Justin Timberlake, T.I. Team Up For "If I"

"My Love" super duo Justin Timberlake and T.I. have joined forces again, for the Y's-produced joint "If I." The pair don't attempt to duplicate the massively successful sound of "My Love," but opt to steal a page from the Prince playbook for a mellower, funkier but still radio-friendly affair. No one's really sure where this song came from, it just sort of landed on the Internet (like all great things). If it's for a future JT release, it's the singer's first new material since his FutureSex/LoveSounds.

In what may be an elaborate ruse to shift the spotlight off the recording of his next album, Timberlake said in October that he was going to concentrate on contributing to other artists' careers rather than his own. T.I. released his Paper Trail relatively recently, so the song might also be destined for an inevitable "Deluxe" reissue or maybe it's a "Something to remember me by" gift from Tip before he disappears for his looming jail sentence.

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Song Stories

“The A Team”

Ed Sheeran | 2011

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.

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