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QuoteTHE LATEST REVIEWS FEATURES VIDEO

Justin Timberlake
Man of the Woods

3.8
RCA ? 2018
BY: JAMIESON COX  FEB 2 2018
POP/R&B
Justin Timberlake?s fifth album is a huge misstep for the pop star. It is warm, indulgent, inert, and vacuous.

It?s remarkable how few ideas are contained within this hour-plus Blue Ridge Mountains mood board of an album. Man of the Woods is a misstep large enough to merit relitigating Justin Timberlake?s status as a pop superstar. How much of his career should we chalk up to fortune, privilege, and an essential malleability? Is working with Pharrell Williams and Timbaland?pantheon-level producers who collaborated extensively with Timberlake at or near the peak of their powers, and continue to do so?an act of creative genius, or just kismet? There may be no definite answers. But Man of the Woods? failure invites the questions.

Timberlake wants to be thought of as an innovator. He struck gold at the beginning of his solo career with ?Cry Me a River,? an icy amalgam of beat-boxing and Gregorian chants that?s still thrilling 16 years later. He had the gall to name an album FutureSex/LoveSounds and filled it with pop inventive enough to live up to the title. He embraced auteurist extravagance across the messy, occasionally brilliant halves of The 20/20 Experience. When he unveiled Man of the Woods, his first album in five years, he framed his new music as the product of an audacious fusion of Southern sounds. Its problems invite the listener to scrap this narrative and stitch together a different story. Forget the album?s trailer?in which Timberlake comes out of the closet as a fire-building, creek-wading, baby-clutching Jeremiah Johnson cosplayer?or the baffling videos for singles like ?Filthy? and the Migos-meets-preppers joint ?Supplies.? It?s all there in the music: warm, indulgent, inert, and vacuous.

Man of the Woods rings hollow with familial contentment: Timberlake?s wife, the actress Jessica Biel, sings or speaks on a handful of tracks, and closer ?Young Man? comes complete with a cooing feature from Timberlake?s toddler. Even the credits have a no-new-friends feel: The majority of the album was made in tandem with the Neptunes, Timbaland, and Danja, the chief architects of his sound from Justified onwards. Instead of surging forward with a new vision for pop music, it leans on the sounds and genres that have become American comfort food: country, soul, funk, disco, gospel.

Matrimonial and paternal pride suit Timberlake nicely under the right circumstances, and they?ve certainly brought him success in the past. The 20/20 Experience highlight ?Mirrors? is a genuinely touching tribute to a partner without whom Timberlake feels incomplete, and a treacly bit of disco cut from the Trolls soundtrack became one of the biggest hits of his career. There are a few endearing moments on Man of the Woods that operate in this mode, songs anchored by one soup?on of detail that keeps them from dissipating into pure meaninglessness. He recounts an awkward introduction on the swaggering ?Higher Higher,? one that ends with Timberlake and his partner dancing to Madonna?s ?Lucky Star.? The late-?70s Bee Gees throb of ?Montana? is the perfect fit for a romantic?and potentially hallucinogenic?evening in the mountains. And while ?Breeze Off the Pond? leans on a layered-harmony trick Timberlake?s been using for a solid decade, it also invites you to imagine him taking a stoned canoe trip soundtracked by ?Tiny Dancer.? Timberlake is such an abjectly poor lyricist that scraps like these feel like manna from heaven.

Too much of Man of the Woods is musically and thematically shallow; at 66 minutes, it?s a mile wide and an inch deep. There?s a point midway through the album?right around the threadbare-shirt hymnal ?Flannel??where you realize ?modern Americana with 808s? wasn?t just a cute tagline: That?s really the whole idea, and it quickly wears thin. Timberlake may have yanked back the reins on the interminable song lengths of The 20/20 Experience, but many of these tracks still manage to overstay their welcome by a minute or two. They don?t have the hooks or the dynamism to justify their continued existence: phrases get recycled, breakdowns feel like intrusions from completely different songs, grooves are sought but remain undiscovered. ?Midnight Summer Jam? is a sub-Robin Thicke boogie with a sub-John Popper harmonica solo; ?Sauce? is Beyonc??s ?Don?t Hurt Yourself? cut with a jug full of pond water.

