Justin Timberlake Thread: The 20/20 Experience Due 3/19, Link to "Suit & Tie" ft. Jay-Z on 1st Page

[epidemik the great]

album is cool, but didn't hit me like FS/LS and Justified did after the first spin...definitely a good album tho...JT's never been that good of a writer, but a lot of lines on this cd are super cringeworthy...

 

[jc619er]

I've already run through the entire album 6 times and it only gets better, and better by a lot each time. He did something that's very, very hard to do with an album, he made it joyful for the entire album. Every song just makes you happy and feel good. I love it.

And the guy up there earlier that talked about them just sitting around bouncing ideas off each other and having a very organic experiencing making this, it's so true. It really shows in the music. They didn't rush anything and really spent time making it what they wanted. It's truly his vision and not just something that needed features or today's hottest producer.

People take for granted how important it is to work with a singular producer. It's the reason so many people praise Drake's album in my opinion. They might say it's his rapping or singing or whatever, but 40 is who makes those albums. I've said it many times on this board, working with one producer that's a perfect match for your vision will make a near perfect album and I feel this album is near perfect.

 

[pmatic]

Only song I'm not feeling is Let The Groove In...everything else is fire.

 

[crazy ebw]

Is Target the best place to buy? There's not going to be multiple versions floating around retailers right?

 

[finallyfamous]

JT . Albums the goods

 

[jiffyl00b]

@ Crazy EBW: From what I recall, Target and iTunes will get the 2 bonus tracks. Haven't heard anything about other retailers. The commercial JT did with Target, I'm sure solidified that they're the only ones getting any extra content.

And for those that care, I read that theres special airing on the CW next Tues. to coincide with the album release. Not sure if its a concert or not.

And I heard he performed Mirrors tonight on Jimmy Fallon? Including the second part apparently.

 

[leclutchjames]

Yup he did. It's on the site if you wanna view

 

[leclutchjames]

Yup he did. It's on the site if you wanna view

 

[danger style]

Gonna be getting the vinyl of this next week

Also, the vinyl editon of this has a much better cover imo. Here it is in case yall wanted to use it for your itunes/google musc

View media item 311389

 

[Hahahaha]

Is Target the best place to buy? There's not going to be multiple versions floating around retailers right?

Target and iTunes will have the same two bonus tracks, nowhere else will have bonus tracks

 

[yallayalla]

trying my best not download the leaks.. this thread aint helping

 

[jc619er]

Gonna be getting the vinyl of this next week

Also, the vinyl editon of this has a much better cover imo. Here it is in case yall wanted to use it for your itunes/google musc

Same here. Vinyl is a must have of this album. Sonically this album is incredible and will be that much better on vinyl.

 

[ripc]

Listened to it all the way through. Didn't blow me away, but it'll probably grow on me.

Not as good as FS/LS IMO.

 

[af1 1982]

Spaceship Coupe and That Girl are my favorite. Joints are smooth as F 

 

[af1 1982]

*Plays stream*

*Hears Pusha Love Girl*

*Turns stream off*

My ears not ready bro. Wow 

Damn near died laughing at this 

 

[airjordan jb23]

I gotta say a JT album produced entirely by the Pharrell of right now would be phenomenal. Hate to stay on the Channel Orange thing, but Pharell DID produce Sweet Life and a JT album that would sound like that song would be...wow...

Agreed... The recent tracks P has produced have all been on point (Chasin Papers, Presidential, Rise Above, Nuclear, etc). & Sweet Life is another example since it was one of the highlights of Frank's album.

& that's just P... If we're talking The Neptunes, they did good kid on GKMC. It was a throwaway beat from Nothing, but that album dropped in 2010, so it's not too recent, however, its not that old either. So I definitely think if Pharrell or Pharrell & Chad got together to do some tracks for this album it definitely would have delivered, especially considering this album has an overall smooth feel to it & that's the style that P has been sticking with recently.

With that being said, I don't want to take anything away from Timbo on this album... He really did go to work & the chemistry with him & JT is flawless. There's a lot of tracks that have a new JT / Timbo feel & a lot of tracks that have that classic Timbo / JT feel

 

[jc619er]

Well the bonus tracks are definitely just that. They add absolutely nothing to the album. Honestly it was perfect at the 10 songs. These really sound like throwaway tracks. Sounds more Shock Value than 20/20 Experience.

 

[licensed to ball]

^Why do you think they're called "bonus" tracks bro? If they were great enough to be on the album they would be.

 

[stillin729]

^Why do you think they're called "bonus" tracks bro? If they were great enough to be on the album they would be.

Lol dude expected them to be stand outs

 

[kmstivers]

And I heard he performed Mirrors tonight on Jimmy Fallon?

Including the second part apparently.

He's on Fallon every night this week doing a new song.

 

[riverdale road]

I love the album it's dope. Tunnel Vision probably my least favorite song. I know alot of people don't like Let the Groove Get In but the 2nd half when the beat changes is dope.

 

[ripc]

I thought That Girl was supposed to have Drake on it though?

