When Swift teased via Twitter that she might be in the studio with T-Pain, which came a few months after Mayer teased he was in the studio with Swift, we were either being fed trinkets from what would surely be one of the oddest and warped mainstream duet albums in history, or simply watching a pair of young media masters do their work. The latter appears to be the case with the T-Pain announcement, as Swift will indeed be working with the Auto-Tone kingpin, but there may or may not be music involved, and if there is, it may or not be a novelty number for a sketch at the "Country Music Television Music Awards," which air Tuesday night.

The folks at CMT have shared a photo to generate some hype for the pairing. But this is well played, Mr. T-Pain, well played. While the CMT Music Awards aren't exactly the cream of the crop, they do kind of mark the unofficial start of the music award season. Yes, it's here. 

With the Grammys having shifted their eligibility period from the last day of September to the last day in August, now is the time to take part in a stunt to get your album back in the minds of Grammy voters, a notoriously unadventurous lot. Swift doesn't have anything to worry about, but T-Pain's "Thr33 Ringz" drifted off the U.S. pop chart a few weeks ago, and the time is ripe for the artist to get back on the campaign trail. 

Additionally, let's not forget that there's precedent. Shoring up the country base worked well, come Grammy time, for Lil Wayne, who appeared with Kid Rock at the Country Music Assn. Awards in 2008.

-- Todd Martens