And there?s no refuge from the lyrics, which in many places engender the same mix of emotions you?d confront upon walking in on your parents having sex. Timberlake never quite oozed virility?he topped out somewhere around ?Hollister model breaking bad??but this aspect of his persona has aged particularly poorly. The horny android moans and tiger growls of ?Filthy? are sensual and elegant compared to ?Sauce,? which invites you to imagine a partner?s ?pink? pressing up against Timberlake?s ?purple.? The title track features this charming depiction of foreplay: ?But then your hands talkin?, fingers walkin?/Down your legs, hey, there?s the faucet.? He takes a break from amassing iodine tablets on ?Supplies? to reminisce about an early morning flight home, ?just to show up and hear your sounds (The multiple times!)? That last phrase is delivered with a puff of Auto-Tuned harmony and driven home when the beat cuts out for a split-second, which is just enough time for you to realize how excited he is about making his wife orgasm more than once. Whether or not the faucet is running at this point remains unclear.

This isn?t just prudishness at work, either. The songs that have nothing to do with coital bliss are just as lifeless. ?Say Something,? a duet with beloved Nashville star Chris Stapleton, defies every attempt to discern some kind of through line or coherent message; the profound conclusion reached during the bridge is that ?Sometimes the greatest way to say something/Is to say nothing at all.?

Father-to-son message ?Young Man? is similarly devoid of any meaningful advice. According to Timberlake, here?s a short list of things a young man should know: stand for something; don?t back down; don?t act out; don?t stay down; you?re gonna break somebody?s heart, because ?that?s what we do.? Other artists of Timberlake?s stature have written songs in this same vein imbued with anxiety, regret, and hard-earned wisdom. When they?re done right, they glow with the unconditional love parents feel for their children. ?Young Man? is an insipid birthday card by comparison.

Timberlake is performing at his second Super Bowl halftime show as a solo artist this weekend. He?s returning to the stage as an old family friend, one unblemished by the ?wardrobe malfunction? that kneecapped Janet Jackson 14 years ago. The incident is a microcosm of Timberlake?s career: At no point has his ascendance been interrupted by anything like negative consequences. He played a pivotal role in one of this century?s defining TV controversies and was happily invited back to the scene of the crime little more than a decade later. He rush-recorded and released a massive two-part album to fulfill contractual obligations and was welcomed back into the music industry with arms wide open. He wore a full denim suit and cowboy hat on the red carpet; he played a crucial role in The Love Guru. None of it mattered. When you skate through your life unscathed, you accumulate hubris. And it takes a lot of hubris to make an album like Man of the Woods.

QuoteIt?s remarkable how few ideas are contained within this hour-plus Blue Ridge Mountains mood board of an album

Quote from: Nine on February 02, 2018, 11:02:11 AM

QuoteIt?s remarkable how few ideas are contained within this hour-plus Blue Ridge Mountains mood board of an album

:kii: :plzstop:

Quote?Sauce? is Beyonc??s ?Don?t Hurt Yourself? cut with a jug full of pond water.

Quote from: golden touch. on February 02, 2018, 11:05:28 AM
this all backfired on him.

back to my roots! homemade taste...just like mama used to make!

not quite.

Quote from: golden touch. on February 02, 2018, 11:05:28 AM
this all backfired on him.

back to my roots! homemade taste...just like mama used to make!

not quite.

Quote from: golden touch. on February 02, 2018, 11:05:28 AM
this all backfired on him.

back to my roots! homemade taste...just like mama used to make!

not quite.

Quote from: Harlem on February 02, 2018, 11:10:28 AM

Quote from: golden touch. on February 02, 2018, 11:05:28 AM
this all backfired on him.

back to my roots! homemade taste...just like mama used to make!

not quite.

Asdggghkhvdeereryuujbcsaxhydgukiklk

Quote from: Baph al Mana. on February 02, 2018, 11:09:30 AM

Quote?Sauce? is Beyonc??s ?Don?t Hurt Yourself? cut with a jug full of pond water.

