Justin Timberlake's sixth album dabbles in the club-ready sounds of modern R&B and hip-hop, with remarkably little to say
. Dabbling in the club-ready sounds of modern R&B and hip-hop—with help from producers like Rob Knox, Danja, and longtime collaborator Timbaland—presents a harder-edged JT, who tries a little of everything over 77 minutes but adds remarkably little to the pop landscape.
Once an effortless trend-setter who brought sweaty club-funk into the mainstream with “SexyBack” and lit up a million wedding receptions with “Suit & Tie,” Timberlake now sounds like he’s playing catch-up on a decade of pop developments. “Memphis” summons the moody beats and Auto-Tuned singing of vintage.
The album nears the finish line with “Paradise,” a vaguely spiritual, blandly inspirational reunion of Timberlake’s old NSYNC bandmates, with whom he appeared at the VMAs last year. Maybe they’re whetting the appetite for a full reunion tour, or maybe JT is trying to have it both ways, playing the millennial nostalgia card while continuing to center his own career . “I’ve been waiting forever / Right here for this moment,” the singer croons in communion with his boyhood bandmates.
What exactly “this moment” entails, the song is too maddeningly vague to explain. “Everything is happening / And it’s just what I imagined”—it’s a bundle of platitudes, an apt climax for an album that’s everything you thought it was but has nothing to say. –
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