#the 20/20 experience

[timberlakegallery]

[thisaintascenereviews]

Hindsight Is (The) 20/20 (Experience): A Ten-Year Retrospective

Few artists have a legacy like Justin Timberlake. Getting his start as a child in his native Tennessee, he rose to prominence as the main member of boy band *NSYNC in the late 90s and early 00s. After releasing a couple of albums with the legendary boy band, where Timberlake really got his start were his first two solo records, 2002's Justified and 2006's FutureSex / LoveSounds. These two records are two of the most influential pop records to exist, especially in the early 00s. The former introduced audiences to a more "adult" Timberlake after his split with *NSYNC, whereas the latter record was a showcase of his artistic and creative mastery, ultimately being an interesting mix of pop, soul, R&B, and hip-hop, all the while including some top notch and futuristic (pardon the pun) from Timbaland. Just when Justin Timberlake was at the top of his game, as well as the charts, he walked away from music and ultimately turned to acting. Unfortunately, he was in some pretty mediocre to badly-received movies in the mid-00s, only to reemerge in January of 2013 with a new single and the announcement of a new record, his first in seven years, to follow.

I became a fan of Justin Timberlake in 2012. After picking up a copy of Michael Jackson's Thriller one day at FYE, I decided to sink my teeth further in the realm of pop music, starting with Justin Timberlake's aforementioned FutureSex / LoveSounds. While I haven't listened to that record in a long time, it was one of the first pop records I really enjoyed, as well as make me realize that pop music had something to say. Pop music could be unique, challenging, and strange, all the while being catchy and slick. Needless to say, I was excited for his upcoming surprise release, dimply titled The 20/20 Experience. Named for how Timberlake asked his friends what they thought of the new material on the record, and they kept saying that it was "music you could see," its title is quite fitting, because this record feels both like an entire experience and an album that you can picture in your mind.

Lead single "Suit and Tie" was the first taste we had from the upcoming record, and in retrospect, this song was the most "straightforward" on it, but it's also one of the most fun songs as well. This song got me very excited for The 20/20 Experience; featuring rapper Jay-Z for some reason, the song is a fun, energetic, and swinging R&B, pop, and almost big band type of song. To this day, "Suit and Tie" is one of my favorites from the album. The album only came out a month after the lead single debuted, which was unlike a lot of records at the time, since a lot of bands and artists took a couple of years before they released a new record, especially after announcing it, but Timberlake helped to usher in "the surprise release." These days, artists can just drop albums out of nowhere, especially when they haven't released anything in a very long time. I'd like to credit Justin Timberlake with helping that idea get off the ground, especially for how successful The 20/20 Experience was. Ultimately being the highest selling album of 2013, let alone almost a million copies alone within its first week, the album was also critically acclaimed and won a couple of Grammy's as well.

This year, 2023, The 20/20 Experience celebrates its tenth birthday, and that's honestly hard to believe. I randomly thought about this album a couple of weeks ago, and realized that it indeed has been a whole ten years since this record came out, so I had the idea to take a trip down memory lane to see why this album this was so successful, as well as ultimately see how the album has held up within the last decade. I think the best way to describe this record is "lightning in a bottle." The right circumstances happened to make this record possible, such as Timberlake walking away from music for a brief time to get some newfound inspiration, and I don't think it could be replicated. Hell, he tried to do it by releasing a second part later on in the same year and it's not as good. It just feels like a collection of B-sides and rejects, versus another complete album. Looking beyond that, however, there are a lot of reasons why this album works so well, and the biggest reason (at least for me) is the songwriting and production.

I would make a huge argument that, like FutureSex / LoveSounds, this record was (and still is) ahead of its time. This record has a lot of very interesting, unorthodox, and off the wall production choices that work quite well. Each song has its own distinct identity, but the album also flows seamlessly well, so it never becomes distracting. Its sound also pulls from certain styles of music that weren't very popular within the mainstream pop sphere, at least not for another couple of years, those being retro soul, disco, and R&B. Timberlake and Timbaland looked to the past with this record, but they turned those ideas and sounds into something almost futuristic. The songs ebb and flow within each other, especially considering that almost every song is between seven and eight minutes. This album is a bit lengthy, clocking in at 70 minutes (not counting the bonus tracks), but every second feels necessary. I wouldn't cut out a second of this album, because none of the time is wasted. Timberlake meticulously crafted a record that is a bit lengthy, but doesn't feel like it at the same time. If anything, this record is more about rhythm, flow, and style compared to accessibility and catchiness, but here's where the album is so genius -- it's still catchy. Even the longer tracks are very catchy in certain moments, so the album still works on a surface level, but it does have many more layers that you can deconstruct with multiple listens.

