Timberlake goes solo, asks us to accept his adulthood but remains a blank space for producers Timbaland and the Neptunes to inscribe their innovative visions. The single “Like I Love You” unfurls beautifully as Justin pleads for you to reciprocate. Indeed much of the album is like 1980 revisited and updated; “Rock Your Body” is the greatest record Chic never made, “Nothin’ Else” ditto Stevie Wonder; “Cry Me A River” (not the Julie London one) employs a secular choir to magnify Justin’s laments. On “Let’s Take A Ride” he offers to deliver you from your humdrum existence.
Go with him.
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