Timberlake's return begins at Grammys
- The Recording Academy announced that Justin Timberlake would perform on the Grammys Sunday.
- Timberlake will release his new album The 20/20 Experience on March 19.
- The Grammy Awards will air live on CBS except on the West Coast, where they will begin at 8 p.m.
LOS ANGELES - The Grammy Awards still have the ability to surprise. The Recording Academy announced last week that Justin Timberlake would perform on the telecast Sunday, his first musical appearance in support of his first new solo material in more than six years.
Timberlake, a six-time Grammy winner and two-time nominee for album of the year, will release The 20/20 Experience on March 19. Still a mystery - for now, at least - is whether Timberlake will use the Grammys to unveil a new song or perform his recently released "Suit and Tie," his retro-minded soul single that features an assist from Jay-Z. "Suit and Tie" has reached the top 5 on the U.S. pop charts and has thus far sold 315,000 downloads in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The Grammy Awards will air live on CBS except on the West Coast, where they will begin at 8 p.m.
Timberlake, in his relatively short career, has a long history with the Grammys. In 2009, he was asked to host the telecast (he declined), but he did perform with Al Green. The two staged a last-minute take of Green's "Let's Stay Together," added after Chris Brown's assault on Rihanna forced the two off the Grammy broadcast.
The two were scheduled to perform separately on the telecast, leaving the Grammys with a performance hole. Brown is serving five years' probation after pleading guilty to assaulting her the night before the 2009 awards.
The Timberlake performance is a coup for the academy.
There's no shortage of star power slated to perform at this year's show, with Taylor Swift, Jack White, Rihanna, Carrie Underwood, and the Black Keys among those on the roster. But an appearance by Timberlake is tantamount to an awards show event, since he hasn't recently appeared elsewhere on television.
Late last month, the Grammys also teased some of the unexpected artist mash-ups the broadcast is famous for. Elton John, whose performance with Eminem in 2001 remains a celebrated pairing, will collaborate with young British pop singer Ed Sheeran. The latter is up for song of the year with his "The A Team," a single that has sold more than 1.4 million downloads in the United States, according to Nielsen.
A star overseas, Sheeran is a fast-rising up-and-comer in America. He'll be spending 2013 on the road with Swift, and his album, given the wordless title of +, has sold more than 378,000 copies in the United States. Sheeran posted on Twitter that his duet with John will be "one of my songs," leaving little doubt that he will perform his Grammy-nominated hit.
Also performing together at Staples Center will be country stars Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert. The two are on a joint-headlining tour. Lambert's Four the Record is up for country album, and with Underwood and Swift also performing on the telecast, the Grammys will have a heavy country feel this year.
The 2012 Grammy telecast drew 40 million people - its second-biggest audience behind the 1984 telecast that saw Michael Jackson sweep the awards. Interest last year was buoyed by preshow drama that can't be replicated, as viewers tuned in to see how artists would respond to the sudden death of Whitney Houston a day earlier as well as to witness Adele's return to the stage after vocal surgery.
