Culture

Though never previously a fan of Justin Timberlake and his music, I always considered him to have a lot of potential. Admiring his vocal talent and the reverence with which he channels his influences (namely Michael Jackson and Prince), I hoped that one day the planets would align and he would come out with a colourful, coherent, well-produced pop record to put his contemporaries to shame. After hearing almost unanimous praise for The 20/20 Experience, his first record in almost seven years, I got an inkling that that day had finally come. Had it? Is The 20/20 Experience the illustrious magnum opus I had hoped for? No, but it comes pretty close.

The 20/20 Experience is certainly adventurous as far as post-millennial pop albums go, with most of its songs clocking in around seven minutes and featuring numerous changes in key, rhythm, and even genre. The record announces its own epic scale with a series of lavish string crescendos, sliding elegantly into buoyant opener and album high point “Pusher Love Girl.” The first five of its eight minutes see Justin warbling soulfully over a bouncing, infectious rhythm, making the hackneyed love/drug parallel through a series of cheesy-as-sin lyrics: his sweetheart is reportedly his “heroin”, his “plum wine,” and his “hydroponic candy jellybean.” But when most pop songs would call it quits, “Pusher Love Girl” comes hurtling back for an addictive remixed outro (the “I’m just a j-j-j-j-junkie for your love” refrain will likely be my favourite hook of 2013). For three glorious minutes, amidst heavy thuds of bass and his own chopped-up vocals, JT is the best pop musician in the world.

Heartbreakingly, this is a high Justin cannot sustain over 70 minutes. A number of moments on the album come close to the majesty of “Pusher Love Girl”, such as the oriental-flavoured, Timbaland-heavy “Don’t Hold The Wall,” and the hypnotic tribal chants of “Let the Groove Get In”, but for the most part The 20/20 Experience wallows in the slick yet unremarkable neo-soul introduced by second track “Suit & Tie.” If these songs featured more diverse and thought-provoking lyrics then they’d be less interchangeable, but when they’re all brimming with the same goo-goo eyed, erotic imagery, it takes effort to tell them apart.

And that’s what makes The 20/20 Experience so frustrating – hearing it shatter the norms of modern pop music in some ways (creative production, bold song lengths, grandiose scale) and totally conform to them in others (homogeneity within itself, uninspired lyrics and themes). But even if it falls short of the high hopes I had for it, The 20/20 Experience is still the best mainstream pop album I’ve heard in a very long time.