Justin Timberlake scored an Oscar nomination this year for his Trolls song “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” and he opened the show with a performance of his No. 1 hit. Although it seemed like a standard performance at first, Timberlake switched things up halfway through by launching into a cover of Bill Withers‘ 1977 classic “Lovely Day.” He mixed the two songs together, bringing it back to “Can’t Stop the Feeling” during the final moments.
“Lovely Day” peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1978. Withers and Clarence McDonald co-produced the track, which was later included on his 1978 album Menagerie. It experienced a second surge in popularity in 1999 after appearing in a Hype Williams-directed Gap commercial:
You can read all the lyrics to Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling” and Bill Withers' “Lovely Day” on Genius now.
