justin timberlake - justified

I tend to hold some strange opinions when it comes to music. I think ABBA is awesome. I think the Rolling Stones made better music than the Beatles (though the Beatles were clearly the better band). I own and cherish hour-long bootleg recordings of a single Japanese man throwing planes of glass at audience members in a small Tokyo club in the 80's.

I also think Justin Timberlake recorded one of the best pop albums of all-time back in 2002.

Let me just start by saying that this is not another joke column, like the Taylor Swift review from a few months back. I really think Justified is a fantastic album.

Somewhere, deep down inside my cold musical heart, I've always known this to be true. But I was reminded of this fact over winter break, when JT's Saturday Night Live appearance from 2003 showed up on my family's TiVo back home.

I was struck by two things from that episode. First, Justin Timberlake is really funny. Most SNL guests are just unbearably awkward within the live sketch format, but Timberlake fits seamlessly into the whole show, getting some serious laughs in nearly every sketch he's in.

Second, Justin Timberlake actually made some really, really good music back in the day.

Watching his performances, it reminded me just how musical his songs really are. I know that sounds really stupid, but hear me out.

Take a song like “Cry Me a River.” You know it and love it, no matter what you try to say. The complexity of that song, from beat to melody to vocals to effects, is unheard of in modern pop music. The chorus is instantly memorable, and, coupled with the tabloid drama that shaped it, is a surprisingly emotional piece of music.

“Señorita,” “Rock Your Body,” “Like I Love You”—every single off of Justified has those same levels of catchiness, depth, and musicality that adds up to some of the finest pop made in a long, long time. Place any of those songs next to the latest Ke$ha or Lady Gaga hit, and I'm sorry, there's just no comparison.

The thing people seem to forget, however, is that Justin Timberlake has nothing to do with how good his songs are. Just like Britney Spears probably heard “Hold It Against Me” for the first time when she went in the studio to record the vocals.

Justified is a classic example of a stellar performance artist being buoyed wholly by the music of people much more talented than he is. It's a time-tested tradition that has unequivocally resulted in some of the greatest music of the 20^th century.

Justified represents one of the last great studio efforts in this classic tradition. This album is purely the work of the Neptunes and Timbaland. Justin is just the pretty face on the front of it all.

But thanks to Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Katy Perry, and every other trashy post-crunk pop star, we'll probably never experience another album like Justified.

All you need to make a hit song anymore is a tight melody and a random hook. “California Girls,” “Tik-Tok,” “Hold It Against Me,” “Dynamite,” and every other popular song that came out in the last few years were all produced by the same two people: Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco. You've probably never heard of them, but they've made obscene amounts of money by producing the same exact song, over and over and over, each one one becoming inexplicably popular with absolutely no one noticing what they're doing. And it's killing pop music in the process.

We're at a point where real instrumentation sounds out of place on pop radio. It's all synths and auto-tunes mashed together to make something loud that you can dance to, with some talentless figurehead put in front of it. Most of the tracks on Justified sound downright revolutionary compared to every Ke$ha song I've ever heard.

When someone like me is actually getting nostalgic for Justin Timberlake, something is clearly wrong with the world.

- 1/24/11