Album Review: Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience

On the first listen to Justin Timberlake's third album you'd be forgiven for wondering where the hits are. Long and seemingly easy to forget, these songs drift past in a haze of disappointment. But once you start to unpack this album, things get a whole lot more interesting.

Released at a moment when pop music is trying its best to turn every song into a Skrillex remix, The 20/20 Experience ignores current trends completely. Instead JT and his producers Timbaland and J-Roc build these almost anti-pop songs, long and unwieldy, around snatches of samples, a South American beat, a woozy horn line. Songs start in one style and end somewhere else entirely, and all throughout small melody lines or odd hooks start to pull you into this complex and surprisingly addictive world.

Lyrics have never been JT's strongest point and this is still only his third album. Despite their ubiquitousness, the last two certainly had their share of flaws. So it's best not to concentrate too hard on the lines in songs such as Spaceship Coupe (“It's only built for two”) and Strawberry Bubblegum (“Don't ever change your flavour because I love the taste”). In fact, there's almost a Flight Of The Conchords' Business Time air about some of the lyrics. But then JT has always been especially keen to tell us how smooth he is around the laydeez.

However, like his last two albums, The 20/20 Experience is a game changer. JT is one of the few artists who can afford to wait six years between records and still know that in 12 months you'll hear traces of this album's legacy all over the pop charts.