Ghhhggg  :kii:

Quote from: LORD GRAND SUPREME PRIME CELESTIAL MARSHALL on February 02, 2018, 11:21:47 AM
Out of 10 or 5

Quote from: BENTLEY on February 02, 2018, 10:59:01 AM
:kii: not a birthday card :dead:

QuoteTimberlake is performing at his second Super Bowl halftime show as a solo artist this weekend. He?s returning to the stage as an old family friend, one unblemished by the ?wardrobe malfunction? that kneecapped Janet Jackson 14 years ago. The incident is a microcosm of Timberlake?s career: At no point has his ascendance been interrupted by anything like negative consequences. He played a pivotal role in one of this century?s defining TV controversies and was happily invited back to the scene of the crime little more than a decade later. He rush-recorded and released a massive two-part album to fulfill contractual obligations and was welcomed back into the music industry with arms wide open. He wore a full denim suit and cowboy hat on the red carpet; he played a crucial role in The Love Guru. None of it mattered. When you skate through your life unscathed, you accumulate hubris. And it takes a lot of hubris to make an album like Man of the Woods.

Quote from: Baph al Mana. on February 02, 2018, 11:09:30 AM

Quote?Sauce? is Beyonc??s ?Don?t Hurt Yourself? cut with a jug full of pond water.

Ghhhggg  :kii:

QuoteOn his eighth album, Usher sounds better than he's sounded in ages, proving he will not go gentle into that quiet stormy night.

QuoteTimberlake wants to be thought of as an innovator

Quote from: 1RIG on February 02, 2018, 03:28:39 PM

QuoteTimberlake wants to be thought of as an innovator

Cnncncmcncmncnc
Who wrote this

Quote from: .betterwiseup on February 02, 2018, 03:32:24 PM

Quote from: 1RIG on February 02, 2018, 03:28:39 PM

QuoteTimberlake wants to be thought of as an innovator

Cnncncmcncmncnc
Who wrote this

a white man  :plzstop:

Quote from: golden touch. on February 02, 2018, 11:05:28 AM
this all backfired on him.

back to my roots! homemade taste...just like mama used to make!

not quite.

Quote from: Baph al Mana. on February 02, 2018, 11:35:49 AM

Quote from: LORD GRAND SUPREME PRIME CELESTIAL MARSHALL on February 02, 2018, 11:21:47 AM
Out of 10 or 5

Pitchfork scores from 0-10

QuoteToo much of Man of the Woods is musically and thematically shallow; at 66 minutes, it?s a mile wide and an inch deep

Quote from: golden touch. on February 02, 2018, 11:05:28 AM
this all backfired on him.

back to my roots! homemade taste...just like mama used to make!

not quite.

Quote from: Baph al Mana. on February 02, 2018, 10:35:28 AM
Timberlake is performing at his second Super Bowl halftime show as a solo artist this weekend. He?s returning to the stage as an old family friend, one unblemished by the ?wardrobe malfunction? that kneecapped Janet Jackson 14 years ago. The incident is a microcosm of Timberlake?s career: At no point has his ascendance been interrupted by anything like negative consequences. He played a pivotal role in one of this century?s defining TV controversies and was happily invited back to the scene of the crime little more than a decade later. He rush-recorded and released a massive two-part album to fulfill contractual obligations and was welcomed back into the music industry with arms wide open. He wore a full denim suit and cowboy hat on the red carpet; he played a crucial role in The Love Guru. None of it mattered. When you skate through your life unscathed, you accumulate hubris. And it takes a lot of hubris to make an album like Man of the Woods.

