I was BAMBOOZLED by this SNL performance
Review of Justin Timberlake’s Newest Album
Justin Timberlake — Everything I Thought It Was
Released March 15, 2024
I wouldn’t have even known about or cared to listen to this album if it hadn’t been for Timberlake’s appearance on SNL on January 27. Playing songs “Sanctified” and “Selfish,” I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed that performance. I even went back to watch them again on Youtube throughout the week because I kept thinking about them. And I guess fair play to Justin Timberlake to play the two best songs from the album to get people excited, but if, like me, you were expecting the entire album to sound like “Sanctified,” you will be disappointed.
Throughout the entire runtime, there are glimmers of the same Timberlake who made Unjustified, FutureSex/LoveSounds, and the 20/20 Experience, but largely this project feels like a grasp at former creative innovation. I can’t tell if he’s trying to rest on his past laurels or if he’s just not evolving past his previous sound, but in any case, what could have been a successful nostalgic return to a past beloved sound ends up more like a whisper of the past JT that we know.
What I liked particularly about “Sanctified” when I saw it on SNL was it felt like return to the sound of the 20/20 Experience, but elevated. When I came to it on the album, it was a very welcome change as nothing else sounds like it on the entire album, which solidified for me that it is the best of the bunch. Other songs like “Drown” or “What Lovers Do” remind us of what could have been, but “F***in Up the Disco,” which eventually grew on me, sounded like “Take Back the Night” in a way that seemed more can’t-teach-an-old-dog-new-tricks rather than elevating a sound he’s already known for.
Another key example of this is “Selfish.” While strong sonically and having really enjoyed it on SNL, the lyrics are boring and sounds like “Pusher Love Girl” from the 20/20 Experience, which is a love song about his wife Jessica Biel. Being able to connect this song to a previous album’s iteration of the same lyrical theme makes this album’s attempt feel like it’s been there, done that.
There were also several moments where I was reminded that Justin Timberlake has previously made music for children’s movie soundtracks, a fact I would prefer not to remember at will. So if you were looking for music that sounds like the Trolls soundtrack but with adult lyrics, might I recommend “Inifinity Sex” or “My Favorite Drug.”
The album ends better than it starts. Usually I’m pulled in by the first few songs on an album and end up bored by the end, but that was not the case here.
The album opens with “Memphis,” which other reviews single out as the worst song they’ve ever heard. I don’t know if I would go that far, I’ve definitely heard worse, but it’s definitely not good.
A lot of the songs are too long and half baked. I expect 5+ minute songs, especially three in a row, to have enough lyrical depth to necessitate that long of a song, or for shorter songs to have a tight, sharp lyrical concept that’s in and out with its story. Or even in the case of M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes,” where according to Diplo, the verses repeat because the song was half finished, it is doable to make a great song without a complete concept, but this is no “Paper Planes.” Even songs that I liked or thought were interesting, like “Love and War” overstayed their welcome by being too long. In a rare and surprise twist, however, the longer “Paradise” went on, the more it grew on me. Overall, I would have preferred shorter songs with stronger lyrics rather than songs that were too long for the lyrical content given.
In regards to the lyrics generally, I wasn’t sure what this album was trying to get at. Not that I think all albums need to have only one clear theme or message, but this felt more like a cobbling together of lyrical material rather than a weaving of interconnected themes. And not to assume the lyrics are even autobiographical at all, but as songs like “Selfish” and “Flame” kind of point to, there could be something worthwhile in an album about navigating a 10+ year marriage, particularly one that’s in the public eye and that one that has stumbled in front of the public eye. But songs like “Memphis” and particularly those in the first half of the album make it seem like he’s not quite yet willing to be that vulnerable. I think a lot of artists do this, not just Timberlake. They tend to bury more personal and vulnerable lyrics, which inherently make a project more interesting, behind what they think their audience wants from them or what they think they should be. If the entire album sounded more like the last 3–4 songs, I think it would have been a better, more reflective and introspective Timberlake than we’ve ever seen him.
I was not the only one disappointed by this album, in fact most reviews I’ve seen have not been kind. But I did not write this as a way to dogpile or kick an artist when they’re down. I tend to think of artists and critics as having the same goal — we all just want good music put out into the world. But if he’s trying to be the old JT, I think Liam Payne may have that covered. What could have been a big swing into new sonic territory instead seems like an attempt to recapture the lightning in a bottle he once possessed in his early career. There’s glimpses in this record that reminds us that this is the same JT of old, but without anything new to add to it, he’s simply no longer the boundary pusher he once was.
