FutureSex/LoveSounds

Song: FutureSex/LoveSounds
Artist: Justin Timberlake
Album: FutureSex/LoveSounds



It's impossible to resist the Timberlake.

Can we just sit back for a second and marvel at the career, thus far, of Mr. Justin Timberlake? He was probably making more money a year at eleven than you do now, he was the unofficial lead of the most successful boy band in the United States, and then, just when he was supposed to be a public joke (A-la Danny Pintaro, Tito Jackson, and well... every other boyband member like ever) he releases an album called "Justified" (C'mon!) and it becomes like a monster hit. How did he do it?

We're going to have to go back a little to try to sort this all out. The Beatles, it has been argued, were the first boy band. I know, from what we know now this seems pretty ridiculous... but when you look at their audience at the time they broke, it pretty much consisted of what made up N*SYNC's fans... teenage girls. Remember the footage of girls screaming, crying, passing out when they played classics like "Love Me Do," "Hard Days Night," etc? Well... it's really not much different than what the audience looked like during the boy-band hey-day of the early millennium.

Okay all you purist haters... this is where you damn me for comparing N*SUCK to THE BEST BAND IN THE PLANET LIKE EVER. But let’s really compare them. Here are the lyrics to The Beatles "She Loves You" a HUGE hit for them when they started out:

She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah
She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah
She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah

You think you've lost your love
Well, I saw her yesterday-yi-yay
It's you she's thinking of
And she told me what to say-yi-yay

She says she loves you
and you know that can't be bad
Yes, she loves you
and you know you should be glad

She said you hurt her so
She almost lost her mind
And now she says she knows
You're not the hurting kind

She says she loves you
and you know that can't be bad
Yes, she loves you
and you know you should be glad

Oo, she loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah
She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah
And with a love like that
You know you should be glad

You know it's up to you
I think it's only fair
Pride can hurt you too
Apologize to her

Because she loves you
and you know that can't be bad
Yes, she loves you
and you know you should be glad

Oo, she loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah
She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah
And with a love like that
You know you should be glad
And with a love like that
you know you should be glad

So it's not exactly Springsteen, heck it's not even Leo Sayer... and "Yesterday" and the likes of "Across The Universe" were a ways off. The Beatles were a pop band... and through the filter of time we've taken silly little pop songs like "Love Me Do," "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," and "Eight Days A Week" as bonafied classics. But are they any better than say... "Bye Bye Bye?" And before you start to argue with me regarding the fact that the boy band boys didn't actually write their hits, remember that the majority of the Beatles first records were all covers.

The Beatles changed pretty quickly though. With a few years they grew up, discovered The Velvet Underground and well... drugs, and then became The Beatles that rock historians like to remember. The Revolver Beatles, the White Album Beatles, etc. I absolutely love The Beatles, and wouldn't argue with you if you told me they were the best band to ever have existed, and yet with all of their cultural significance... they have a handful of albums which span roughly six years from start to finish. Six years!

Now... I don't think that Timberlake is the new Lennon or McCartney or Harrison... he might be a Ringo (I'm kidding) but you have to give it up for this kid. He's navigated the pop culture landscape in a way that many can not. Pop music, from the girl groups of the 50's and 60's to the disco Kings & Queens of the 70's and then onto the New Wave groups of the 80's, were pretty much about quick cheap thrills. Thanks to VH1, these one hit or maybe two hit wonders remain in our collective consciousness, but there have been so many casualties. I was born in the 70's, and became aware of music in the early 80's and when you think back... who has a lasting career? For every U2 there are about a THOUSAND Duran Duran's, Tina Turner's, Whitney's... and those are the ones that are WORTHY of at least a single disc greatest hits. If you can name another song by Kajagoogoo other than "Too Shy," or another hit by Dexy's Midnight Runners aside from "Come On Eileen" well... you're a bigger music dork than I am.

So with the release of "FutureSex/LoveSound" Justin once again puts himself up to the pop gauntlet and for (honestly) the first time... I am seriously interested. See, Backstreet, N*SYNC, Christina, Britney... they all blew up, sold a ton of records, and then it was OVER. Backstreet had two pretty big flops and probably are flat lined now, while Britney hasn't had an out and out failure, her current media persona is pretty... uh, trashy. (And if this doesn't do it, the inevitable K-Fed duet will 100% put the nail in the coffin.) Nobody survives this... what happened to New Kids On The Block? Some have had mild success by acting, and mild solo careers but for the most part... these boys are a public joke. (La Pintaro)

I liked N*SYNC songs like I like a piece of hard candy... it's really good for a while, but you never want to spend the time and energy to really FINISH it, and you sure as heck aren't going to go back to it. I never actually bought any of the boy band's CD's. Sure I downloaded a few of the hits... when I use to DJ Frat parties in college I NEEDED some of that stuff, it's what people wanted to hear. But I honestly haven't listened to any of those pop songs in quite some time. They already sound pretty dated, and I would really need the right kind of audience to spin something like that, even ironically.

"Justified" came out in 2002, FOUR years ago... which might as well be a decade and a half when it comes to pop. But a few quick spins of "Rock Your Body," "Like I Love You" and "Cry Me A River" and you realize how little they have aged. "Rock Your Body" is a killer dance song, "like I Love You" out Michael Jackson's Michael Jackson, and "Cry Me A River" is honestly pretty haunting, and a little scary in its barely hinged anger. I had the whole album, and a lot of it was made up of awful insipid slow ballads. But teenage girls eat that stuff up (as do a lot of people... given the popularity of insipid ballad giants like Celine Dion, Faith Hill, and heck... most of pop country.) So "Justified" was as much a transition from the boy band boy as it was a declaration/pop manifesto of a new Timberlake. Justin as the artist.

The problem with pop performers is that in essence... they are just performers. It is very very rare for one human being to be able to be electric onstage, as well as skilled at dancing, singing, and then be able to write music? It's just a lot to ask for. And from the Spice Girls to Backstreet, these kids were assembled to be singing dancing shells. Don't get me wrong, this takes a high level of skill and talent to do so... but faulting them for not being able to write their own music is like faulting Bill Gates for not being able to pop and lock. Sometimes you just can't do it all okay?

But here's the thing... Timberlake co-wrote all of the songs on "Justified," and for FutureSex/LoveSounds, he is also producing/co-producing. Could his actual talent have anything to do with his staying in the game?

I must say, after hearing "Sexy Back," the first single and now this, the first track on the album, I am really intrigued with where he is going. While it sounds like pop music, it is very very different from the standard pop-hip-hop that is currently about 85% of pop radio right now. And if "Justified" was his Michael Jackson record, "FutureSex/LoveSounds" might be his George Michael record. The song has a very sexy future-funk sound, that I must admit sounds very new to me. I think it is just as fresh as what indie dance pop acts like Le Tigre and Bloc Party are doing. He is working with Timberland again (Who produced "Cry Me A River" as well as the new Nelly Furtado album) and I can hear a trace of Nelly's new "Promiscuous Girl" in this track.

I really do like what I hear so far and may go as far as buying my first Timberlake CD when this is released in September. This is interesting stuff, and if there is anyone that has a chance at changing the pop landscape, golden boy Justin is the kid to do it. I must also give props to him for actually trying to be sexy in his image. Sure Ricky Martin and Enrique do so with their brand of pop but they are Latin, so the rules are a little different, and they just come across gay to me.

Justin really is harking back to a time when guys could sing falsetto, dance their hearts out, and smolder for the ladies unlike someone has since Elvis.

Sexy back indeed.

Enjoy.