Quote from: Justaway on February 02, 2018, 04:38:27 PM

Quote from: Baph al Mana. on February 02, 2018, 10:35:28 AM
Timberlake is performing at his second Super Bowl halftime show as a solo artist this weekend. He?s returning to the stage as an old family friend, one unblemished by the ?wardrobe malfunction? that kneecapped Janet Jackson 14 years ago. The incident is a microcosm of Timberlake?s career: At no point has his ascendance been interrupted by anything like negative consequences. He played a pivotal role in one of this century?s defining TV controversies and was happily invited back to the scene of the crime little more than a decade later. He rush-recorded and released a massive two-part album to fulfill contractual obligations and was welcomed back into the music industry with arms wide open. He wore a full denim suit and cowboy hat on the red carpet; he played a crucial role in The Love Guru. None of it mattered. When you skate through your life unscathed, you accumulate hubris. And it takes a lot of hubris to make an album like Man of the Woods.

GODDAMN

:scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious:

Quote from: Justaway on February 02, 2018, 04:38:27 PM

Quote from: Baph al Mana. on February 02, 2018, 10:35:28 AM
Timberlake is performing at his second Super Bowl halftime show as a solo artist this weekend. He?s returning to the stage as an old family friend, one unblemished by the ?wardrobe malfunction? that kneecapped Janet Jackson 14 years ago. The incident is a microcosm of Timberlake?s career: At no point has his ascendance been interrupted by anything like negative consequences. He played a pivotal role in one of this century?s defining TV controversies and was happily invited back to the scene of the crime little more than a decade later. He rush-recorded and released a massive two-part album to fulfill contractual obligations and was welcomed back into the music industry with arms wide open. He wore a full denim suit and cowboy hat on the red carpet; he played a crucial role in The Love Guru. None of it mattered. When you skate through your life unscathed, you accumulate hubris. And it takes a lot of hubris to make an album like Man of the Woods.

GODDAMN

:scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious: :scrumptious:

Quote from: Baph al Mana. on February 02, 2018, 04:58:30 PM
Timbaland & Danja

Quote from: .betterwiseup on February 02, 2018, 01:15:58 PM
Pitchfork is really dragging him!
(http://i66.tinypic.com/2ljqc9k.jpg)
Karma is Real! :feelinmyself:

QuoteNeil Young was only 25 years old when he sang the world-weary ??and I?m getting old? line in the chorus of his 1972 country-rock classic ?Heart of Gold.? ?Gold? and the rest of the downcast tunes that populate Young?s Harvest album are full of pangs of old-timey masculinity, musings on securing a plot of land and raising a family on it like the cowboys and prairie folk did. Young retreated to the woods at 24, after spotting an idyllic swatch of Northern California land out of the window of an airplane, and plotted his methodical and ultimately successful escape from pop scrutiny, but the speed at which he got spooked by celebrity and set about trying to disappear remains chilling.

Justin Timberlake is treating the Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana, like his own Broken Arrow Ranch. Timberlake and wife Jessica Biel own residences in Manhattan and Hollywood, but Big Sky, also home to Bill Gates, is where the two have reportedly decided to raise their 2-year-old son Silas, whose name is adapted from the Latin ?Silvanus,? which means ?of the forest.? Man of the Woods, Timberlake?s first studio album since 2013?s two-part 20/20 Experience, threw fans for a loop with its first teaser trailer because the title and rustic scenery seemed to point to Timberlake finally following through on a year and a half of subtle inferences that he was going to make a country album. It?s odd that no one jumped to the simpler conclusion ? that he?d just made a regular old Justin Timberlake album about the sights and sounds around the place he now calls home ? and stranger still that he allowed speculation to simmer until two nights ago, when he quipped in an Instagram video that the album?s actually named after the baby.

It takes a special kind of celebrity to draw hot preemptive fire online for releasing a country album he never even made. Timberlake is the last of a Hollywood breed that has since been discontinued. They were dapper, they were talented, and they shut the hell up. Weighing in on matters of political and social import could split audiences. Silence was strategic. All of Justin Timberlake?s most egregious public gaffes involve not speaking up: leaving Janet Jackson twisting in the wind after he accidentally ripped a piece of her brassiere off at the Super Bowl halftime show, working with Woody Allen as the drums of long-simmering outrage are starting to send Hollywood?s most infamous gropers and abusers into early retirement. The media poise that once protected the singer from ill will has become his primary source of it. The heavy-handed marketing for Man of the Woods offered a clean hit; naturally everyone took it.

