KIIS-FM, 12/16/2010, at about 19:00
[Stevie Wonder is playing and singing in the studio, talking with DJ Ryan Seacrest, who asks Stevie to perform a holiday tune. Stevie replies:]
SW: I will, but do me a favor, we can talk about that...but I just downloaded the new Michael Jackson album...
RS: Do you like it?
SW: I totally like it! And I like song number four, without question...
RS: (I Like) The Way You Love Me?
SW: Yeah, I think y'all should play that, really. The reason, in part, that I talk about this song is because we all know that, when he died, there were those people who loved him so much - most of the people throughout the world, but there were those who came out talkin' craziness and talkin' just stupid stuff. Some of those people befriended him, and then after he died, come up with this stupid stuff and said "Well, you know..." and that kind of stuff... And it really bothered me. It bothered me so much that that's why I didn't want to do any interviews, because I didn't want to be part of that.
But I wanted to be a part of... You know what? He, as in John Lennon, as in many of the people we lost... they were blessings to the planet. And I think a way to show him, his mother, how much we really love the blessing of his life is by just continuing to let the legacy of this man live and be strong. Because love is far bigger than hate, and it should always be that way. So I loved this song a lot.
RS: So let me ask you something, and I'll put this in here and we'll cue it up. Will.i.am -- and he's on the show tomorrow -- was very vocal about this album, saying it shouldn't have been released, he was upset about it, and some people have said that. And you totally disagree with that.
SW: Well I think that, obviously, we want to know what the artist was thinking, and we've had artists' songs come out right after they died and that just is what that is. And if your hookup is right before you die, if you make sure that everything is straight should you die, that either those songs will be released the way you would approve and done by someone, or they won't be. Because you can only do as much as you will have done by the time you die. So I think that people love Michael Jackson and they want to hear the very, very last thing that he did.
I'm hoping, and it sounds to me more -- far more -- like him than not.
And I just think that we all have opinions, right? You know? Everybody's got an opinion, we can't stop that. Will is a good person, and that's how he feels.
I just know that that song I like. I LOVE that song! I just love it, it makes me feel that he's there. That's the spirit of how I like to remember his voice... one of the different ways -- obviously, he had many different ways of singing.
So I just look at the positive. If it's going to encourage somebody, talking about love... if it's going to encourage somebody, talking about things that will maybe stop someone who wants to kill themself, and by hearing something positive, they're inspired to live even greater and better... then let's do that. I mean, we were given the gift not to just let it die when we die.
RS: Here is the song he was just talking about -- Michael Jackson....[plays song]. That was Michael Jackson, cut 4 from the new Michael Jackson album. Stevie Wonder requested that one. Pretty song!
SW: [Sings a brief melody snippet, singing "Dooo-wooooh-oooooh..."] "Isn't it pretty?"
RS: Yeah, it's REALLY pretty!
SW: [Sings another brief snippet.]"Dooo-wooooh-oooooh..."
