Justin Timberlake

Something annoys me about his argument. When I was a kid, I recorded my Duran Duran, my Rock Steady Crew, my Nik Kershaw on a shitty Hitachi boombox with a radio in it. I *loved* these songs, and my friends and myself swapped cassettes and talked for hours about inferiority/supereriority og Howard Jones and Ray Parker, Jr. I recently read an interview with an author, who - apparently with a great deal of love in his eyes - talked about the first time he heard The Beatles' 'Twist and Shout', on a small and fuzzy transistor radio just before he had to go and meet some girl he was in love with.

My point is this: Sound quality is of course an issue, but so is the setting: When and where you hear the music, and what mindstate you are in. I don't believe that the relative loss of quality in the MP3's is really important. They primarily serve the function of cassettes back in the 1980ies: The quality isn't the best, the looks aren't indeed either, but it'll get you introduced to a lot of music you would never have bought yourself.

How's that?

And yes you're otm, it is the setting, particularly when you're talking house music as Francois K surely is.

AKA: why should performers have to write or produce their own work?!? This is an ancient ILM bugbear, I know.

That's the sound of an old mand, falling backwards into the quality trap. It's not like every club has the best sound system in the workd, or like everybody has professional sound equipment at home. But, you know what? Last time I checked, I was able to enjoy music anyway, have fun and dance.

Let's just keep in mind that music's a social thing, too, that's all.

weird thing about 'Cry Me A River' - didnt like it at all at first - took almost 3 months but now i love it, esp. the Timbaland bit at the end and just hearing it so much that i started to properly register the complexity of it...its probably one of Tim's more complicated arrangements.

I mean the popists might refute this but with most of the other major pop songs/events of the last few years, the dancing and the response was a minor part, maybe something 12 year old girls did in front of the TV. But with Justin, it suddenly is as cool and vital an aspect of the package as the song itself, it's impossible NOT to try and dance to Like I Love You, mainly cos the guy is a fucking phenomenal dancer with great choreographers, but it wouldn't work without the song either.

I think there's probably an interesting point to be made about invoking the history of the male superstar, Jacko etc, through dancing more than singing. I mean it appears Justin has become super cool overnight, and you wonder why, it can't be just a musical thing, he's danced his way into the new image as far as I'm concerned.

Not enough to make it "good" though, as long as the song itself doesn't work without the great production (plus Justin Timberlake himself should have no credit for it anyway)

I personally fall into the second camp... in the past I've found it easy to admire Pharrell/Timbaland... but not so easy to love them. And I suspect, for me, it all comes down to the various ineffables of "personality", our relationship with the star. I can't help it - I love the guy, very blatantly wearing a 'Thriller' era MJ trilby, sneaky-peteing thru Britney's house, rocking the playboy mansion with Nelly...

The Face had an editorial on this in this ish with JT on the cover - heralding him as a return to the idea of the "proper 80s popstar", an advance on the production-line poppets of the late 90s... hmmm.

True, but isn't Justin being marketed as an R&B "performer" as well as a pop star? That seems to be how he wants to posit himself in interviews.

Keep telling yourself that. ;-)

While I would also say most of those singers were overrated (and that the songwriters should have most of the honour), the singers at Motown and Stax were still considerably better vocalists than Justin Timberlake.

ME TO THREAD.

Justin doesn't have a good voice. I loathe his voice. He sucks so much ass he has a tattoo on the back of his neck that says "Booty Hoover". "Dance With Me" is the ONLY song from his album that I've heard where I haven't wanted to punch him, largely because it's the only song I've heard where he phonates and gets out of his reedy, nasal, can't-really-hit-the-notes shtick. He sound is unsupported, weak, overly buzzy and intrusive. He took what should have been a fantastic song ("Cry Me A River") and vocally defecated all over it, defiling it like he was a deranged coprophiliac hopped up on laxatives let loose in the Louvre.

HE IS AN ABOMINATION AND HE MUST BE STOPPED.

(He is a good dancer, though.)