Man of the Woods isn?t the recession into white outdoorsmanship that bloggers vilified any more than Timberlake?s Tennessee Kids is a band full of people actually from Tennessee. (It is an affront to black suburban families, caballeros and rancheros, Alaskan Native-Americans, and so many other groups to classify the American outdoors as a playground for white men. People of color don?t all live in cities.) It is an album about slipping off the grid to do cute, corny shit with your wife and kids. The song about partying (?Midnight Summer Jam?) fixates on the idea that the families out living it up don?t normally get out much. (?Hey, all of the locals are happy to get out and meet a new face.?) The pickup lines in ?Supplies? are about how great of a team player JT would be in a zombie apocalypse. The pop star?s first album wholly conceived as a married man carries the happy-in-love, grown-and-sexy vibes of The 20/20 Experience a step further; nothing impresses him now but the comforts of home and family.

Woods also ditches the long-form dance tracks 20/20 reveled in and loses a measure of its predecessor?s horny weirdness. There?s no mile-high trysts in cars that transform into galactic aircraft here, no vampire sex, no mutant mid-song a cappella breakdowns. Woods reunites Timberlake with the Neptunes, architects of lean Justified jams like ?Se?orita? and ?Like I Love You.? ?Young Man,? ?Breeze Off the Pond,? and ?Midnight Summer Jam? match the highs of Timberlake and the Neptunes at their early-aughts peak largely by leaving the old formula alone. (You can tell everyone is proud of ?Midnight Summer Jam? because they let the beat ride out for a whole minute after the song?s done.) But the meat of Man of the Woods is a strange post-genre hash of R&B, psych, folk-rock, and country accents that fails about as often as it succeeds.

The smart stuff here feels carefully pieced together from seemingly incongruous pieces of music history. ?Livin? Off the Land? blows in on a bed of synthetic flutes (and audio from the History Channel?s Mountain Men) and builds to a chorus that bounces jazz bass off EDM synths. ?Supplies,? for its hokey lyrical conceit, affixes trap drums to 12-string guitars, like a Migos session getting crashed by the Byrds. ?The Hard Stuff? bests 20/20?s ?Drink You Away? for Timberlake?s best pairing of country songwriting and hip-hop drums. ?Montana? calls back to heavily synthesized disco cuts like Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer?s ?I Feel Love? and the keyboard odyssey at the end of Steve Miller Band?s ?Fly Like an Eagle.? The soaring guitar in ?Higher Higher? carries a whiff of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils? ?Jackie Blue.?

Man of the Woods is packed with quirky ideas, but not all of them work. The title track builds a hook out of tuned drums that manage to feel lackluster as both melody and percussion. The practice torpedoes a few songs; it stiffens the soulful groove of the Alicia Keys duet ?Morning Light? and renders the stately glee-club harmonies of ?Flannel? impossibly cheesy. Woods?s shortcomings are baffling because no one here is out of their depth. With last month?s N.E.R.D album No One Ever Really Dies, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo tossed ska, trap, chiptune, and more into a blender and came out with a rainbow helado?s worth of fascinating textures. Pharrell produced an entire Little Big Town album in 2016 that has a keener sense of adventure. Timbaland proved he could hang with everyone; he made graceful soul for Sam Smith, fused country and bluegrass with Brad Paisley, and dabbled in reggaeton alongside Wisin and Bad Bunny. The one party Man of the Woods?s failures share in common is Timberlake.

Justin Timberlake seems to be content, but his ability to tap into that feeling for vital songwriting is tarnished. The singer?s best songs are about the rush of attraction. ?Like I Love You,? ?Love Stoned/I Think She Knows,? and even more recent material like ?Pusher Love Girl,? ?Mirrors,? and ?That Girl? leaned fearlessly into the grinning joy of new love. At its worst, Man of the Woods is like eavesdropping on conversations between the kinds of couples who go out in matching outfits. ?Wave? makes vacationing seem mawkish: ?Some us time would be magic / This is fantastic / And we could get some practice / And miles on our passes for love.? ?Man of the Woods? actually admits the singer?s not great at flipping these experiences into lyrics: ?How do I ever explain what I?ve got with you? / I try to find the words but they hide and that?s the truth.?