 

[nako xl]

[h1]http://gawker.com/5990210/justin-timberlakes-new-album-is-as-mediocre-as-we-knew-it-would-be[/h1][h1]Justin Timberlake’s New Album Is as Mediocre as We Knew It Would Be[/h1]
Justin Timberlake's third album, The 20/20 Experience, would be a disappointment were we not adequately prepared to be underwhelmed. This is the kind of album whose mellow, nothing-more-than-nice first single is puzzling until you hear the rest of the album and realize that it's the most commercial pop on a collection whose musical m.o. is to be nothing more than nice. "Suit & Tie," at least, has a sense of spunk, which is more than can be said for most of 20/20. The album sounds like a conscious attempt at musical maturity that is never quite earned or fully realized.

With the world unaware that Timberlake had taken himself off musical hiatus and recorded a full album (his first since 2006's FutureSex/LoveSounds), the man prematurely considered a legend by critics and audiences alike announced on YouTube that he was "ready" in January. A few days later that underwhelming single dropped. And then, some dull performances. If the initial marketing seemed weirdly subdued, a way of making molehills out of JT's momentous return to pop music, The 20/20 Experience does everything to compensate for that. Eight out of the album's ten tracks stretch longer than six minutes. More often than not, they extend via intros (the album opens with an orchestral overture that's hilarious in grandiosity) and codas. It's not unlike the structure of some FutureSex tracks, except it happens almost every time here.

"When we were making the record I said, 'If Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin can do 10-minute songs and Queen can do 10-minute songs then why can't we?' We'll figure out the radio edits later," Timberlake recently said on British radio. But that statement is ridiculous beyond its arrogance. There is nothing to figure out – the nut of each of these songs is apparent, and the sonic fat that surrounds them is practically falling off the bone.

Actually, "nut" is putting it too kindly. These groove-based, low-key and mostly static songs sit like blanched lettuce – when they inevitably change up four or five minutes in with slight variations, emphasized rhythms, a looser sense of ad-libbing, Timberlake and his trusty producer Timbaland are essentially asking us, "Now would you like to try some steamed lettuce?" (It is clearer than ever, by the way, that Timbaland is entirely sapped of innovation and condemning himself to repetition, wacky shouty samples and weird beat-boxed rhythms and skittering beats and all.) Only the melodically vibrant "Strawberry Bubblegum" really deserves its coda as it turns toe from a Casio-bloopy, trappy hunk of atmosphere haunted by occasional strings to a sunny ode with Stevie-aping keyboards and a boogie bass line. At the worst, the coda justifies the song: Timbaland revisits the bhangra territory he did over 10 years ago with Missy's "Get Ur Freak On" in "Don't Hold the Wall," which commands its listeners to "Dance!" while merely simmering and without offering so much as a tangible bass line till about four and a half minutes in. These songs are too insignificant for suites.

Though generally pleasant (with the exception of the inert album closer "Blue Ocean Floor," which doesn't even fake movement with a forced outro), there is a palpable pop resistance on 20/20 – for the most part, trends of the day are eschewed for a heightened sense of soul. Horns abound, strings punctuate, songs trot, Timberlake croons. His voice sounds more elastic than ever, his falsetto organic and effortless, but it lacks a depth of life behind it. He just breezes through, performing like he's been trained to do, making his way through the songs with agility and absolutely no sense of reflection. His lyrics remain lovey and superficial without even a sense of a specific object of desire. It's saying very little to point out that the deepest song is the second single "Mirrors" ("It's like you're my mirror / My mirror staring back at me / I couldn't get any bigger / With anyone else beside me And now it's clear as this promise / That we're making / Two reflections into one…"). At worst, Timberlake comes off as an off-brand R. Kelly who wandered into Prince's recording studio: "Spaceship Coupe" is driven by a plunking piano and an electrocuted bass line. It boasts a guitar solo and these lines: "Now everybody knows that you're from outer space / But honey I just wanna turn out this space with you / So drive me to your galaxy where I could play / That milky way / And sugar I'll take my time and show you the backseat view."

There's barely a sense of joy on this album – if you didn't know already that Timberlake married Jessica Biel last year, the album certainly wouldn't clue you in. That's fine, not every performer needs to be confessional, but it makes 20/20's very conscious move to maturity seem more suspect. Timberlake's acting and general persona have overtaken his public profile (see how little time recent interviews supporting this album spend on the actual music). Here he is merely playing a smooth, soulful singer. Grown and sexy is but another role, and it's barely deeper than his one in a ****** romcom like Friends With Benefits.

It only becomes clearer over time how perfect "Suit & Tie" was to introduce this project. The 20/20 Experience is all dressed up, and it goes nowhere.

Not sure I agree completely with all of that but I do with some (a lot?) of it.

 

[510thanos]

I love the album it's dope. Tunnel Vision probably my least favorite song. I know alot of people don't like Let the Groove Get In but the 2nd half when the beat changes is dope.

yea that was dope. The same for strawberry bubblegum when they change it at the end that ish is raw

 

[ripc]

Not sure I agree completely with all of that but I do with some (a lot?) of it.

This more or less summed up my feelings about the album. The songs were okay, but didn't wow me at all. The I liked the two singles more than a lot of the other tracks.