Moving onto Justin Timberlake's voice, as well as his lyrics, this is where the album somewhat falters for me. Not necessarily for his vocals, as his voice has always been a lot thinner and higher pitched than other male pop singers, but he's got a lot of charisma and charm that oozes through this record. It's impossible not to be charmed by him throughout this entire record, it's so much infectious. It's the lyrics that are where I'd take or leave this record, although I don't think anything has aged poorly, per se. There's nothing on here that's bad, whether it's in retrospect or for the time, but the lyrics aren't very interesting at times, although I don't feel as though that's the point. Certain tracks have some rather cringe-inducing lyrics, I suppose, but I feel as though the focal point of this album is the production, which is very expansive, somewhat experimental, and free-flowing, versus tight and accessible. The lyrics aren't offensive in any way, and they haven't aged poorly in the sense that they were acceptable back then, but now they're not. They're just not that interesting in retrospect, even though a lot of the subject material, which is mostly dedicated to his wife, Jessica Biel, is very commendable, or at its worst, it's very "basic."

The 20/20 Experience, despite its very small faults that it has, is still one of my all time favorite records. I haven't listened to this album in a very long time, kind of because I've grown away from pop and R&B music, although I've found myself enjoying it again here and there, especially recently, but I didn't forget about this record. Even listening to it for the first time in years took me back to actually hearing it for the first time. It sounds just as fresh and interesting as it did a decade ago. Not a lot of albums sound like that, especially from the 21st century. I almost think this album is better now than it was a decade ago, because it still sounds fresh and unique compared to a lot of pop music out there when you listen to this and listen to music released now. If you haven't listened to The 20/20 Experience in awhile, I'd spin this record and check it out, because it's one of the most rewarding, fascinating, and wonderful records I've ever heard.

[justified-lovesounds]

His eras are just 🤌

[rubylioness]

WAIT, is “True Blood” about the cocaine??? 🫢

[owensthoughts]

For some reason, I have a very distinct memory of being in the car with someone random and them scoffing at the line "pocket full of soul." It is a weird line I suppose, weirder that they thought he was saying "salt"

[enitsirk]

Cusping preteen monsters 🥹

[pumpkins-and-penguins]

best part of fantasy high has to be that brennan lee mulligan famously

a. did not attend high school

b. is not from a suburb

[emiko-matsui]

pov murph rolls an 8 at a critical moment

[timberlakegallery]

[mumblesplash]

part 2!!!! [read part one here]

transcript below the cut arranged into stanzas to help show where the rhymes are:

“that’s why they brought gem in? as a failsafe?” as a pawn. we were told to point her at whoever we need gone

“gem won’t hurt her allies. …yet.” the curse she carries will it’s had its eye on her since she lost the other eye she was specially selected for her hunting skill it’s quite the high honor. “wow. how generous.” we try

think about it: why does almost no one fight the curse? “given how fast scott killed skizz last season, i can guess.” [“any pain you spare your friends, you’ll have to suffer worse”?] it’s designed to shut down higher reasoning with stress

[respectissexy]

Emily saying that she wanted to retire Fig so she could have her happy ending and Brennan insisting on her playing Fig is very funny now that we have the context that Brennan's plan for Fig in Junior Year was "wanted by the Feds in retribution for doing too many bits at me."

[g1ngerbeer]

i hope they did go ice skating and it was normal and fun and absolutely nothing bad happened

[justified-lovesounds]

This was an era..

[zhoras-bitch]

Riz Gukgak will forever be my special little guy, because in a world where aspec characters are borderline non-existent, he was not just a cool character who happened to be aroace. He also had an incredibly compelling character arc unique to him as an aspec, and the character arc was so iconic it birthed one of the most memed moments in the entire series.