Why Justin Timberlake Is In A World Of Hate

For her high-concept album LEMONADE, Beyonce Knowles recorded the country ballad Daddy Lessons. The Queen of R&B subsequently performed it at the 2016 Country Music Association Awards (CMA Awards) in Nashville, Tennessee, alongside the Dixie Chicks.

But, while music industry-types lauded this symbolic cross-exchange, redneck country fans lashed out over Bey's presence on social media. Ironically, now Justin Timberlake has resurfaced with a full Americana album, Man Of The Woods (MOTW). And he's being castigated for not acknowledging his white male privilege in music and beyond. The current takedown of Justin Timberlake was inevitable in The Age of Purging. After all, the R&B icon has never addressed his appropriation of black idioms to mainstream acclaim. 

In some ways, Timberlake was doing Bruno Mars pre-Bruno Mars. The Tennessee native emerged as a kid star on The All-New Mickey Mouse Club. He then co-led the boy band NSYNC. Timberlake claimed credibility with 2002's solo debut, Justified, soliciting cutting-edge urban producers The Neptunes and Timbaland. He'd be compared to Michael Jackson on the basis of dance jams such as Like I Love You. But Timberlake was praised most for the urban-opera Cry Me A River, about his break-up with Britney Spears, a fellow Mouseketeer.

In 2006 Timberlake reunited with Timbaland (and his protege Danja) for his acme, FutureSex/LoveSounds– foreshadowing avant 'n' B. Taking a hiatus to further his career in Hollywood, he returned in 2013 with the hyper-auteurism of The 20/20 Experience in its two volumes. Recently, Timberlake had a mega-hit with the Mars-like funk Can't Stop The Feeling! from the animated movie Trolls. 

Timberlake has made missteps. He didn't stand by Janet Jackson following the widely-publicised Nipplegate incident in the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. Staging his own Rock Your Body, Timberlake stripped off part of Jackson's bustier, exposing her breast in what he termed a "wardrobe malfunction". The outrage over that supposed 'indecency' in conservative America was pure misogynoir. But, though Jackson was blacklisted, Timberlake was swiftly absolved.

Last weekend when Timberlake headlined 2018's Super Bowl in Minneapolis, Black Twitter remembered with the hashtags #JusticeForJanet and #JanetJacksonAppreciationDay. There was dramz, too, over the worthiness of his Prince tribute. In 2006 The Purple One shaded Timberlake over his song SexyBack during a post-Emmy Awards bash ("For whoever is claiming that they are bringing sexy back – sexy never left!"). A petulant Timberlake unwisely dissed Prince as a has-been on Timbaland's Give It To Me. 

In January, Timberlake announced MOTW, his fifth album, with a trailer. In a state of domestic bliss with actor wife Jessica Biel, the thirtysomething expressed a nostalgia for his Southern roots, family and natural surrounds. Bye Suit & Tie; hello flannel shirt. Timberlake named the record for his toddler son, Silas ("of the forest"). The online dragging of Timberlake launched immediately – as did the savage op-eds. Some honed in on the album tracklist with its titles like Flannel. Then came op-eds commenting on the backlash. In the meantime, Pitchfork has predictably given the album an arbitrary rating of 3.8.

Is MOTW that atrocious? Yes… and no. It's actually so superficial as to be unconvincing – as if Timberlake is living out a fantasy of escaping into the wilderness from his golf cart (mind, Livin' Off The Land is allegorical). But, musically, he's mainly being judged against his own canon. 

Timberlake introduces a metro slickness to the music of the American South: soul, country and rock – but with lashings of electric guitar. Indeed, MOTW offers not so much as songs for the campfire as songs for glamping. Curiously, Timberlake has largely worked with the same ol' producers: The Neptunes, Timbaland and Danja. However, he's also penned material with Kentucky country rocker Chris Stapleton, having joined him at the CMA Awards the year prior to Beyonce's appearance. In fact, Stapleton has cachet in soul circles: Adele covered his old The SteelDrivers record If It Hadn't Been For Love.

MOTW opens with the Timbaland-helmed lead single Filthy – a transitional cut that initially confused those expecting country (Stapleton plays guitar). Alas, The Weeknd yielded a sleeker electro-boogie number with Daft Punk in Starboy. Better is Midnight Summer Jam – trademark Neptunes disco, only with… harmonica. 

Considering that Timberlake's status as a crossover R&B star has been challenged by Justin Bieber, with his trop reinvention, and ZAYN, MOTW is wilfully off-trend. The most modish track, Supplies is weirdly country-trap (a genre Young Thug pioneered on Beautiful Thugger Girls).

Of course, R&B artists have ventured into country forever – the legendary Bobby Womack airing the slept-on BW Goes C&W (with GOAT artwork) in 1976. Timberlake's country 'n' B songs are hit 'n' miss – Flannel corny af. Sauce is hokey funk. Inane lyrics aside, Say Something, a duet with Stapleton, is an acoustic headnodder that wouldn't be out of place on Chris Cornell's Timbaland-guided Scream. With the cruisy Montana, Timberlake channels Barry Gibb over a folktronic Toto groove – Cry Me A Bon Iver. Still, the best bops on MOTW – Higher Higher and Morning Light (featuring Alicia Keys) – tap into Memphis soul. 

Timberlake revealed a comic flair in his Emmy-winning spots on Saturday Night Live, but MOTW is so po-faced as to invite parody. He even has Biel contribute backing vocals, while Silas gurgles on Young Man. Timberlake doesn't do 'meta' like Taylor Swift (or Lady Gaga with Joanne). Notably, MOTW is devoid of overt politics – anti-Trump or no. 

Nonetheless, Timberlake may redeem himself culturally in one respect. Last year Miley Cyrus, another teen idol from Tennessee, reverted to country on Younger Now – abandoning the hip hop allies who validated her contentious punk-twerk rebellion on Bangerz. Yet Timberlake takes The Neptunes, Timbaland and Danja along for the ride, demonstrating a loyalty he denied Janet.

An older, wiser Timberlake could conceivably be clearing a new space for black R&B and hip hop innovators in traditional Americana at a time when R&B and hip hop artists are questioning restrictive 'urban' classifications. Why else are so many rappers rejecting the 'rapper' handle (cue: DRAM)? Kendrick Lamar is still winning the Grammy for Best Rap Album, but not the prestigious Album Of The Year. A woke takeover gotta be the goal over a takedown.