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Unexpectedly, I picked up a copy of the album yesterday and can report that it is PHENOMENAL. If Justified perfectly captured the moment when the zeitgeist shifted so that the idea of an ex-boy-band member doing r&b-influenced pop suddenly seemed "credible" after all (and yes, that might all have been an irrelevance to you and me, but it was still nice), then FutureSex / LoveSounds (a title at once both preposterous and right, for reasons I'll come on to) takes it to the next level: you will believe in Justim Timberlake, auteur.
Why that album title is so perfect: because it simultaneously tells you that this album is going to be excessive and over-the-top (with lengthy songs that shift between genres and segue into 'interludes' that introduce the next song, and lush production that crams in everything but the kitchen sink), but also that it is totally preoccupied with the basic concerns of pop. Sex. Love. Sounds. It also tells you "I'm feeling as preposterous as Prince", which is a useful thing to know, going in.
That album cover tells you everything you need to know, too - yeah, it's a joke, but the joke is: "I am smashing up DISCO AS YOU KNOW IT! Only playing, disco, you know I love you." It says: I am so familiar with the rules of pop that I can break them, just for fun, and yet still stay the essence of pop itself. It says: CRRRUNCH.
Favourite track at the moment is still 'My Love' - it's a ballad built around slowed-down old school rave! Or maybe the rave bits aren't even slowed down, it's just that the beat falls differently... |
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