Tavis Smiley interview with Akon

On January 22, Akon was a guest on Tavis Smiley (Tavis Smiley), which aired on the American network PBS. As usual in Akon’s recent interviews, Michael Jackson came up. Tavis: Okay, okay—tell the story… tell the story of your collaboration with Michael Jackson… tell it. Akon: Well, what happened was that me and Mike prepared the amazing song “Hold My Hand” together. And I have to say, the song is incredible—outstanding. Tavis: We’ve all heard that song. (laughs) Akon: I know. Tavis: Even though we haven’t heard it the way you planned… but tell the story. Akon: Yes… our idea was that, you know, we wanted it to be the first song from his new album that would be released. And then I would release it on my own album, so that people would have access to the song. Mike came up with this brilliant idea for marketing and selling the song. You know he’s the best at releasing songs. Tavis: I have no doubt. Akon: In two minutes, he grabs the attention of the whole world… but before we could reach our goal, the song leaked on the internet and was downloaded for free 50 million times. Tavis: (laughs) Why don’t you release it? Akon: We couldn’t do that… I mean, at this time we can’t do it. Everyone already has the song. You can think of it as a gift to the fans. Tavis: When that happened, how angry were you? Akon: I was more upset for Mike than for myself. Because he’s a legend and he paved the way for so many of us. And he even changed the whole way video concepts and all these things work. And he’s so complete… I want to say that I only saw this collaboration in my dreams. And it’s a “win or lose” situation. It’s like it’s the last time. If this time it doesn’t work for Michael, then it won’t be a good situation. But I felt that this song was a great opportunity for him. He felt it too. But it didn’t go the way we expected. Still, one thing I can tell you is that he’s probably the most patient person I’ve ever seen. Tavis: Why do you think that? Akon: Because he… he’s not only a perfectionist, but he waits for the right situation and the golden moment. You know what I mean? Sometimes we don’t know when the golden moment is. For example, me… I do the work and I just pray that God made the timing right. Tavis: (laughs) Yes! Here, patience isn’t needed anymore. Akon: Because I don’t know when the right moment will come. Especially in music. But Michael has that insight. He feels the golden moment for releasing a song. To watch the interview video click. Source: eMJey / Youtube