88 Billboard
When "FutureSex/Lovesounds" was released in September 2006, Justin Timberlake was 25 years old, in a relationship with Cameron Diaz that was about to end, and for all intents and purposes, still a kid trying to prove himself and sustain the post-*N SYNC momentum of 2003's "Justified." Today, Timberlake is 32 years old, married to Jessica Biel, and has nothing left to prove. He has, in fact, been hounded for a half-decade to release new music, and not been frantically tossing out stopgap singles to remind the world of his presence. When Timberlake announced his return to music last January, pop fans prayed that "The 20/20 Experience" would feel a lot like "FutureSex/Lovesounds"… but realistically, that could never have happened. Timberlake is no longer where he was in September 2006, and as his latest album reflects the euphoria seeping out of every one of his immaculate, 32-year-old pores.
Six-and-a-half years after effectively conquering pop music with a highly sexual, fashionably futuristic album, Justin Timberlake has returned as a more relaxed version of himself, with a brand new palette of musical shades. Despite the reunion of Timberlake and "FutureSex/Lovesounds" producer Timbaland, "The 20/20 Experience" is not a sequel of that groundbreaking album as much as a document of growth, crystallized within the medium of classic R&B.
The propulsive moans and aggressive come-ons of his 2006 smash single "Sexyback," for instance, have been traded for big-band brass, creeping bass and open-hearted professions of love on songs like "That Girl," "Mirrors" and "Tunnel Vision." Timberlake has always been a vocal force, but the main accomplishment of "The 20/20 Experience" is the expansion of Timberlake's vision: aside from Jay-Z's guest verse on snappy single "Suit and Tie," the album features no guests, and often allows its tracks to run past the seven-minute mark.
One of the year's most anticipated pop releases is also one of the genre's weirdest -- and most fully realized -- efforts in ages. There will be many people longing for the immediacy of songs like "My Love" and "Rock Your Body," but Timberlake has offered us something more complicated, although no less accessible.
Which songs on "The 20/20 Experience" are worth extended listens? Check out Billboard.com's extensive track-by-track breakdown of Justin Timberlake's long-awaited new album.
1. Pusher Love Girl - Like a more seasoned version of his opening "Justified" come-on "Senorita," "Pusher Love Girl" is an extended glide -- even if the drug-addled metaphor at the heart of the song produces some dubious lyrics, Timberlake's easy delivery will leave listeners hopelessly, er, addicted. The song morphs into fuzzed-out neo-soul during an elongated breakdown, one of the many mid-song transformations that occur on the album.
2. Suit and Tie feat. Jay-Z - The ode to high style is still not as sonically ambitious as Timberlake's last lead single, "Sexyback," but within the confines of "The 20/20 Experience," "Suit and Tie" makes a lot more sense. Funneling the succulence of "Pusher Love Girl" into a more radio-friendly format, Timberlake and Jay-Z -- who will soon be co-headlining a stadium tour -- demonstrate an effortlessness that probably took months to construct.
3. Don't Hold The Wall - Tribal chants and oozing vocal samples combat with rainsticks and spacious drums, as Timberlake correctly reads the primal tone and commands his subject to give in to her physical impulses. Timbaland's production is the star here, turning on a dime at the 4:20 mark and assuming a darker, more muscular structure. There are so many things happening on "Don't Hold The Wall" that it takes five listens just to process them.
4. Strawberry Bubblegum - The intensity of "Don't Hold The Wall" evaporates, and a cloud of electronic blips, string stabs and snappy percussion tears at the seams of a (relatively) simple R&B tune. Timberlake has rarely sounded more at peace as he does when he intones, "She's just like nothing that I've ever seen before/And please, don't change nothing, because your flavor's so original." The sashaying outro is pleasant, but the main track is sumptuous enough on its own.
5. Tunnel Vision - The instrumentation is vintage Timbaland, with fizzing beats abetted by the producer's signature ad-libs and vocal record-scratches, while Timberlake puffs out his chest and throws out a typically confident performance. The song's evolution is thrilling: not only do the ornate production details stack upon each other to create a constantly moving Jenga tower, the arrangement falls apart at exactly the right time, as Timberlake sings, "A crowded room… all I see is you. Everything just disappears, disappears, disappears."
