Image via YouTube
Big day for Justin Timberlake. Earlier this week he announced his new album Man of the Woodscomplete withsmoldering trailer.The internet immediately flipped and preemptively decided he was going country or, as the modern parlance goes, "doing a Miley Cyrus" (when a white artist shakes off associations with genres like hip-hop, in favour of their 'roots,' à la Miley in 2017). The first new song of the Man of the Woods era proved people wrong. Clearly, it is a more complex beast."Filthy"is as funk and R&B-indebted as anything that Timberlake has ever done, and had people thinking that maybe this wasn't the country album we'd expected after all. Then, uh, he dropped the tracklist:
We know this one now but if you’d asked me to guess based on the trailer I’d straight up have said it was a mid-tempo one about farming by hand."Midnight Summer Jam"
Sounds like a parody of chart songs by The Lonely Island."Sauce"
Probably a Trap song about Maple Syrup"Man of the Woods""Higher, Higher"
"Wave"
Does Kanye know about this? "Supplies"
This is like calling a pop song “Table” or “Stuff” or “To-Do List.”"Morning Light" (ft. Alicia Keys)
More like Morning Wood because, well, forests. :("Say Something" (ft. Chris Stapleton)
Is this a challenge? Like, SAY SOMETHING! I’M DOING A SONG WITH CHRIS STAPLETON. I DARE YOU TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THIS NOT BEING A COUNTRY ALBUM."Hers" (Interlude)
Some shit about his wife idk."Flannel"
Flannels, man. Did you know the material has origins in Wales? It does! It’s been around since at least the 1500s. Isn’t that wild? Clearly, someone read all of your Bon Iver jokes in 2010 and has now properly decided to answer them with some of his own. Who the fuck does this guy think he is? Father John Misty? Yes, flannel, the infamous flannel. Bow to flannel. Relish its glory, its softness. Soft, and warm, but not too warm. Kurt Cobain wore flannels. Hipsters wear flannels, but so do construction workers and lesbians and farmers, the real salt of the earth people. And what’s better about flannel is that it’s always appropriate no matter the season AND no matter the genre. Everyone wears flannels now! It’s about time it had a song of its own! Looking forward to the follow-up song about thick knit sweaters and perhaps a smoking jacket too."Montana"
This country rework of Migos’ "Hannah Montana" is going to be fire, but like the campfire kind that you have to light in Montana because it’s cold there. Do you get it? Montana! "Breeze off the Pond"
Smoke on the water?"Livin’ off the Land"
Picture this: You’re a portly chap in his 60s, and you’re in charge of the record label that signed a deal with JT and you have to put up with this… Experiment. Artists, am I right? Yes, I say, Justin my boy. What are some “rugged” things? Living off the land is certainly rugged! People have done it for centuries whether they want to or not. This phrase, within the context of this Naturalist concept album that is Man of the Woods, presumes there is a righteousness in living off the land when the truth is we all live off the land because that’s literally where the food comes from."The Hard Stuff"
Liquor? Cocaine? Heroin? Or like, granite? Concrete? Marble? Diamond? Wurtzite boron nitride? Lonsdaleite? Exactly how “hard” are we talking here Justin?"Young Man"
Neil Young cover.So now you know.Follow Noisey on Twitter.
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The very inclusion of a song called "Flannel" drove us too far to care about judging it before we heard it, so we guessed what it'd sound like based only on the song titles. Thanks."Filthy"
We know this one now but if you’d asked me to guess based on the trailer I’d straight up have said it was a mid-tempo one about farming by hand."Midnight Summer Jam"
Sounds like a parody of chart songs by The Lonely Island."Sauce"
Probably a Trap song about Maple Syrup"Man of the Woods""Higher, Higher"
Does Kanye know about this? "Supplies"
This is like calling a pop song “Table” or “Stuff” or “To-Do List.”"Morning Light" (ft. Alicia Keys)
More like Morning Wood because, well, forests. :("Say Something" (ft. Chris Stapleton)
Is this a challenge? Like, SAY SOMETHING! I’M DOING A SONG WITH CHRIS STAPLETON. I DARE YOU TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THIS NOT BEING A COUNTRY ALBUM."Hers" (Interlude)
Some shit about his wife idk."Flannel"
Flannels, man. Did you know the material has origins in Wales? It does! It’s been around since at least the 1500s. Isn’t that wild? Clearly, someone read all of your Bon Iver jokes in 2010 and has now properly decided to answer them with some of his own. Who the fuck does this guy think he is? Father John Misty? Yes, flannel, the infamous flannel. Bow to flannel. Relish its glory, its softness. Soft, and warm, but not too warm. Kurt Cobain wore flannels. Hipsters wear flannels, but so do construction workers and lesbians and farmers, the real salt of the earth people. And what’s better about flannel is that it’s always appropriate no matter the season AND no matter the genre. Everyone wears flannels now! It’s about time it had a song of its own! Looking forward to the follow-up song about thick knit sweaters and perhaps a smoking jacket too.
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This country rework of Migos’ "Hannah Montana" is going to be fire, but like the campfire kind that you have to light in Montana because it’s cold there. Do you get it? Montana! "Breeze off the Pond"
Smoke on the water?"Livin’ off the Land"
Picture this: You’re a portly chap in his 60s, and you’re in charge of the record label that signed a deal with JT and you have to put up with this… Experiment. Artists, am I right? Yes, I say, Justin my boy. What are some “rugged” things? Living off the land is certainly rugged! People have done it for centuries whether they want to or not. This phrase, within the context of this Naturalist concept album that is Man of the Woods, presumes there is a righteousness in living off the land when the truth is we all live off the land because that’s literally where the food comes from."The Hard Stuff"
Liquor? Cocaine? Heroin? Or like, granite? Concrete? Marble? Diamond? Wurtzite boron nitride? Lonsdaleite? Exactly how “hard” are we talking here Justin?"Young Man"
Neil Young cover.So now you know.Follow Noisey on Twitter.