Timbaland and Justin Timberlake have been tapped as the first-ever dual curators for ESPN’s 2023 season of Monday Night Football.
As per Billboard, the Worldwide leader announced on Monday (August 28) that it’s teamed up with Timbo and JT for Monday Night Football where the frequent collaborators will promote various tracks of their choice for seven weeks in promo spots, pre-game shows and throughout live broadcasts.
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“Football and music go hand-in-hand, like the iconic Timbaland and Justin Timberlake duo, who collaborate on music to near perfection,” Curtis Friends, ESPN’s senior director of sports marketing, said in a statement. “ESPN’s Monday Night Football music curatorship is popular with fans given the access this partnership provides to new and unexpected combinations of music with sport.
“We’ve had Diplo, DJ Khaled, Drake, and Marshmello and this fifth season, for the first time, we have two curators in Timbaland/JT we know will energize all us fans for this NFL football season.”
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Timbaland and Justin Timberlake teased the ESPN partnership in an Instagram post on Monday. “ESPN,” JT says in a clip, after which Timbo chimes in: “Let’s go!”
Check out the clip below:
Timbo, JT and Nelly Furtado are set to reunite for “Keep Going Up,” which is set to arrive on Friday (September 1) and serve as the soundtrack to Monday Night Football’s week one heavyweight AFC East match-up between the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills.
Aaron Rodgers will make his Jets debut on September 11 at MetLife Stadium against Josh Allen and the Bills in primetime on ESPN with kickoff set for shortly after 8 p.m. ET.
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Timbaland’s Beatclub will enlist its team of A&Rs and users from the platform will help in this season’s music curation process.
“Keep Going Up” is the superstar trio’s first full collaboration since “Give It to Me,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2007 for two weeks, and appeared on Timbaland’s second solo album, Shock Value.
The new collaboration comes after Timbaland teased in July that he was back in the studio working alongside Nelly Furtado.
Taking to Instagram, he shared a video and a photo with the singer – who he previously racked up hits with including “Promiscuous,” “Maneater,” “Say It Right” and more from 2006 through 2008 — with the caption: “I’m cooking.”
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Fans then proceeded to flood his comments section. “Prayers answered!!! Lol Throw JT into the mix,” one person wrote. Another called them “the duo we need again,” while a third fan added: “The dynamic duo [fire emojis] the Dre and Snoop of pop music.”
