Music critics and highbrow listeners may look down their nose at Justin Timberlake, doubting that the celebrated former N'Sync leader is good for more than light, frothy dance-pop. Timberlakes's sophomore effort, FUTURESEX/LOVESOUNDS, should make both camps rethink that stance. While the album certainly sets out to entertain, it's also full of ambitious, well-constructed grooves that prove the superstar is serious about getting down and dirty. The album steps up the Michael Jackson-influenced sound of JUSTIFIED by delving deeper into club music, hip-hop, and funk, creating a bumping, writhing soundtrack for a set of songs unabashedly about sex.
Timberlake spared no expense recruiting some of the best producers on the scene. Beatmaker extraordinaire Timbaland is a primary collaborator, and his experimental stutter-funk landscapes make for the album's best moments (the title track, for example, or the spare, driving lead-off single "Sexyback"). Early Prince is a major touchstone for much of the disc, but Timberlake also draws on rolling, Dirty South jams ("Chop Me Up") and smooth, urban-contemporary loverman R&B ("My Love"). Its obsession with the bedroom notwithstanding, FUTURESEX/LOVESOUNDS shows Timberlake moving toward an exciting musical maturity.
Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.86) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[H]is best new tracks are thrilling....Some of the up-tempo stuff flirts with mechanical muscle-flexing..."
Rolling Stone (p.106) - Ranked #26 in Rolling Stone's "The Top 50 Albums Of 2006" -- "[O]ne of the year's most enduringly pleasurable hits."
Entertainment Weekly (p.70) - "Superior tracks like 'LoveStoned' and 'What Comes Around,' suggest a happy middle path, where Timberlake can equally embrace Timbaland's canny beats and his own vocal helium."
Entertainment Weekly (p.128) - Ranked #4 in Entertainment Weekly's "Top 10 Records Of 2006" -- "[T]he two Tims create a boldly forward-thinking soundtrack for nocturnal amusements like club cruising and rump shaking."
Q (p.122) - Ranked #36 in Q Magazine's "100 Greatest Albums of 2006" -- "[A] hyper-confident mix of stripped-down R&B and '80s electro soul."
Vibe (p.142) - "He's still got a lithe, lovely vocal instrument and a falsetto that evokes El DeBarge."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.116) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[The titles] leave no doubt as to the chief Timberlake brand value, and the louche synth funk and electro-flavoured R&B therein make a pretty seductive back-up argument."