As soon as Drake revealed the tracklist for his latest album, Scorpion, a lot of questions were raised at the inclusion of a Michael Jackson feature on "Don't Matter To Me." Initially assumed to be not much more than an expensive sample, when the album officially arrived it was revealed to be some previously unreleased MJ vocals. As Genius points out, there's an interesting story to how the feature came to be, and it's all thanks to Canadian singer-songwriter Paul Anka.
Initially recorded right around MJ's Thriller era in 1983, the vocal track actually comes from some recording sessions between him and Paul Anka for a collaboration that was shelved until shortly after his death in 2009. Some of the vocals recorded during the sessions ended up on two of Jackson's posthumous songs, "This is It" and "Love Never Felt So Good."
As fans checking the album credits for Scorpion noticed, Anka has a writing credit on "Don't Matter To Me," which led of a lot of listeners to believe they came from the same sessions. After a picture of Anka hanging out with Drake in the studio surfaced, it only helped everyone get to that conclusion faster. Speaking with The Ottawa Citizen, Anka confirmed the news.
"There was apprehension when we got together [because] you want to know people and you want to like them," he said. "I knew that the component I brought to the table that he would, as I told him, break the code, and it did. It just came together with him creatively and intellectually. We've got a great record."
