an orchestral version, both previously unreleased. Another rarity, the recently discovered spoken word poem, "Planet Earth," will also be featured on the collection.

Disc one of the set features the songs: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," "Jam," "They Don't Care About Us," "Human Nature," "Smooth Criminal," "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)," "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," "Thriller," "Beat It," "Black or White," "Earth Song," "Billie Jean," "Man in the Mirror," "This Is It" and "This Is It (Orchestra Version)."

Disc two has early demo versions of the classics "She's Out of My Life," "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' " and "Beat It," as well as "Planet Earth"; all the recordings on the second disc are previously unreleased. The collection will come with a 36-page commemorative booklet with exclusive photos from Jackson's final rehearsals.

The soundtrack will complement the eagerly anticipated film, which was culled from more than 100 hours of footage of Jackson's final rehearsals for his planned 50-show comeback residency stint at the O2 arena in London. Jackson died on the eve of the residency June 25 of an overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol.