Justin Timberlake - A Man of Many Talents

I am astounded at the mass success that Justin Timberlake has achieved throughout his career as a very versatile performer and entertainer. What is most admirable about Timberlake is his uncanny ability to morph into any role (either song writer, producer, actor, or businessman) in order to attain greatness. His true versatility makes him a very strong character that is relatable to many types of audiences. He has class, talent, and a great sense of humor that enables him to thrive on a variety of stages. While I enjoy his singles because of their catchy beats and melodic sounds, I also enjoy watching Timberlake on the big screen in movies like the Social Network and laughing at his amusing persona on Saturday Night Live.

His crazy versatility makes me admire his musical work that much more. I feel that many artists’ success can be attributed to their portrayal of their great personalities. When they are able to have other outlets outside of the music that they compose, it provides audiences insight into who they truly are. While some use this for mere publicity and shallow popularity, others are true and it is reflected accurately through their music as well. Because of his wide spread of work, his talent is able to shine on multiple levels. Despite this, I feel that you can see how talented a songwriter and entertainer Timberlake is simply through his hit singles. Timberlake is one of the artists that is also able to greatly adapt to a constantly changing musical environment. He has successfully stayed in mainstream popular music because he has a very ‘cool’ aura surrounding him. His music is able to mimic this with smooth soulful vibes. His music is also very memorable and songs that I used to listen to by him years ago can be sung on command if I just read the song title. While I originally struggled to think of past songs I liked of Timberlake, songs like “SexyBack”, bring back to me very memorable melodies.

Lately, Timberlake has resurged in his musical career. While he has been busy becoming popular in many other forms of media such as the movies, Timberlake decided to return to his roots when he released two hit singles “Suit and Tie” and “Mirrors”. These songs were fresh and sounded very unique when they were first released. They stick with me and (right now at least) I’m always happy to put it on as background music when I’m driving or working. While his music may not be very deep lyrically, his smooth voice enables the fabric of the melody to merge with the soft countermelody of                the synthesized sounds. While taking a closer look at the analysis and aspects of Timberlake’s most recent hit singles, I’ve noticed that he seems like a reverse Bob Dylan. His voice is very interesting yet his lyrics are rather lacking in meaning. While artists of the past were able to tell whole stories and release impactful messages through their songs, I feel that Timberlake’s music serves more of a purpose to entertain and please people on the surface rather than deeply move them.

While the lyrics may be lacking upon in-depth analysis, I feel that I am able to ignore this for casual listening. I correlate Timberlake’s most recent style of music with the carefree attitude that was illustrated in the remade Great Gatsby movie. It might be because we just discussed this movie, but I feel that this is a good comparison because both focus a lot on production quality A LOT. The vibrant colors of Baz Luhrmann’s remake of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, greatly mirror the sonic vibrancy of Timberlake’s music that make it seem a perfect fit for party style listening. Overall, I would strongly stand by Timberlake as a multi-talented versatile artist. I greatly appreciate listening to his singles and I can’t wait to see what his new album will bring. Listen to some of my favorite hits recently: