Justin Timberlake (JT for short) is an uber-talented musician and actor. He just recently wedded Jessica Biel, of Seventh Heaven fame and he sure made that look easy too. Why wouldn’t he, everything JT does looks easy and is as good as gold. Since his Disney days JT has been a consistent winner at every turn.
That’s where the love affair with JT stops. Actually it’s how he wins, that’s what will be dissected here today for you. To be specific it’s his immense musical talent that is being put into question.
Justin has been known for some time now as a great musician and has some great (Future Sex/Love Sounds some call a classic) albums to his credit to back up this claim. Yet there is one consistent trait inherent in all his albums, they are all demonstrations in musical charm and pop sophistication and they feature heavy involvement super producer Timbaland. The driving force behind all his greatest hits has in fact been Timbaland. He has given JT number 1 hit, after number 1 hit like they are going out of style. Don’t believe it? It was Timbaland who produced Cry Me A River, Sexy Back, My Love, and What goes around… Comes around; which are all #1 hits from both his albums Justified (2002) and Future Sex/Love Sounds (2006). How was this gone unnoticed? To further drive the point home his other hit from Justified, Rock Your Body was the work of super producers The Neptunes. His new hit single Suit & Tie featuring rap mogul Jay-Z is, as you may have guessed it, Timbaland’s work once again. Justin’s new album won’t disappoint, that comes as a similar guarantee as death and taxes; he’s back on the teat, going to the well once again. As seen previously this well only comes up gold and is well stocked by Timbaland.
There is no shame in having such a backing. It’s similar to a politician that has powerful friends that can provide financial support into their campaign. This normally results in success for all parties involved. Plus in music this is a common occurrence, if you can get a super producer to take all your work seriously its’ a blessing. Dr. Dre and his careful handling of Eminem and Game’s careers, the same goes for Jermaine Dupri with Lil Bow-Wow and the list goes on.
Point is as long as JT continues to go to his magic well; we may never know exactly how good he is. We won’t ever find out if he sinks or swims in the deep end with out his life vest on. Many artists have shown the depth of their talent by switching up producers or producing their own songs. It’s just a different level that not all our favorite musicians can reach, and the popular ones don’t have to. Justin Timberlake seems to have that next level ability; hopefully one day he puts it to the test. Sink or swim, at least he’d be riding a bike for the first time without the training wheels on.
Furious Rebukes 