Watch: Justin Timberlake lifts off with ‘Pair of Wings’ on ‘SNL’

Is Justin Timberlake back?

OK, so the superstar singer-actor hasn’t exactly been away lately; indeed, it might be Timberlake’s overexposure this year that led the Recording Academy to snub “The 20/20 Experience” in the recently announced nominations for the upcoming Grammy Awards. (Then again, with the Recording Academy, general cluelessness is always a reliable bet.)

Yet Timberlake has spent much of the past few months in celebrity mode as opposed to musician mode. Even headlining Staples Center just before Thanksgiving, he seemed more like a Hollywood king holding court than like a dude playing songs.

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The dude returned, though, for “Saturday Night Live.”

Appearing on the show over the weekend with his old pal Jimmy Fallon, Timberlake performed a pair of tunes from his “20/20 Experience” sequel: the grimy “Only When I Walk Away” and “Pair of Wings,” the unlisted cut that closes the record with a lovely folk-soul flourish.

The laser-equipped former felt like a slightly scaled-down version of Timberlake’s current arena show, which comes back our way Jan. 20 with a date at the refurbished Forum in Inglewood.

But “Pair of Wings” had a convincingly stripped-down vibe, as though the singer had simply dropped by with his guitar (and, um, a full string section) and decided to bust out a ditty.

Watch it below.

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Twitter: @mikaelwood