Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience
Well, I suppose if I'm being true to the ethos of this blog, the only relevant question I should concern myself with is whether or not I enjoyed listening to this album. The answer to that question is probably best summed up as, "Yeah, sort of." This album is not nearly as disappointing as I had feared it would be when I first heard a handful of songs weeks before the album's release. Despite a relative dearth of immediately accessible hooks, the album is consistently interesting to listen to, and a couple of the songs manage to lodge in your head almost in spite of themselves. Timberlake doesn't do anything on this album to challenge your preconceptions of him as a recording artist, but maybe that's entirely the point.
Some of the problem with the album is undoubtedly its context. JT is unique (and ultimately important) as an entertainer because he is the rare figure in our current Internet age whose appeal transcends nichification. He's the one guy seemingly everyone has agreed is ok. Saying I like him as an entertainer (which is an important distinction: his appeal is not solely as a recording artist) doesn't really say anything about me or my tastes, beyond maybe placing me in a fairly expansive age range. Similarly, saying you don't like him is similar to the dismissal of countless pop stars by any number of outcast groups, from punks to metalheads: rejecting JT is rejecting a mainstream sensibility that we have been told ad nauseum no longer exists.
Because of that, and because he had been away for seven years, there was undoubtedly expectation that The 20/20 Experience would be a massive cultural event. Here was the last entertainer with truly widespread popularity; surely he would reclaim pop music as it had been twenty years ago. If ever a Thriller could exist in 2013, now was our chance.
There's only one problem with that scenario: The 20/20 Experience isn't actually a pop album. Every song on the album is self-indulgently long; most extend beyond seven minutes in length. As I mentioned before, there really aren't many hooks that instantly grab you, at least not to the point where you can point to a song and say that it certainly is going to be all over Top 40 radio for the next couple months. Only time will tell on this last point, but it certainly feels like an album that requires multiple listens to really warm up to. Obviously, none of these are characteristics of pop music.
Now, as mentioned in the first paragraph of this increasingly lengthy review, none of this inherently makes for an unsatisfactory listening experience. Timberlake's falsetto proves versatile and feels comfortable on each fairly diverse song on the album, whether it's the retro Stax soul of "That Girl," the space-funk of "Starship Coupe," or the Micheal Jackson tribal dance groove of "Let the Groove Get In." Timbaland's production is occasionally interesting - this is an album that sounds better on headphones - and most importantly, rarely calls attention to itself as Timbaland production. I will be fascinated to see how this album ages, both in my and the culture's estimation. From a personal standpoint, I could very easily see this album being one I put on and play from start to finish quite often, but its 70 minute runtime and lack of clear album standout (although I'm currently digging "Pusher Love Girl" and "Mirrors") means maybe this will be an easier album for me to put away than traditional albums.
There is also the fascinating question of why Timberlake, who surely understands the pop expectations that would greet his return to music, would intentionally eschew traditional pop. I had some thoughts that this may be a reflection of the savvy game of hard-to-get Timberlake has been playing with his music fans since FutureSex/LoveSounds seven years ago, but the question has been complicated by the reveal today that this current album is only part one of The 20/20 Experience, with the second half being released sometime later this week. Using the same marketing gimmick Guns 'N Roses used on Use Your Illusion, one of the more self-indulgent albums of all time, makes me wonder if the answer is simply that Timberlake released a bunch of eight minute songs on his comeback album simply because he can, but that question may not be answered until we hear part two, if it can ever be answered.
Selections
Pusher Love Girl
Mirrors
Justin Timberlake – That Girl
Let the Groove Get In
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