Published 2024-03-15 14.30
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fullscreen”Got my Gucci crocs on right now”, sings Justin Timberlake on his sixth album. Photo: Simon Ly Photography
ALBUM Justin Timberlake has explored most terrains in his more than three-decade long career. So where on earth is he going now?
He’s reuniting ‘NSync and dancing in Gucci slippers, it turns out.
Justin Timberlake
Everything I thought it was
RCA/Sony
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POP Justin Timberlake was the first to successfully transition seamlessly from boy band idol to celebrated solo artist. When I asked the question how it actually happened at a press conference in Copenhagen in 2006, I only got a snort in response: “That’s your question? Next question”.
Child star, boy band idol, sex symbol, r’n’b crooner and a man of the woods.
Where on earth do you go after such a “journey”?
You call the above mentioned ’NSync, it turns out. The male band reunited at a Timberlake concert this week and new music is on the way. The quintet also guest on a song on the singer’s new album. However, the boy band ballad “Paradise” is – despite its pleasant echo of All Saints ”Pure shores” – an island of its own and a little confused in the context.
Justin Timberlake’s sixth album begins in his former hometown. ”Memphis” is a reckoning with life as a young star and brings to mind Drakenot least in the supple beat and how Timberlake holds back in the vocals.
The soft confessional ape, however, becomes a thing of the past at the same moment as it Calvin Harris-produced ”Fuckin’ up the disco” takes over. Instead, we say hello to the 43-year-old father of two who glides through the living room in Gucci slippers.
On ”Everything I thought it was” Justin Timberlake does pretty much exactly what is expected of him: funk in the footsteps of the huge troll hit ”Can’t stop the feeling”.
Few things about this music are naturally progressive or the least bit dangerous. It is one hundred percent certified and you can bring the children, grandma, grandpa – yes, the whole family. The Timbaland-signed the falsetto soul ”Technicolor” are such familiar waters to the singer that he can easily afford to swim backstroke in it for seven minutes and seventeen seconds.
The slow jams replace each other and the theme is intact and somewhat less child-friendly. Typical line of text: ”Pray this hotel room is insured”. ”Infinity sex”with its French samples, brings to mind Sébastien Telliers album ”Sexuality”.
Metal guitar i ”Sanctified” is otherwise one of the few things that stand out. As is the case with most 43-year-old dads, it gets a little thick. The 18 tracks could easily be trimmed down to ten.
What saves the show is Timberlake himself. His luscious tenor is at its best when it’s allowed to cry out loud in the mix to 90s nostalgic beats, as in ”Flame”. And just listen to the honeyed falsetto in the piano ballad ”Alone”. At the end of the album, when Timberlake ties the bag together with forgiving soul, “Everything I thought it was” becomes after all the padded feel-good world that we so badly need right now.
Where the predecessor “Man of the woods” was a lost wandering in the woods, the sequel, with its sporadic “hey ladies” exclamations, appears mostly as an excuse for JT to take his brilliant big band The Tennesse Kids on yet another tour. The autumn concert in Stockholm will be brilliant by all accounts. Just don’t forget proper sandals.
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FACT
BONUS
BEST TRACKS: The single ”Selfish” is, despite its rather hopeless lyrics, one of the best songs here.
DID YOU KNOW THAT… the album was originally said to have consisted of a hundred songs (friend of order cautiously wonders what the scrapped 82 tracks sounded like).
ALSO LISTEN TO: Ariana Grandes new album “Eternal sunshine”. Not nearly as carefree, of course, but in Studio 54 disco ”Bye” the albums actually touch each other.
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