Settling down shouldn?t spell doom for a singer-songwriter. Beyonc? has made some of the best music of her career (and our time) as a wife and mother. Neil Young got to the rolling hills of Broken Arrow and set about writing On the Beach and Tonight?s the Night, which are home to some of the darkest, most rewarding music of his career. Timberlake?s problem is that he?s writing what he knows, and apparently what he knows now is Rocky Mountain whitewater rafting and quickies while the baby?s asleep. The root trouble of Man of the Woods is that JT?s conflict has been resolved. (There?s a reason the singer?s biggest hit of the decade plays right before the end credits in a children?s movie.) No amount of snazzy Chris Stapleton co-writes and Neptunes and Timbaland beats can disguise the fact that this is a body of songs about gleeful adulting on a Montana resort. On his last album, Justin Timberlake dared to stop chasing the trappings of youthfulness, but just four years later, he sounds bored and washed before his time.

QuoteSettling down shouldn?t spell doom for a singer-songwriter. Beyonc? has made some of the best music of her career (and our time) as a wife and mother.

Quote
"Man of the Woods, while certainly not 2018?s worst album, is further evidence that Timberlake is far from the pop music innovator he once was. The album?s highlights, from the nimble disco of 'Midnight Summer?s Jam' and 'Breeze' to the drawling Alicia Keys collab 'Morning Light', all fall within the singer?s vintage-soul comfort zone." -USA Today

Quote"Throughout Man of the Woods, Timberlake?s high, breathy vocals stab out a message of 'escape to the country' with all the conviction of a Michael Jackson impersonator jamming with the Drive-By Truckers in an Alabama roadhouse bar. It is a nice idea, but you know it is not going to end well."-

Quote"Timbaland and the Neptunes handle the vast majority of the production, and most of it looks backward, not forward. The Neptunes, especially, thrive with this approach, especially on 'Higher Higher,' a gleaming 1970s soundtrack homage. There are outliers ? the throbbing pulse of 'Filthy' has reverberations of acid house, and 'Supplies' suggests someone has been listening to Migos ? but for much of this album, Mr. Timberlake is content to live in the past."

Quote from: Trey on February 02, 2018, 09:07:55 PM
Honestly, this is one of the worst albums I've ever heard.

Quote from: Trey on February 02, 2018, 09:07:55 PM
Honestly, this is one of the worst albums I've ever heard.

Quote from: Baph al Mana. on February 02, 2018, 09:03:37 PM
More thrashings

Quote
"Man of the Woods, while certainly not 2018?s worst album, is further evidence that Timberlake is far from the pop music innovator he once was. The album?s highlights, from the nimble disco of 'Midnight Summer?s Jam' and 'Breeze' to the drawling Alicia Keys collab 'Morning Light', all fall within the singer?s vintage-soul comfort zone." -USA Today

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2018/02/02/review-justin-timberlakes-man-woods-cant-pull-off-its-americana-pop-fusion/1083567001/

Quote"Throughout Man of the Woods, Timberlake?s high, breathy vocals stab out a message of 'escape to the country' with all the conviction of a Michael Jackson impersonator jamming with the Drive-By Truckers in an Alabama roadhouse bar. It is a nice idea, but you know it is not going to end well."-

The Telegraph, 3/5

Quote"Timbaland and the Neptunes handle the vast majority of the production, and most of it looks backward, not forward. The Neptunes, especially, thrive with this approach, especially on 'Higher Higher,' a gleaming 1970s soundtrack homage. There are outliers ? the throbbing pulse of 'Filthy' has reverberations of acid house, and 'Supplies' suggests someone has been listening to Migos ? but for much of this album, Mr. Timberlake is content to live in the past."

-The New York Times

(https://i.imgur.com/Dblgtdd.gif)

Quote from: Trey on February 02, 2018, 09:08:45 PM
Guess King will be making his way to Vegas soon.

