"3-Way (The Golden Rule)" | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Single by The Lonely Island featuring Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga | ||||||||||||||||||||
from the album The Wack Album | ||||||||||||||||||||
Released | May 24, 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||
Format | Digital download | |||||||||||||||||||
Recorded | May 20, 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||
Genre | New jack swing | |||||||||||||||||||
Length | 2:51 | |||||||||||||||||||
Label | Universal Republic | |||||||||||||||||||
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The Lonely Island singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||||||
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"3-Way (The Golden Rule)" is a song recorded by American comedy music group The Lonely Island featuring American singers Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga. It appeared as an SNL Digital Short in the May 21, 2011 episode of the sketch comedy television series Saturday Night Live (SNL), which saw Timberlake and Gaga as the host and musical guest, respectively. It was released as a single on May 24, three days after the broadcast. The R&B song was written by Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, Jorma Taccone, and Timberlake while produced by The Futuristics with additional production from Asa Taccone and Ryan & Smitty. Samberg and Timberlake were nervous about presenting the idea to Gaga, who initially failed to find the humour in the song.
The music video, which aired on the SNL broadcast, is a sequel to the "Motherlover" sketch and finds Samberg and Timberlake reprising their roles from that skit as they sing about having a threesome with Gaga. The song and sketch received positive reviews from critics who called it one of the funniest moments of the episode. "3-Way (The Golden Rule)" received a nomination at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, but it lost to another song from the same SNL episode.
In the midst of the announcement that Justin Timberlake would host Saturday Night Live on May 21, 2011, many media commentators speculated that there would be a recurrence of the two characters that he and comedian Andy Samberg portrayed in past SNL Digital Shorts ("Dick in a Box" and "Motherlover"). Speculation only increased when photos of Samberg and Timberlake shooting a music video, donning the same suits worn in "Dick in a Box", were released to the media.