Home > Music > Pop > FutureSex / LoveSounds (Deluxe Edition) [Digipak]

Performer: Justin Timberlake
Artist: Timbaland; T.I.; Three 6 Mafia; Will.i.am; Beyonce; Missy Elliott; 50 Cent
Producer: Timbaland
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Justin Timberlake (vocals, guitar, piano); Timbaland (rap vocals, various instruments, programming); T.I., Three 6 Mafia, Will.i.am (rap vocals). Recording information: Thomas Crown, Virginia Beach, VA. 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.

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."

Though he first came to fame as a member of the definitive boy band N Sync, Justin Timberlake gained superstar status after stepping out on his own with his first solo album in 2002. JUSTIFIED showed that there was more to the then-21-year-old Timberlake than teen pop, highlighting the young singer's pronounced R&B influences and positioning him as the Michael Jackson of the early 21st century. However, it was on FUTURESEX/LOVESOUNDS that J.T. proved himself a true artist, bringing "sexy" back as well as intelligent, well-crafted pop music aimed at a universal audience. The seemingly unstoppable star was able to forge a legitimate film career, brush off controversies that appeared to immobilized his contemporaries, and go on to become on of the most popular and ubiquitous artists of his generation.

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