(PS: "He sound" = "His sound")

Can I echo this and in fact replace the goddamn Hollywood sign with this statement? And if you're asking me to not care about his music but his personality and public image or to say that's why he matters, DIE. I am about as fascinated by that as I am by Eminem's, ie not one fucking iota.

The NERD album is t'riffic.

That's the part of the song that really does it for me too. Seals the deal. The way he's saying "The damage is done, so I'll guess I'll be leaving" is in such a fashion where you don't really feel he's planning on heading out at all--or in a way in which the damage being spoken of isn't damage on himself at this point in the song. It's a fantastic song, and the video is so spectacularly creepy that I'm not even sure what to say about it. Justin: So Crazy I'll Probably End Up Dating Him!

Dan is right, Justin has a horrendous voice. It's a huge reason why I don't like a lot of the rest of his songs. I'd prefer them if someone else (not fucking Usher thank you!) sang a lot of the ones I don't like, because it's his screeching falsetto that turns me off them.

Tim is saying it in that sarcastic 'oh well' vein, as if he/Justin planned it all along and gets a kick out of the fact someone else may be hurt. it doesnt come off as disturbing as it should be because Tim has such a wily grin about him and he knows he's getting away with it...its just a nice in-character method

If anything I think the album sounds a lot closer to Off the Wall era Michael.

I do like the Neptunes hook on Like I Love You, mind.

The "damage is done" bit rules because that's where they break the beat down; see also the end of "Take Me Now"

I don't really think that's how it comes across within the song's constructs at all. The entire song comes off extrodinarily bitter--actually, if you notice, the second part of the chorus is sung in an incredibly high falsetto, very feminine, as if he's imitating his ex-girlfriend's voice*. Tim does come across grinning, but not in a wily or scampish way at all. Justin sounds on the verge of losing it and the pitch in his voice gets increasingly nervous and "mocking" as the song goes on, and the crashing together of the musical elements right after Tim's spoken bit just heighten this weird sense of him doing something really horrible to the girl, if even "just" psychologically horrible.

Actually < /Geir>, if I was to pick a song in a strangely "similar" vein, ie sounds dangerously stalkerish, Enrique Iglesias's "Escape" sounds wily and scampish, despite having ridiculously disturbing lyrics! Comparing the two songs, Enrique comes off all Pepe LePew and loveable despite actively hunting down this girl who doesn't want him anymore and telling her she can't leave him, while Justin sounds like he's about thisclose to stabbing Britney to death.

* Yeah, I know he sings like this all the goddamned time for no reason besides "Hey! Do you remember Michael Jackson?" but in the context of me liking this song, I choose to ignore that irrefutable fact so we're going to need to all ignore it for sake of my post. Thank you in advance for your cooperation in this matter.

(haha Ally's footnote rules the universe!)

No, we're merely straightforward about what we will and will not have in the house (this is why we're right about My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult).

But you know, he ain't that bad people!

I'm happy you're happy.

"Cry Me a River" as a sign of JT's psychological torment -- more like the random high school post-bust-up victim who just needs to drink some lime vodka and throw up behind the bleachers one night when the football team is losing badly and it's raining so that next week he can go to class and see her there and maybe carve something into the desktop with the pointy part of a compass but that'll be about it.

As for the Usher conundrum, he immediately scores points with me for NOT being JT, so really it all improves from there.

;o)

Hey, that experience wasn't mine. Wisely, I just didn't date anyone in high school at all. ;-)

maybe you're right, its probably his wry smile in the video that got me...i've never really quite understood the video to be honest. i've never paid enough attention but it seems that Justin has quickly realised what he's done and Tim is just the little devil on his shoulder smug that his meddling work is done. probably not really the case at all...

Exceptions to the rule. ;-)

One day I will have to expand on my thesis on how he is the ultimate Sanrio character.

If I knew which character this was I'm sure this could be confirmed or denied.

Dammit, how boring! J-pop has enough fashion styled guys with lipstick in it, why the hell isn't Sanrio following this trend!

I pick up more of an xtina vibe off of Dottie.

