Review Summary: „Prince Of Pop” earns his title.
There are musicians, who are capable of putting out new, quality music every year or so during an extensive period of time. In contrary, Justin Timberlake, in spite of almost 20 years of solo career, has issued only 5 solo albums so far. It seems that, unlike many other artists also regarded as „pop stars”, he prefers to takie his time, gather inspirations and motivation, in order to pursue a new direction in his music. Sure, his latest realease, 'Man Of The Woods', did end up being quite a dissapointment, as it lacked focus and attention to details, characteristic for his earlier releases. Complex, lavish compostions of '20/20 Experience', especially Part 1 are, on the other hand, one of the finest moments in pop music of the last decade. In many cases they were the further development and evolution of ideas, which were displayed on JT’s second record- 'Future Sex/Love Sounds'.
His debut solo album, 'Justified', was an undeniable success. It showed, that Timberlake was much more than just an ex-N Sync member and up to this day he is very much satisfied with this record. Nonetheless, instead of keeping the momentum going with a follow-up, he felt burnt out and had doubts, how he would express himself musically in the future. Therefore, he decided to pursue his acting ambitions for some time. When his passion reignited, the work on what would become 'Future Sex…' began in November 2005. Together with Danja and Timbaland(producer of Cry My A River), they entered the studio with no sense of direction whatsoever, on what this new music should be about. Moreover, during the creative proccess, Justin wouldn’t even write his own lyrics down, after a song was completed in his head he was going straight to the vocal booth. Most of the sessions could be described as freestyle-like hours of experiments, when they were all pushing themselves further and further. Final results came after a year, with a release, that cemented Timberlake’s status as a pop icon.
Lyrically the album can be divided into two parts represented in the name of the album. The opening, title track sets the tone for this more, well, sexy songs, which put an emphasis on the physical side of love and affection, . This produces some quite vivid images, as in the the title track, where he ’’just needs a moment alone to give you my tongue and put you out of control”. ‘SexyBack’ follows, when Timberlake declares he can be whipped if he misbehaves, but the apogee is achieved during 'Sexy Ladies', when JT seems to be even too braggadocious about his influence on girls. However, the man himslef has an answer for that-''Now, it might sound cocky, but is it really cocky if you know that it’s true?” Can’t argue with that, I guess. Unfotunately sometimes this attitude can go too far, thanks to will.i.am on the track ’Damn Girl’, when The Black Eyed Peas leader asks a lady for some „feminine gelatine”… With that in mind, I had better move on to the „love sounds”, because this is where more romantic side of our „bad boy” is shown. Tracks like ‘Until The End Of Time’, ‘(Another Song) All Over Again’(which was likely addressed for Britney Spears) are two charming ballads, both carrying emotional load, but for very different reasons. The first one is a beautiful love letter, a promise, it doesn’t matter, what happens around, love will carry through it all, whereas the latter is a request for forgiveness and apology for past actions. The standout track, in my opinion, is ’Losing My Way’, which tells an imaginary story of a man, who due to drug addiction loses everything, what was dear to him. The epic finale sung by the choir resembles begging and prayer of a broken man, who seeks a new beggining. Great narrative all the way through, which is also the case in 'What Goes Around… Comes Around', as the created persona is first cheated on, his love interest receives later the same punishment from the man, whom she switched her attention to. Iconic video with Scarlett Johansson complements the story perfectly.
With 'Future Sex/Love Sounds' it is impossible classify the record with a specific genre, as, probably due to the nature of the recording proccess, different influences and ideas can be heard thruought the record. The first thing to admire is how fresh these tracks sound almost 15 years after their release, which shows clearly how skillful of a producer Timbaland is. Those produced by him and Danja rely heavily on electronic drums, beats are chunky and create a strong vibe, which rest of the musical puzzles can be placed on. ’SexyBack’ is an energetic electronic anthem with a slightly funky vibe , thanks to the guitar section during the chorus and the outro. ‘Sexy Ladies’, on the other hand, has a more organic feel , through an awesome leading bass line. After that comes one of the first interludes or, rather, in this case, prelude-‘Let Me Talk To You’, which turns into ‘My Love’. It is worth noting, that this is not the only such smooth transition from one track to antoher, as it is also the case with the opening song and ‘SexyBack’-we jump straight from one to the other. It creates a certain fluidity, which improves the experience of an album as a whole. ‘My Love’, one of the standout tracks, is a hip hop/R&B song, with a feature from T.I, who delivers a verse with great flow, which suits the whole tune perfectly. From there, we move on smoothly to another single, ‘Love Stoned’, a dance anthem with amazing vocal harmonies during chorus, very distinctive string section and another funky guitar line, which slowly turns it into more rock influenced interlude-‘I Think She Knows’. The next track, ‘What Goes Around.. Comes Around’ was actually the first one recorded for the album. Another beautiful strings and Justin’s trademark- wonderful falsettos create a sensual atmosphere of love and hate displayed in lyrics.
Talking about the vocals, they are consistently impressive throuought the entire record. During „sexy” part JT’s voice shows great confidence and charisma, which makes even the more questionable lines fit into the song. Ballads contrarily work so well due to his ability to convey emotions of the lyrics. ‘Set The Mood’ does exactly what it promises, when you close your eyes you suddenly look at the sky filled with stars, should work out perfectly on a romantic evening. ‘Until The End Of Time’ makes use of what its predecessor established, delivering one of Justin’s most beautifull ballads, with strings shining bright once again. They are the main focus on ‘Losing My Way’ as well, accompanied by acoustic guitar and subtle keys. The already mentioned finale feels almost like a gospel song, grand and uplifting. ‘(Another Song) All Over Again’, produced by Rick Rubin is much more subtle, piano driven ballad with gentle drums and subtle touches of, once again, strings and acoustic guitar, which suit Justin’s emotional lyrics and voice beautifully. „Chop Me Up” and „Damn Girl” are both pretty much hip hop tracks, the latter deserves praise for excellent production(at least one thing will,i.am got right here..,), including punchy drums, electronic keys and horn section towards the end of the track.
One thing I haven’t mentioned yet is the length of some of the tracks, as they, combined with interludes, last over 7 minutes. The whole album closes down in over an hour, consisting of only 12 songs. Such attitiude is rather unusual for the record, which appears to be targetted at a large, mostly pop-consuming audience. Nonetheless, the album achieved outstanding success, which just shows, that uncompromised pursue of your artistic vision usually pays off. In fact, that is my way of interpreting the album cover, where JT smashes the disco ball with his elegant shoe, dressed in posh suit. 'Future Sex/Love Sounds' is a display of musical brilliance, a dominant grabbing the pop-music crown, while staying true to his ambitious approach. It succeeds as a collection of catchy tunes, which display great appreciation for music of the past while looking forward and searching for further development of the formula of a pop song as well as a coherent, remarkable record. It doesn’t come as a surprise, then, that in the recent Hot Ones interview Timberlake ranked this album as his favourite.