6. Spaceship Coupe - From the groove at its gooey core to the lyrical concept -- interstellar romance! -- "Spaceship Coupe" smacks of an R. Kelly castoff… not that that's a pose that Timberlake can't successfully assume. "Spaceship Coupe" is admittedly sillier than any of the other "20/20" tracks, and Timbaland sounds out of his element here; JT sells the concept with aplomb, though, and even gets an electric guitar solo to echo across the cosmos.
7. That Girl - "Some 'em some Southern love!" Timbaland shouts during his faux-introduction of "JT & The Tennessee Kids," and Timberlake strides onstage to reside upon one of the album's shiniest surfaces. "That Girl" does not carry grand ambitions, endlessly rhyming "baby" with "lady" and keeping the whiz-bang production techniques to a minimum, but as the bass continues creeping forward and Timberlake nods to the brass section, the song reaches "immaculate soul" status.
8. Let The Groove Get In - The album's only extended dance flare-up, with canned horns popping off, propulsive percussion begging for movement and Timberlake's harmonized voice knocking against Timbaland's nimble pop arrangement. For seven minutes, "Off The Wall"-era MJ gets a tip of the cap, and Timberlake enters a zone reserved for only the most assured mainstream stars. Make no mistake: "Let The Groove Get In" will be exhilarating in concert.
9. Mirrors - Imagine being a newlywed and wanting to write the most epic song ever in honor of your life partner. "Mirrors" is Timberlake's version of that anthem -- how can you not think of the singer's recent wedding photos alongside Jessica Biel when he endlessly repeats, "You are, you are, the love, of my life," as if he had just soaked in the splendid finality of his romantic situation? Compare this album's second single to "Justified's" second single, "Cry Me A River," and aside from the steady presence of Timbaland's fantastically cluttered production, the difference between the song is clear: 10 years ago, Timberlake was broken, and now he is whole.
10. Blue Ocean Floor - An unexpectedly somber note ends Timberlake's third album, with the pop star digging for his most pensive expressions and pleading to be joined in his silent escape. Unlike "FutureSex's" "serious" song "Losing My Way," "Blue Ocean Floor" shows the growth of Timberlake, who gently steps into Timbaland's puddles of piano pokes and stretched-out melodies. It's a song that only a few vocalists could land -- imagine Thom Yorke trying this one on for size -- and a bold way to close a generally celebratory project.
80 Rolling Stone
Justin Timberlake is such a natural entertainer – such a charismatic and effortlessly appealing singer, dancer and showman – that it's easy to ignore how weirdly, how willfully, he's gone about his career. He graduated from the Mickey Mouse Club to 'NSync to solo superstardom – a natural enough progression – but then, at the height of his success, he spit the bit, jettisoning music to dabble in movies, SNL viral videos and, um, golf. Timberlake released his superb second album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, six and a half years ago, an eternity in pop music. When that album's lead single, "SexyBack," first hit the charts in the summer of 2006, no one had ever heard of Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber.
Now, suddenly, Timberlake is back – and he's sounding woollier than ever. The 20/20 Experience is the biggest pop event of 2013 so far, but it's not quite a pop album. Its sense of musical space-time is more elastic and sprawling than anything on the radio: The 10 tracks average seven minutes; songs unfurl into vamps, abruptly change keys, pile on unexpected beats and harmonies. The music is catchy, but the emphasis is on rhythm and flow. In one showpiece, JT chants over brass, percussion and strings; the music takes a world's worth of sounds: Afrobeat, soca, bhangra, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." The song is called "Let the Groove Get In." It would have been an apt album title.
You might call The 20/20 Experience Timberlake's neo-soul record. (It has more in common with D'Angelo and Maxwell than Usher or Bieber.) "Pusher Love Girl," an ode to the intoxicating effects of love and sex, borrows Curtis Mayfield's falsetto and Stevie Wonder's chord changes; the swinging groove of "Suit & Tie" is pure "What's Going On"-era Marvin Gaye. There are other period touches: When guitarist Elliott Ives steps forward for a rippling solo in "Spaceship Coupe," it sounds as if Eddie Hazel, the great Parliament-Funkadelic axman, has piloted his mother*ship into Timberlake's orbit.
