Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 01/10/2013 at 11:47 AM News

The Popdust Files: beyonce, jay-z, justin timberlake, upcoming albums, upcoming singles

If a single was being released featuring the combined talents of Beyoncé, Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake, surely we’d know about it months, if not years in advance, right? After all, star power of that magnitude shines so brightly that it’s virtually impossible for someone not to notice it a mile away. If such a single were really to be released, there’d be an endless leadup of teasing tweets, leaked snippets, reports on it from unreliable sources, probably some silly cover art. Point is, we’d definitely have plenty of time to prepare for it, wouldn’t we?

Maybe not. Rumor has it—and has only had it for this morning, as far as we know—that a new JT song, possibly featuring the other two mega-stars previously mentioned, is leaking today. The rumor seems mostly centered around this purposefully mysterious Timberlake tweet:

Thursday, January 10th, 2013 at 9:01 am PST…

— Justin Timberlake(@jtimberlake) January 10, 2013

There’s also reports from Miss Info and a since-deleted tweet from producer Carl Paul that suggest that there is indeed a new JT song, and it will likely involve Jay-Z and Beyoncé. Now not only is it an internet-wide rumor that the new Timberlake single (produced by Timbaland, natch) will drop at noon, but it’s being reported by the likes of Billboard from “A Source” that Justin will release an entire album this year, with 20 tracks already recorded.

Any of this being true would obviously be the biggest pop news of 2013, since Justin Timberlake hasn’t released an album in six-and-a-half years and has given virtually no indication that he had any interest in recording again anytime soon. Stay tuned for further updates as the situation develops—we know we certainly will be.

[Pitchfork]