A new Justin Timberlake album is always important news, because this is a man who has been making extreme, genre-spanning bangers for over two decades, in spite of a long line of regrettable hairstyles. Over his mammoth career, JT has generously given us such anthems as "Rock Your Body," "Cry Me A River" and "SexyBack," so the prospect of new music is a genuinely exciting one. But in more exciting news – he's working on that new music with longtime collaborator and Neptunes mastermind Pharrell Williams, who produced more than half of JT's debut solo album Justified.
Timberlake told Variety about the new project, which currently doesn't have a release date (he states "I have no idea when I'll put it out"), but which according to the singer, is "more singular" than his previous work. Describing the sound of the new material, he elaborates: "If [The 20/20 Experience] sounded like it literally surrounds your entire head, this stuff feels more like it just punches you between the eyes." Rad.
Chipping in, Pharrell discusses the more emotional side of the recording process: "I would pay Justin a huge compliment to say he's just discovering who he is now […] For the biggest pop stars in the world, the place where they have the most trouble is honesty […] But if you're able to really screenshot your own vulnerability, and frame it properly, and colour-correct it, then it becomes something that every human can relate to. And I think Justin is in the place where he's mastering that right now."I don't know about you but this sounds very much to me like Pharrell is essentially leading Justin Timberlake in guided meditations and gets him to do like, a dream journal in order to make him the best pop star he can be. And any album which results from that is one I want to hear as soon as humanly possible. But in the meantime, you can just stare at this photograph (below) of the two of them in the studio, reunited once more:
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(Image via YouTube.)A photo posted by Justin Timberlake (@justintimberlake) on Mar 17, 2016 at 6:00pm PDT