Review Summary: Ugly, revolting, monstrous; a true perversion of all things decent - ladies and gentlemen, it’s the Man of the Woods
The “concept” of
Man of the Woods was sound enough, Justin Timberlake wanted to take things back to where the cows come home: The fields of Tennessee. At least, that’s what the trailers leading up to the controversial singles suggested. In reality, any and all pretenses that this record was the grounded, earthy ‘yee-haw’ record for the family and from the heart that was advertised was thrown out the window with “Filthy”, which was an ugly amalgamation of borrowed Jamiroquai vocal flows and weird, bouncy robotic funk leads on top of a sexually pleased female moan and total disrespect for the “haters”. From there? More head scratching decisions full and through. Not to say these decisions are bad, though, on the contrary when
Man of the Woods isn’t being a confusing, ugly mess of stylistic misfires it manages to deliver a solid number of tunes that resemble something that is modernized southern pop flair. “Midnight Southern Jam” soars across Pharrell Williams’ rhythmic vocal chops and drum rolls with a sexy guitar/violin lead complimenting Timberlake’s smooth and demanding vocal flow. “Higher Higher” is a chilling guitar ballad with just the appropriate amount of electric guitar dispersed across the lead melody, something straight out of the best of the FutureSex-era.
While the album comes out swinging with one killer cut after the next, things fall apart after “Supplies”, a stylistically out of nowhere trap-pop number that marks the drop in this record’s quality. Consistency becomes hazy and ideas that worked at the front end of the record find less and less room to continue working when Justin Timberlake decides to start taking the “earthy” part of
Man of the Woods seriously. The acoustic guitar/boom-clap ballads divided across tracks such as “Flannel”, “The Hard Stuff”, and “Young Man” are too onenote to be memorable and neither Pharrell's frantic drum work nor Timbaland’s infectious flat beat rhythms feel in place with the simple acoustic pop melodies. And lord forbid we get into the reggae-inspired collaboration with Alicia Keys.
The best of
Man on the Woods are the moments where it’s less about the “woods” and more about the “man” Justin Timberlake riding off the high of his magnum opus The 20/20 Experience. Unsurprisingly the songs that happen to take the most notes from his previous work stand out more than those that stick with the "country pop" spin. Everything else is either too stylistically scatterbrained to take seriously or too nondescript in its attempt at genre blending to give a second look. Concept and execution are two very different beasts, and in Justin Timberlake’s case,
Man of the Woods is a record that could’ve stayed deep in the Montanas.