(http://i64.tinypic.com/2d8ks43.jpg)

Quote from: MelMel on February 03, 2018, 12:47:54 AM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVDq6BHUQAAU8Pm.jpg)

:plzstop: :plzstop: :plzstop:

QuoteI like Justin Timberlake. As clumsy a tact as that may be to start a dialogue, it seems a necessary one in this particular, awkward case. Long derided as the pretty, white face of cultural vampirism, if nothing else, Timberlake used to make it look cool. There's no real need to go through his bonafides, but, hey: 'Cry Me a River' turned the now ancient Britney drama into gold, 'My Love' coincided with the rise of T.I. the pop star, the list goes on and on, and all along the way, Timberlake's career provided not one, but several, resurgences for national treasure Timbaland. Appropriation be damned, Futuresex and the first 20/20 Experience had *joints*.

His latest album, portrayed dramatically as a grand return ? as well as some ambiguous, imagined ?return to his roots? (sigh) ? Man of the Woods, could more accurately be titled 'What Happened?: The Album'.

Playing like an early onset midlife crisis, in truth, Woods makes a sad sort of sense. In the 4+ years since the forced second 20/20 chapter, much of what allowed Timberlake to straddle musical, cultural, and racial realms has changed. The Buzzfeed era is much less forgiving of his antics, and a large chunk of his white audience is doubtlessly lost in Red Hat wearing delusion. It didn't hurt that Timberlake had a country pop influenced hit in 'Drink You Away' ? leaning into his whiteness just made sense.

Did it have to be so clumsily executed? The teaser for the album felt as if Timberlake had gone far too into the role when he parodied Bon Iver on SNL, as he roamed forests and various dramatic landscapes. The former N'SYNC heartthrob may well feel a genuine connection to his Southern roots, but suddenly making it the focal point of his entire persona? For a man who's spent a career donned in suits dancing in shiny rooms, it's tough to swallow.

No less, he goes about it with the subtlety and grace of a Transformers writer's room, from the groan-worthy album title, to that teaser, to the songs found here. 'Flannel'? There's simply no way Timberlake has ever been in a position to necessitate 'Livin' Off the Land'.

The man himself seems, if not troubled by the sudden alteration, completely unsure of how to go about it. Lead single 'Filthy' was an early warning sign, not so much a song as a collection of limp catchphrases. ?This ain't the clean version,? Timberlake tiredly insisted, while saying little else. Attempted recovery single no. 2, 'Supplies', suffers from the opposite problem. It's desperately overstuffed with clickbait jargon in an effort to paint the singer as conscious of world peril. As, dare we say, ?woke?. We remember how you did Janet, Justin, we're not buying it.

Naturally, an album entirely helmed between sonic masters The Neptunes and Timbaland isn't going to be without some nice sounds. 'Midnight Summer Jam' boasts a catchy backdrop, and Alicia Keys helps breathe life into the effortless groove of 'Morning Light', but by and large, the production here is surprisingly staid and unsure of itself. It doesn't help that the album greatly overextends itself across more than an hour. Despite the album's presentation, the attempt to cash in on that Country good will is consciously on the back burner; there are flourishes and Timberlake occasionally forces a slight drawl, but his closest swings fall flat.

He may have offered a moment with Chris Stapleton at the Country Music Awards, but when the two reunite here for 'Say Something', it's for an unfortunately limp ballad that seems to extol the virtues of turning a blind eye. When they had such a massive platform to say, well, anything it's a shame they chose to proffer nothing. Naturally, Timberlake completely contradicts this message of non-statements on closing track 'Young Man', advising his son that he must always "stand for something". Apparently, Timberlake doesn't feel obligated to do the same for his audience. Meanwhile, wife Jessica Biel is given full interludes before and after 'Flannel', here to forcibly remind us all that Timberlake does indeed ?make [her] feel sexy.? Lost some confidence there, Justin?

