JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE

Everything

I Thought It Was ★★★☆☆

Stream: Drown, Paradise

It has been a rocky few years for Justin Timberlake. First, there was the critical trouncing inflicted upon 2018’s Americana-themed Man of the Woods – an album that sprang from his bizarre conviction that he was the pop version of hipster folkie Bon Iver. Then he became the internet’s top villain as everyone remembered how poorly he’d treated Britney Spears during their break-up in 2002.

A reboot was in order. That is what he attempts on this funk extravaganza that harks back to his steamrolling 2006 classic FutureSex/LoveSounds.

It is old-school JT, but while it has flashes of inspiration, there are times (such as on single “Selfish”) when he descends into pastiche and risks becoming his own covers act.

He also strays into the realm of “too much information”, such as when recalling a racy weekend on the appalling “Infinity Sex”.

Still, there are instances when Timberlake, working with a tag team of producers including Calvin Harris and his old pal Timbaland, recaptures some of the old magic. There is a big showstopper moment on ballad “Paradise”, where he teams up with his Nsync bandmates for a wistful look back on his youthful struggles to achieve fame.

While the grooves are often satisfying, Timberlake may find his complicated history hard to escape. Slow-burn dirge “Drown”, in particular, feels like a spiritual companion to his previous duology of Britney break-up songs – “Cry Me a River” and “What Goes Around… Comes Around”.

For all the music’s melancholic magnificence, it is hard not to feel that he has fallen into the old habit of portraying an unhappy romance as a great betrayal.

That may have flown in 2005. In 2024, he sounds like a whiny man-child, and that thread of narcissism takes the shine off an otherwise solid comeback.