So I'm trying to imagine a Sanrio character writhing around a wrestling ring...EURGH. Otaku perversion!

i think cry me a river is one of the best timbaland productions
does anyone know what the male vocal sample at the start is?

the prince/michael jackson comparisons are spot on,but i don't think its in a "hey,remember..."/rip off kind of way,so much as a "there used to be these all encompassing pop stars,now there aren't,why not?" kind of way

so what should i download next?
i've only heard the singles...

Last Night

Plus he's acting and looking like THIS guy, whom none of us claimed to be impressed by.

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre600/e627/e62777qwjlu.jpg

Anthony I kiss you.

A friend of mine was working at Sony when Jon B surfaced and was supposed to be the thing. Uh, no.

Just somethin' about you
Way I'm lookin at you whatever
keep lookin at me
Gettin' scared now, right?
Don't fear me baby, it's just Thom
It feel good right?
Listen

he's a genuine music fan

Argh. I would hate him still if he came up to me and said "I listen to music even in my sleep thanks to electrodes."

I am going to use this term if I can. (It's actually the only Strokes song I can stand.)

You people need to get with the program.

Only if you get with mine -- and since you're not obligated, the reverse need not happen either. ;-)

I won't be buying it bcz I find all chart pop unlistenable once it gets to my stereo.

Thom yorke should definetely sing this stuff. it might cheer that fucker up (here's hoping anyway).

Ew, Justin Timberlake menses.

What the heck is he doing on the album?

overall reactions - blah & blech

My main problem about the album is that I cannot quite see exactly what Justin Timberlake has contributed, other than borrowing his voice to Timbaland's Autotune. So then, why is the album credited to Justin Timberlake?

I think the answer is pretty obvious btw: He is good-looking and a lot of teenage girls have the hots for him.

I mean, I think songwriters are generally discredited and underrated. Elvis Presley was also overrated, but he could at least sing. Justin Timberlake cannot even sing. So then, why is he releasing records?

Now, what's driving me nuts is that I can't get hold of a full version of the Puffy-produced track Love Don't Love Me, which was left off the ablum and sounds totally badass in the snippets I have been able to find.

I even like the treacly ballads, for one thing because they mean that the record is true to its models (ahem "Lady in My Life"). The new single (is it called "Rock Your Body"?) is a straight-up Off the Wall homage but there's something different about the rhythm section--figuring out what that something is has been my task in my free moments so far this week.

I don't hear Pharrell on Rock Your Body.

I can't believe I am relating this, but according to the National Enquirer (or the Star, or whoever), Ben Affleck had a brief thing with Britney in the early days of his romance with J.Lo and he told Timberlake about it. Hence, if you will, the line in the song about "I heard it from him."

Also noone has mentioned that the Basement Jaxx remixes of Like I Love You make Justin's voice sound even weirder, in a very cool way.

he has writing and 'vocal arrangement'credits on all the songs.

That is all.

(also, Andrew - VISIT ME if you want to hear Like I Love You - I accidentally got the promo from Real Groovy instead of the single).

Also he looks super-silly on the new Face cover ==> return to the eighties definitely.

All of the singles are dancefloor monsters, although none of them are really as exciting as they often get credit for being.

what is this about?

that's a pretty far out connection, btw.

its not the whole thing,just the first verse (i think,i'm listening to something else now),specifically the vocals and the noises in the background...

you're right, in a far out sense, or it's far out that you're right.

love the beat on this, not sure about his falsetto -- chopped bass is almost dj premier-like

OMG YOU GUYS
THANK YOU INTERNETS

http://facesofjustintimberlake.com/

i have no idea what this means

same here

It's divination using a bunch of corny fan-made Timberlake drawings. It doesn't have to make sense.

hahahahaa

This motherfucker should put out some new music.

