There’s a lot to glean from a title like The whole lot I Thought It Was, particularly from an artist like Justin Timberlake, who returns in the present day along with his fifth album in a 22-year solo profession. He normally waits not less than 5 years to place out an album, making every Timberlake launch a giant occasion. However the weight he carries in 2024 is rather a lot totally different than every of these prior information, and The whole lot I Thought It Was — based mostly on title alone — signaled a extra introspective, mature return.
Its previous tense phrasing prompt that Timberlake was certainly dwelling within the current, wanting again on 30 years in present enterprise and coming to phrases along with his public-facing identification, his relationships, his successes and errors, and maybe, his ache. In any case this time away, would this be the course-correcting album from JT which may simply rope us again on his aspect?
From the primary tune of The whole lot I Thought It Was, the hometown-referencing “Memphis,” it appears like that’s the album he sought to make. “Who cares when you get lonely lengthy as you’re well-known?,” Timberlake rhetorically asks, later singing, “Who cares if there’s an excessive amount of in your plate?/ Don’t make no errors and conceal your ache.” He sounds barely weakened, his passionate tenor muted for the sake of droll, hip-hop-adjacent narration.
The tune total is a bit flat, however the concepts behind it — that Timberlake was offered an unattainable splendid when he started on this journey — are undoubtedly intriguing. For a former boy band star who has been (appropriately) criticized for his complicity within the early 2000s misogyny that took severe tolls on Britney Spears and Janet Jackson, there’s rather a lot to unpack. Timberlake acquired well-known very, very younger, and it’s plain that he was fed poisonous, psyche-altering messages from the boys in his life, from executives, from dance and vocal coaches, from producers, from his personal friends, from the tradition at massive.
Based mostly on title and the album’s first observe, you’d assume Timberlake would sustain his finish of the cut price and lay naked somewhat bit extra of himself. He doesn’t. The remainder of the album is as vanilla because it will get, a lot in order that it makes the Americana/folk-pop/nation/soul rebrand from 2018’s Man of the Woods really feel, someway, extra formidable. The one formidable factor about The whole lot I Thought It Was is its tracklist, whose 18 songs clock in at a laborious 77 minutes.
There are some frivolously revealing lyrical ideas about loneliness (“Alone”), getting older (“Paradise”), and usually feeling hopeless (“Drown”). However for essentially the most half, each tune on The whole lot I Thought It Was is both about having nice intercourse, throwing down within the membership, being in love, or feeling wronged by an ex, in the identical vein as two truly good Justin Timberlake songs, “Cry Me a River” and “What Comes Round (Goes Round).”
The lyrics — there are so, so many — inform us little or no about him, particularly the lovey-dovey ones. As we noticed within the album’s lackluster lead single “Egocentric,” it’s all romance filler: “Your lips have been made for mine,” he sings. On “My Favourite Drug” he croons, “Your hips is makin’ me hypnotized/ How your vibe simply suits into mine,” and when you assume that’s cringingly unimaginative, simply wait till you hear “Infinity Intercourse.”
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It’s solely within the last three tracks of the album that Timberlake once more digs deeper below the clubby floor. “Paradise,” which options *NSYNC, is definitely somewhat candy, with JC Chasez reassuring Timberlake as he sings, “All this time I’ve at all times puzzled if it could really feel the identical/ Because it did once we have been younger and never afraid.”
In contrast to a lot of Man of the Woods, every thing on the album sounds good. The album’s varied producers — Timbaland, Danja, Cirkut, Calvin Harris, and Put up Malone-whisperer Louis Bell — are competent and make use of a barrage of unpolluted, pleasing beats, occasional back-half vibe switches, and all of the bells and whistles mandatory for an 18-track pop album in 2024. However there’s no life behind it. There aren’t any moments of messiness or instrumental energy, no preparations that rival the majesty of “Pusher Love Lady” or “Lovestoned.” Timberlake mentions intercourse so usually that the funky strut of those songs deserve somewhat raunchiness within the combine a la Pharrell. However as a substitute, we’re given disco for the religious, a sanitized excuse for Studio 54.
There are some good moments, like the nice and cozy harmonies and vocoders that Timberlake oft employs. In some way, the dancehall beat on “Liar (feat. Fireboy DML)” is definitely fairly slick, and the Tobe Nwigwe-featuring “Sanctified” has a full gospel-rock refrain the place you may virtually see the flame cannons exploding beside Timberlake. The seven-minute “Technicolor” is about as musically complicated because the album will get, and it calls to thoughts the widescreen ambition of FutureSex/LoveSounds.
In the long run, although, The whole lot I Thought It Was feels much less like a horrible Justin Timberlake album and extra like wasted potential. Man of the Woods was horrible, however not less than he took a threat. This one is ok, frictionless, and overwhelmingly secure.
Justin Timberlake has been writing love songs since day one. He’s been writing about intercourse — having intercourse, wanting intercourse, being attractive — for nearly as lengthy. He’s by no means needed to sing about the rest, as a result of for a substantial amount of time, his charisma made up for the dearth of selection. These first two solo albums had depth anyhow, of their layered preparations, formidable sequences, within the ambiance and vibe that Timberlake and his producers curated collectively. It appeared like on Man of the Woods, the grownup male Justin Timberlake, a husband and a father, realized he didn’t have to jot down about intercourse anymore, and it ended up being his least profitable album.
Now, right here he’s, making an attempt to course right again to the period the place he was dripping with attraction, retreading again into those self same crooning, smooth-talking waters, like nothing has modified between now and 2007 — save for the occasional entice beat. It could have been a lot, a lot riskier for Timberlake to make the album he guarantees on “Memphis.” However at this level, I’d take that over this lukewarm, crutch-heavy, Goal-core Justin Timberlake album. It ought to have been his Lemonade; as a substitute, it’s only a lemon.
Ed. Be aware: You could not have favored this album (we certain didn’t), however it looks as if it could be enjoyable to see stay. Get tickets to Justin Timberlake’s 2024 tour right here.