"Suit & Tie" is a song by American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake from his third studio album The 20/20 Experience (2013). It features a skit from American rapper Jay-Z. It was written and produced by Timberlake, Tim "Timbaland" Mosley and Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon, with additional writing from James Fauntleroy and Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter. It features compositional samples from the 1972 song "Sho' Nuff" by Sly, Slick and Wicked, which members are credited as co-writers to "Suit & Tie". 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 remixing style. 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 2018, it has sold 3.3 million downloads in the US.
An accompanying music video for "Suit & Tie" was shot on January 25, 2013 and was directed by David Fincher, with whom Timberlake had previously worked with in The Social Network. To promote the song, Timberlake and Jay-Z performed "Suit & Tie" at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards on February 10, 2013. They performed the song again during Timberlake's hosting of Saturday Night Live on March 9, 2013. The music video was released on Timberlake's Vevo page on Valentine's Day 2013. It won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video at the 2014 ceremony.
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