"The Only Promise That Remains" is a country duet recorded by American singers Reba McEntire and Justin Timberlake for McEntire's 24th studio album, Reba: Duets (2007). It was written and produced by Timberlake, with additional writing from Matt Morris. McEntire and Timberlake met at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony in February 2007, where McEntire asked him to be a part of the album. She was initially skeptical when Timberlake suggested that he write a song for her, expecting it to be "something that was wayyy out of [her] ballpark". She was relieved when he played "The Only Promise That Remains", an acoustic-based Celtic love song, for her.

"The Only Promise That Remains" received lukewarm reviews from contemporary music critics, who deemed it as a surprising collaboration. Some critics, however, noted that "The Only Promise That Remains" was not as strong as others tracks on Reba: Duets. The song was serviced to country radio in the United States by MCA Nashville on November 5, 2007 as the second single from Reba: Duets. The single failed to chart on the US Hot Country Songs chart, but peaked at 72 on the US Pop 100 chart and at number five on the US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. McEntire and Timberlake performed the song live on The Oprah Winfrey Show on September 19, 2007.

Reba McEntire began work on her 24th studio album, Reba: Duets, by creating a "wish list" of pop and country singers that she would like to duet with. After completing her residency show at the Las Vegas Hilton, McEntire began reaching out to the artists on her list, by phone and e-mail. She came into contact with Justin Timberlake through Joanna García, who portrayed McEntire's daughter on the sitcom Reba and was dating Timberlake's friend Trace Ayala. Timberlake and McEntire met for the first time at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony on February 11, 2007. She asked him to be a part of the project, to which he replied: "Okay, great, I'll write something. Is that okay?". McEntire was skeptical at first, unsure of "what he was going to bring back to [her]". According to McEntire, she didn't know if the song was going to be "SexyBack 2, 3 or 4". She revealed: "I was really nervous. I didn't know how I was going to say no to a song I didn't like if Justin had written it."

...
Wikipedia