During the Grand Final of last year’s Eurovision Song Contest, Justin Timberlake surprised the Eurovision fandom by debuting his single “Can’t Stop the Feeling”.

And now the former N’SYNC boy bander is poised to perform the song on yet another grand stage, as the tune — which features in the animated film “Trolls” — has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Justin will sing the ditty live during the Oscars telecast on February 26.

News of Justin’s appearance took Eurovision by surprise and came at a time of other big announcements that suggested Eurovision was looking West to America. On May 2 — about two weeks before the Eurovision final — LOGO,  a cable network in the US devoted to LGBT programming, revealed that it would air Eurovision in the US for the first time. The news that the American superstar would perform during the interval landed a week later.

As the interval act, Timberlake performed his hit “Rock Your Body” before sliding smoothly into “Can’t Stop the Feeling”. He was swiftly joined by a full horn section and a sexy squad of backup dancers that assisted him in amping up the crowd just before the all-important jury votes were announced.

Timberlake wrote the song with successful Swedish producers and songwriters Max Martin and Shellback. This collaboration — with its distinctly Swedish connection — was pivotal to Swedish broadcaster SVT securing the performance rights for “Can’t Stop this Feeling” at Eurovision 2016.

“Can’t Stop the Feeling” was the best-selling song of the year in the United States with 2.49 million tracks sold. It charted in over 30 countries and topped the charts in fifteen of them. “Can’t Stop the Feeling” has also been nominated for a Grammy, Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice Award, Satellite Award, and MTV Video Music Award. Not bad, eh?

“Can’t Stop the Feeling” will compete against four other nominees for the Best Original Song Oscar. The other contenders are “City of Stars” from La La Land, “Audition” from La La Land, “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana, and “The Empty Chair” from Jim: The James Foley Story.

The success of the movie Trolls has also seen Justin reunite with several of the acts from Eurovision 2016, including Dami Im and Laura Tesoro — both of whom interviewed him ahead of the movie’s release in their respective markets.

Read more Sweden Eurovision news

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Melissa Kutcher
Melissa Kutcher
7 years ago

The song also got nominated for a Grammy for Best Song in Visual Media, and there it will be from Trolls, although Eurovision could also be considered visual media because of its years on television.

an esc fan
an esc fan
7 years ago

Eurovision is the greatest music contest in the world, greatest are the Olympics, but they are not about music, also a great competition is Cannes Festival, everything I’ve said is according to figures.
Oscars are not in this top. Oscars are just big noise, not figures.

Jaccobabe
Jaccobabe
7 years ago

this is cool. First time Eurovision connected to Oscars?

AngieP
AngieP
7 years ago

@Denis yeah, totally agree! @ wiwibloggs the nominations were announced over a week ago!
Nevertheless, Justin’s song have nothing to do with Eurovision. It was written for the movie “Trolls”.What I want to say is that it’s not a big deal as for Eurovision. It’s just the nomination of a multi-talented artist known all over the world for his song in a film.
BTW, the song is amazing. I loved it from the first time!!

Denis
Denis
7 years ago

Only one week late and when the nominations are already on line! Nice job!

Manuel
Manuel
7 years ago

Isn’t funny that Eurovision has more vievmwers than the Oscars every year! ????

an esc fan
an esc fan
7 years ago

” including Dami Im and Laura Tesoro — both of whom interviewed him ahead of the movie’s release in their respective markets.”

Have you seen the interview? How much do yo think Dami Im loves her husband?

James
James
7 years ago

Too bad Justin’s live performance didn’t get screened in the United States,