[There was a video here]

For four minutes, Michael Jackson sang and danced at the Billboard Music Awards Sunday night in a strange computer-generated fever dream of a live performance.

The hologram performance was set to one of Jackson's posthumous singles, "Slave to the Rhythm," and apparently took six months to create.

It's not the first time a celebrity has been digitally resurrected, but the effort seems fairly cost-prohibitive.

Jackson's lawyer said the family had been approached about doing a Jackson hologram before, but held out.

"It's so important to experience Michael Jackson in a live setting," John Branca told the Hollywood Reporter with no apparent irony. "This is something where we wanted a live performance in front of a live audience and nothing speaks to that more than an awards show."