Futuresex/Lovesounds

Sound DNA

• Soul & Funk
• Contemporary R&B

• polished
• swaggering
• urban

About

After the multi-platinum, Grammy-winning success of Justin Timberlake’s 2002 solo debut <i>Justified</i>, it was clear *NSYNC was not simply on “hiatus,” as the members of the boy band claimed; in fact, the group had now gone bye, bye, bye. That meant Timberlake could flex his solo superstardom on his 2006 follow-up, <i>FutureSex/LoveSounds</i>. And flex he did, strong-arming into submission any suggestion of a possible sophomore slump with the unswervable swagger of a young heartthrob seemingly destined to become a pop dynamo. And while <i>Justified</i> found Timberlake channeling fellow boy-band alum Michael Jackson on such hits as “Like I Love You” and “Rock Your Body,” <i>FutureSex/LoveSounds</i> was the album in which the singer got naughty (if never nasty). “Sexy Ladies,” with its thumping bass and squealing synths, updated Prince’s 1979 banger “Sexy Dancer” for a next-gen player, while the dizzying high of “LoveStoned” is like a sped-up riff on The Purple One’s <i>1999</i> jam “Lady Cab Driver.” Then there’s the futuristic funk of <i>FutureSex/LoveSounds</i>’ title track, as well as its first single “SexyBack,” which saw into an alternate universe where Timberlake was the love child of Prince and George Clinton. And while <i>Justified</i> was produced by both Timbaland and The Neptunes’ Pharrell and Chad Hugo, <i>FutureSex/LoveSounds</i> was largely a Timberlake-and-Timbaland joint (with additional behind-the-boards work from longtime Timbaland collaborator Nate “Danja” Hills). And just as much as the album is a Timberlake triumph, it is a full-length showcase of peak Timbaland talents—especially on the two-part, shape-shifting stunts “Let Me Talk to You/My Love,” “LoveStoned/I Think She Knows,” and “What Goes Around…/…Comes Around.” Both the T.I.-assisted “My Love” and the “Cry Me a River” sequel “What Goes Around…” followed “SexyBack” to No. 1, proving that Timberlake’s chart-topping future was here and now. But while <i>FutureSex/LoveSounds</i> was a step (or three) into pop’s beyond, there is some old-school romance and R&B on the album too, from the smooth Stylistics moves of “Until the End of Time” to the James Brown throwdown of “Damn Girl.” Then, on the Rick Rubin-produced closer “(Another Song) All Over Again,” Timberlake even conjures up Donny Hathaway, proving just how much <i>FutureSex/LoveSounds</i>—one of the defining pop albums of the early 21st century—brought the past into the present on a time-traveling spaceship.

via Apple Music

Tracklist

Credits