It's understandable if he has. The climate Justin Timberlake exists in may have changed, but did a course correction really require a pivot as grand as Man of the Woods? He surely could have offered some mea culpas, actually acknowledged his place as a white man who truly loves the spaces he works within, and more or less stuck to the same ? successful, enjoyable ? formula. So, perhaps this is truly the move the artist felt compelled to make, however opportunistic its timing appears. ?Haters gonna say it's fake,? Timberlake frankly asserts on, 'Filthy'. They needn't even bother. Genuine or not, it simply doesn't work.

Rating: 3.5/10

Quote from: MelMel on February 03, 2018, 12:47:54 AM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVDq6BHUQAAU8Pm.jpg)

:plzstop: :plzstop: :plzstop:

Quote from: MelMel on February 03, 2018, 12:47:54 AM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVDq6BHUQAAU8Pm.jpg)

:plzstop: :plzstop: :plzstop:

Quote from: MelMel on February 03, 2018, 12:47:54 AM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVDq6BHUQAAU8Pm.jpg)

:plzstop: :plzstop: :plzstop:

Quote from: MelMel on February 03, 2018, 12:47:54 AM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVDq6BHUQAAU8Pm.jpg)

:plzstop: :plzstop: :plzstop:

Quote from: Justaway on February 03, 2018, 01:04:32 AM

Quote from: MelMel on February 03, 2018, 12:47:54 AM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVDq6BHUQAAU8Pm.jpg)

:plzstop: :plzstop: :plzstop:

BITCH

(http://fourfour.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b8c369e20134850b33e1970c-600wi)

Quote from: MelMel on February 03, 2018, 12:47:54 AM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVDq6BHUQAAU8Pm.jpg)

:plzstop: :plzstop: :plzstop:

Quote from: Estelle Ghetto on February 03, 2018, 09:02:24 AM

Quote from: MelMel on February 03, 2018, 12:47:54 AM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVDq6BHUQAAU8Pm.jpg)

:plzstop: :plzstop: :plzstop:

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! :freewilly:

Quote from: .betterwiseup on February 02, 2018, 01:15:58 PM
Pitchfork is really dragging him!
(http://i66.tinypic.com/2ljqc9k.jpg)
Karma is Real! :feelinmyself:

Quote from: Baph al Mana. on February 03, 2018, 12:18:17 AM
https://twitter.com/nflnetwork/status/959555049092362240

wait guys... He's kinda reeling me back in :ohwow:

Quote from: squid on February 03, 2018, 09:21:12 AM

Quote from: Estelle Ghetto on February 03, 2018, 09:02:24 AM

Quote from: MelMel on February 03, 2018, 12:47:54 AM
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DVDq6BHUQAAU8Pm.jpg)

:plzstop: :plzstop: :plzstop:

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! :freewilly:

The general public is finally seeing through his bullshit

Excellent
(http://www.abload.de/img/fierceness5gp02.gif)

Quote from: BigDawg on February 03, 2018, 05:24:33 AM
https://instagram.com/p/BerKQpXBvRB/

Quote from: 1RIG on February 02, 2018, 04:30:08 PM

Quote from: Baph al Mana. on February 02, 2018, 11:35:49 AM

Quote from: LORD GRAND SUPREME PRIME CELESTIAL MARSHALL on February 02, 2018, 11:21:47 AM
Out of 10 or 5

Pitchfork scores from 0-10

Jesus Christ

QuoteToo much of Man of the Woods is musically and thematically shallow; at 66 minutes, it?s a mile wide and an inch deep

Ccc
C
Cccc

Quote from: golden touch. on February 03, 2018, 02:05:48 PM

Quote from: BigDawg on February 03, 2018, 05:24:33 AM
https://instagram.com/p/BerKQpXBvRB/

those horses grazing in the back have me in tears

Quote from: BENTLEY on February 03, 2018, 02:12:36 PM

Quote from: golden touch. on February 03, 2018, 02:05:48 PM

Quote from: BigDawg on February 03, 2018, 05:24:33 AM
https://instagram.com/p/BerKQpXBvRB/

those horses grazing in the back have me in tears

ssssssss

END HIM!
he deserves all of these lashings
:blessed:

Quote from: Boomer on February 03, 2018, 02:19:49 PM
Are any of the Neptunes produced songs any good? Don't feel like listening to see