JT isn't the only one staging a comeback here. His old partner Timbaland co-produced every track, along with Timberlake himself and Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon. Timba*land has also been lying low, and The 20/20 Experience is both a return to form and a departure, deftly combining his trademark shape-shifting digital funk with a warmer, more organic sound.
The 20/20 Experience may test the patience of fans expecting immediate gratification. There are no songs as instantly infectious as "Like I Love You" or "SexyBack," nothing that cuts as deep as "Cry Me a *River" or "My Love." But eventually the music sinks its teeth in, even on the wooziest songs. The closing "Blue Ocean Floor" has no beat as such, and not much of a melody – just stray percussion coloring a wash of psychedelic sounds. Timberlake sings, "If my red eyes don't see you anymore/And I can't hear you through the white noise/Just send your heartbeat out there to the blue ocean floor." If you had to categorize it, you'd call it an abstract ambient soul ballad. But that guy in the suit and tie, that showbiz savant – in the end, he makes it sound like pop.
75 Entertainment Weekly
He’s back behind the mic for the first time in almost seven years — but Justin Timberlake isn’t quitting the whole acting thing. He actually loves movies so much, he’s even playing a movie star on his records. Since his last album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, he has appeared in some good films (Alpha Dog, The Social Network) and some not-so-good ones (The Love Guru does not an Oscar winner make). But he’s got the Old Hollywood thing down on his new album, The 20/20 Experience, which finds him dressed up like a member of the Rat Pack. It’s no accident that the singer, who’s now 32, released the first single, “Suit & Tie,” a swinging ode to Tom Ford tuxedos, on the same night as the Golden Globes; he seems to be campaigning for a statuette of his own.
Check him out on “Tunnel Vision,” playing the rom-com director: “Just like a movie shoot,” he croons, “I’m zoomin’ in on you… as we ride off into the sun.” Listen to him starring in a sci-fi flick on “Spaceship Coupe,” where he propositions some alien creature to “make love on the moon.” Or catch him in the gritty two-junkies-in-love story “Pusher Love Girl,” where he’s all hopped up on romance (and hydroponics). There’s even a submarine epic, “Blue Ocean Floor,” that starts with him trying to pick up signals from 20,000 leagues under and ends with wishy-washy water noises that could be the sound of his bubble bath draining. It’s a movie you watch with your ears.
Even when Timberlake’s not singing his way through a big-screen drama on 20/20, the music has a cool, cinematic vibe. For that, he can thank his longtime collaborator Timbaland, who’s the main producer here. His basic sound adheres to the JT formula: golden falsetto, electro-R&B grooves, Motown horns, and other retro glitz that will seduce your mom. The best thing here is “Let the Groove Get In,” which builds from African hand-drum rhythms to a classic Michael Jackson jam, circa Off the Wall. But the real thrills are in the details: If you borrowed some of JT’s chronic from “Pusher Love Girl,” you could spend long headphoned hours appreciating the chirping crickets of “Don’t Hold the Wall,” or the ****-star gasps of “Spaceship Coupe,” or the warped-melody opening of “Blue Ocean Floor,” which sounds like Timbaland is playing the song backward. That last one is a neat trick for a love-gone-wrong ballad; you can imagine Timberlake actually pushing rewind on the relationship, undoing the damage until it plays the right way again.
As Timbaland’s leading man, Timberlake never lets you forget that he’s acting. “Don’t be mad at me!” he pleads on the ’60s-soul track “That Girl,” as if he’s professing his love after sneaking back into bed at 4 a.m. (Naw, girl, I was just hanging with the boys!) If he’s devoted to anyone, it’s himself: “You reflect me,” he coos on “Mirrors.” “I love that about you.” All of which should make him a very convincing movie star, except that there’s ultimately not enough showbiz razzle-dazzle here. The songs are a little too slow, too long, too lacking in the flashy tap-dance energy that made him a giant solo success when he was 23. Maybe he wants to be the young Frank Sinatra. But for now, he’ll have to settle for being a slightly older JT.