Just a thought.

agreed

Agreed. When I was watching his SNL appearance, it kind of startled me to realize that, for such a mega-star, he's only released two albums in the decade since he left N'Sync.

did you all see the deleted SNL sketch on Hulu where he was playing Mozart? very pertinent to this turn in conversation

No! But I really want to see it now.

http://www.rap-up.com/2011/03/06/justin-timberlake-to-begin-recording-new-album-this-summer/

this dude is 30... is that old or young?

yay!

right in the middle? xp

dunno if this got posted elsewhere but it's pretty gorgeous

http://soundcloud.com/duffdisco/duff-disco-just-in-free-to

Playboy interview.

TIMBERLAKE: Maybe it’s blissful ignorance, but I don’t relate a time frame with what I do. If it’s time to make another album, it’s time to make another album. It may never be time—who knows? You should watch the documentary Still Bill.

PLAYBOY: That’s the Bill Withers documentary, right?

TIMBERLAKE: Yeah, and I’ve never watched anything else that made me feel someone was speaking not just to me but for me. He puts into words exactly how I feel about music. People asked Bill Withers all the time, “Why did you stop doing music?” Which is what I get asked all the time too. He said, “I don’t know what to say, because I didn’t stop doing music. I just started doing something else.” He also quoted Thoreau: “The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation.” Only Bill added, “I want to know what it feels like for my desperation to get louder.”

some interesting stuff in that interview for sure

It's pretty fantastic actually.

Nice to see something thoughtful to read in a musician interview!

it took me a moment to realize why that interview was blocked at work (duh)

great interview! love this man

Yeah, I had to stop myself from clicking on it at school. xp

Ha ha Playboy blocked at work, I guess I understand. But they're a pretty good read these days.

really great stuff

his mom, Lynn Harless, helped choreograph a career that took Timberlake from Star Search to The Mickey Mouse Club to the boy band ’N Sync (Harless named the band using the last letter of each band member’s first name)

woah

hey, johN, pauL, georgE, ringO...NLEO. NOEL.

NOEL GALLAGHER.

THINK ABOUT IT.

JustiN
ChriS
JoeY
LaN(ce)...?
JC

he's making his desperation get louder by being in Bad Teacher.

lol @ me for getting annoyed by this but that story re: the band name has to be bullshit

(unless of course Justin's mom can't spell)

It might b BS but it's the story they've been sticking too since their inception iirc

ohhhhhhhh

they had another dude named Jason as bass before Lance

MYSTERY SOLVED

i thought it was because "lance" is short for "lansten" or something

ty Wikipedia

The group's name was also a play on the last letter of each member's first names: JustiN, ChriS, JoeY, JasoN, and JC.[6] The band later nicknamed Bass "Lansten" so as not to throw off the last-letter theme of their name.

should've just changed their name to Censy or Se NYC or SNYCE

snyce!

http://reporter.blogs.com/.a/6a00d83451d69069e20120a74f571c970b-pip
'S NYCE

supposed to be a picture of Borat with that. ah well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAusmM0fhkc

Yep.

is there a name for this style of video editing?

real shit

Being a child of the sub-alternative 80s, it feels a little awkward to welcome a member of NSYNC into my life

To think that people used to wear sacks and ashcloth before making these admissions.

This is some terrible-ass music. WTF JT? You need to reexamine u life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3LkZjtO7GJo

Justin is a married man! One of my coworkers is very very sad right now.

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20640475,00.html

piece of shit

But such a deeply felt piece of his mind uh I mean his PR

Justin Timberlake speaks: “I specifically want to apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson both individually...” pic.twitter.com/LN7cifMqWn

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) February 12, 2021

I would like to apologise to them both individually, but in the same sentence.

as has been pointed out repeatedly already this has only happened because of britney with jackson finally being
acknowledged as the "oh yeah and that too" part of a 2 for the price of 1 apology which is so fucked up the best PR in the world couldn't make it sound ok

fuck this piece of shit slimeball

In January my students at the college paper edited a video explaining the incident. When this clip finally came, recorded a few days before our forum, the audience hissed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VswT01nKLLA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je0roKRn3nY

disappointed he's going for bland/competent/tasteful instead of last album's bizarre trainwrecks

He's in good voice.

That glimmer in his eyes suggests he's always stoned to the gills.

