"Suit & Tie" | |||||||||||||
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Single by Justin Timberlake featuring Jay Z | |||||||||||||
from the album The 20/20 Experience | |||||||||||||
A-side | "Mirrors" | ||||||||||||
Released | January 15, 2013 | ||||||||||||
Format | Digital download | ||||||||||||
Recorded | June 2012; Larrabee Studios (North Hollywood) | ||||||||||||
Genre | R&B | ||||||||||||
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Label | RCA | ||||||||||||
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Justin Timberlake singles chronology | |||||||||||||
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"Suit & Tie" is a Grammy winning song recorded by American singer and songwriter Justin Timberlake for his third studio album, The 20/20 Experience (2013). It features vocals from American rapper Jay Z. It was written and produced by Timberlake, Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley and Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon, with additional writing from James Fauntleroy, Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter, Terrence Stubbs, Johnny Wilson and Charles Still. The song was premiered on YouTube on January 13, 2013, and was released on January 15 by RCA Records as the lead single from the album. It serves as Timberlake's highly anticipated musical comeback following a six-year hiatus, during which time he pursued an acting career and developed his skills as a record producer and songwriter for other artists.
Musically, "Suit & Tie" is a mid-tempo R&B song, that incorporates a "slow-drawl" consisting of slowed down synths and "slightly out of time" drum claps, similar to the Chopped and Screwed. Lyrically, the song is an ode to the joys of "being handsome and well-dressed". Upon release the song was met with positive reviews from critics who praised both the song and Timberlake from representing R&B in a way that many contemporary songs cannot. Commercially "Suit & Tie" was a success selling 315,000 first-week downloads in the US, surpassing the 250,000 debut of "SexyBack" in 2006 and becoming Timberlake's highest sales week for a download at the time—until the release of "Can't Stop the Feeling!" in 2016. The song went on to peak at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song also charted within the top five of both the UK and Canadian charts, peaking at three in both regions respectively. As of 2014, it has sold 3 million copies in the US.