Timberlake’s amazing 20/20 Experience

Justin Timberlake (JT) gave me one of my favorite aha moments in all the years that I have been writing this column. It was in 2002 and Justified, his first solo album, had just been released. And I was prepared not to like it. 

The thoughts going inside my head then were: What was this guy thinking, going solo? He already had a good thing going with N’Sync, which was almost as big as the Backstreet Boys? What did he know about music anyway? He was just this kid who was in the Mickey Mouse Club, who got into a boy band, and was the boyfriend of pop diva Britney Spears.

But of course, like I always do, I gave him a chance. I listened to Justified and I was floored. I became a Justin Timberlake fan. I instantly thought then that Britney did not deserve somebody like him at all. The album was very good. I believe that many others thought the same way and turned it into a big seller. Thanks to the well-produced CD and singles like Cry Me A River, Like I Love You and Rock Your Body, JT, the solo artist, was made.

What happened in the ensuing years was the growth of that kid into one of the most successful, most charismatic and most acclaimed stars of his generation. Timberlake is now a TV comedian who commands high ratings. His Saturday Night Live stints are some of the best ever and lucky you if you caught his guestings in Jimmy Fallon’s show. He is always hilarious.

Timberlake is a hit as a movie actor. He starred in The Social Network, In Time, Friends with Benefits and Bad Teacher. He is an in-demand endorser for Givenchy perfumes and other products. He plays a lot of golf, at times on his own golf course and hosts tournaments for charity. He is said to own some restaurants and a basketball team and funds music education for children.

Then whether it is dressing up a new look for a GQ cover, dating ladies like Cameron Diaz around town or tearing off Janet Jackson’s bodice at the Superbowl, or singing with Madonna, you can also count on JT to keep the fans and the media, ever curious and happy. Take note, it is also a fact that he looks great all the time.

Best of all though, Timberlake, the musician has risen to heights that I do not think, even he, himself, imagined possible. It would have been OK for him to come out with another Justified for his second solo. But no, what he created was the ear-popping Future Sex/ Love Sounds in 2006. This was such a huge success that I do not think I was alone in thinking that there was Sexy Back coming out of my ears. That song was being played everywhere and every singer or not on TV wanted to be JT.

It took Timberlake a long time to return to the recording studio, almost seven years, but when he did, he once more got me floored. The 20/20 Experience is amazing. Where does this guy get his ideas? Where does he get the nerve to rock the status quo with such, wide ranging, unlikely content? How dare he flaunt his genius by bucking existing music forms? I am envious. Pity our poor artists who must cope not only with a limited market but also with a tightly-regimented idea of what pop music should be.

Co-produced with Timbaland and Jerome (J-Roc) Harmon, The 20/20 Experience has 10 cuts, 12, if you buy the DeLuxe edition and each one is at least seven minutes long. It is soul. It is hip-hop. It is trance. He chants. He raps. Strange sounds emanate from the speakers. You groove. You dance. You get a kind of Stevie Wonder. Is that Usher? It is everything. 

And sometimes all these things happen in one song. It is… mindblowing. But it is also all the time cohesive, an amazing exercise about how far a field an artist can take his audience. And it turns out that JT’s is a very big field. The only place that I think he can go to after this is opera. A big pop opera of the most diverse sounds ever. And I have a feeling he can do it.

I like the swinging Suit & Tie best. Remember that sepia-toned production number at the last Grammy Awards? That was our first inkling that Timberlake had something big and different coming up. Those who still think of the early JT will love Strawberry Bubblegum and Mirrors. Then for a dash of old time R&B, there are Pusher Love Girl where he shows off great vocals and a killer ballad in Spaceship Coupe.

Come to think of it though, picking out favorites in this case is really a futile exercise. You may not like the cut but there is no way you will want to skip it because JT has made everything so compelling. It really is. Wow! The mouseketeer has become a genius.