Maroon 5 thinks this is boring

this feels like it was written 5 years ago

Sounds very written for the end credits of a romantic comedy.

This album is in bad need of editing, there are some moments (Technicolor, Drown especially, Flame) but this is not quite the satisfying continuation of 20/20 (lush, hooks, outros) I was hoping for.

I totally forgot this was coming

I a similar response, Nabozo. In some places he's singing better than ever but writing as if he were a 22-year-old frat bro, which I expect.

Okay, firing this up

Is … “Memphis” Justin trying to be Drake?

You managed to completely shut down any nascent interest I might have had in this album with one post

I'm endeared by how none of his albums are shorter than 63 minutes, with the new one the longest yet (!) But it can hardly help him can it? I thought Man of the Woods was a flop but a UK #5 debut for this actually seems pretty abysmal for someone like JT. Apparently ticket sales are doing awfully too. An unimperial phase? - his critical and commercial stocks have been sinking for years.

Can't bring myself to listen to this. Spending like 80 minutes with him in 2024 seems insane lol

yes i think the album is underperforming basically everywhere

i too really have no desire to listen to a long album from him (or a long track lol, as was his habit for quite some time). "selfish" is kind of a cute single tbh, but it was very telling that he went directly to the (attempt at a) "mirrors"/"not a bad thing" unchallenging radio candy sorta song instead of initially coming out with something that might plausibly be called left-field like he has more often than not attempted (tho whether he succeeded is open to debate obv)

Cry me a river.

https://www.stereogum.com/2190413/paul-mccartney-best-solo-songs/lists/10-best-songs/

Um, this: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/justin-timberlake-arrested-long-island-faces-dwi-charge-officials-say-rcna157692

Paul McCartney Covers The Great Timberlake Songs

am i to understand this man was a pop star of some sort?

"your driver's license? GONE"

"but I have a show tonight!"

"cry me a river"

'oh, so you do know me?"

"??? no. what I do know is you're going to jail, this i promise you"

"oh come on"

"you know, maybe god should have spent a little more time on you"

Downey/Gibson/Grant-level mugshot.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/22/opinion/justin-timberlake-arrest.html?unlocked_article_code=1.2U0.Y1y0.Z_tWofvWIHWa&smid=url-share

That Justin Timberlake — the one who has emerged over the last few years — looked less like a pop Prince Charming, more a serial exploiter of women and of Black music and culture, a man who has enjoyed unearned privilege and undeserved successes, who has been served that long-awaited slice of humble pie. Which is why plenty of people were so eager to view his arrest this week as a kind of deferred-karma comeuppance. I was, I confess, one of those people. Some part of me wants to believe that if the ultimate Teflon-coated rich white dude is no longer so able to charm his way out of trouble, a larger cultural sea change might be underway.But it’s the same part of me that wanted to believe that Donald Trump would be held to account for the “Access Hollywood” tape. Except he wasn’t.... Canceled white guys rarely stay canceled. It seems that the best we can hope for is a chance to briefly hold them responsible for their actions. Meanwhile, the cultural tides that prompted people to reconsider Mr. Timberlake’s actions are shifting back — if they ever really shifted at all.

“Serial exploiter of…black music and culture”

Do people think that because he works with The Neptunes and Timbaland for most of his albums? Or is there something more? I don’t always keep up with Justin Timberlake discourse

there are particular things that usually get pointed to with timberlake's relation to blackness, the janet jackson superbowl incident being the main one

I mean, much of Timberlake’s stage schtick is outright stolen from Michael Jackson. It’s almost Corey Feldman-level embarrassing at times.

Todd in the Shadows is too generous in his assessment of his acting skills. He’s decent in Woody Allen’s underrated Wonder Wheel, but drags down every other film he appears in

he's like an amazing singer, dancer and musician. very dumb to call his success "undeserved." his talent is pretty undeniable even if you don't like the guy personally.

I would like to point out I have been OTM throughout this thread etc.

randomly i picked up 'man of the woods' today on cd as part of a "3 for £1" deal.
i.e. sweet f.a.
one day i will listen to it.