BEST TRACKS
“Let the Groove Get In” An MJ-inspired dance-off
“That Girl” Finger-snap soul
60 The Guardian
Last month, one waggish journalist responded to the excitement surrounding Justin Timberlake's arrival in London by posting an old photo of the singer and his former paramour, Britney Spears, on Twitter. There they were, teen pop's young dream, posing on the red carpet in 2001, having made the fateful decision to attend the American Music awards in matching stonewashed denim outfits. Resplendent not merely in a stonewashed denim suit, but a stonewashed denim Stetson, sunglasses and rapper's gold chain, Timberlake looked the epitome of the clueless boyband doofus, making the most of his fleeting fame.
It's an image worth bearing in mind while listening to The 20/20 Experience, not least its closing track, Blue Ocean Floor: seven and a half minutes of backward tapes, echoing piano figures, sub-bass, sound effects and hazy strings. It's fair to say that Blue Ocean Floor is not a piece of music anyone in 2001 could have envisaged stonewashed-denim Stetson boy ever making. The clueless boyband doofus isn't supposed to have any kind of career 11 years after the boyband's split, let alone the kind of career Timberlake currently enjoys: burgeoning Hollywood success, so imperious in his stardom that he can leave a six-and-a-half-year gap between albums.
That is at least partly down to smartly aligning himself with the best producers and songwriters in the business: the Neptunes, whose fantastic single Rock Your Body was intended for Michael Jackson, and Timbaland, responsible for the truly great bits of The 20/20 Experience's predecessor, FutureSex/LoveSounds. The latter has been lying relatively low of late, perhaps preferring to sit out an era in which the kind of artists who would once have come calling for his visionary productions seem happier to throw in their lot with the identikit pop-rave merchants, but The 20/20 Experience restates his case in remarkable style: on purely sonic terms, the album is a genuine tour de force. Its signature sound is based around knowing fragments of various classic soul styles: a booming Isaac Hayes-ish voiceover, the luscious string and horn arrangements that surrounded the Delfonics and the Chi-Lites, the squelching analogue synthesisers found on Stevie Wonder's early-70s albums, a squealing, Eddie Hazel-like guitar solo. But there's nothing reverential or retro about its approach: it maroons these sounds amid a mass of disconnected, echoing samples – snatches of piano, distorted voices, buzzing electronics – and unexpected beats. Elsewhere, he ventures further afield: the astonishing Let the Groove Get In features an electronic approximation of a batucada rhythm, overlaid with ferocious afrobeat horns.
The sound of The 20/20 Experience is complex, rich and rewarding. It rigorously avoids every one of the tired sonic cliches in which pop-R&B is currently mired: there's not a hint of a dubstep-inspired bassline, nor a house-inspired breakdown. Nevertheless, there are problems. The songwriting isn't bad – Timberlake can really write a chorus – but nor is it good enough to warrant the sheer length of the songs: the shortest track on the album lasts five minutes, while two tip over the eight-minute mark.
Then there are the album's lyrics, which are awful. It's not that the lyrics are exclusively about sex; it's that Timberlake writes about it in a way that suggests he's desperate to add some kind of musical equivalent of the Bad Sex award to his six Grammys and four Emmys. "We're making love like professionals," he sings. Hang on: professionals? What does that mean? Utterly dispassionately, for a pre-arranged fee?
There's a terrible moment midway through Strawberry Bubblegum, where the listener slowly becomes aware that "strawberry bubblegum" appears to be a metaphor for his partner's vagina. Timberlake is a young man recently married, and he's entitled to celebrate that any way he chooses, although you do wonder if the lady wouldn't prefer, say, a bunch of flowers to a song, broadcast to millions, comparing her vagina to a piece of Hubba-Bubba. At least he dishes out something similar to himself: his penis apparently resembles a "blueberry lollipop", which suggests he needs to get a doctor to look at it. That sounds like a symptom of a serious circulation problem.
It's a bold soul that claims this kind of thing doesn't mar their enjoyment of The 20/20 Experience: it's definitely harder to concentrate on the rich inventiveness of the sound when there's a man comparing his wife's vagina to some bubblegum in a falsetto voice over the top of it. Equally, it would be churlish to claim it ruins it. Despite its flaws, The 20/20 Experience is a genuinely adventurous pop album in a world of will-this-do? The days of the denim Stetson seem more distant than ever.
