Subject:  Justin Timberlake Interview! |
Author:
Magda
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Date Posted: 17:47:56 10/11/02 Fri
(Info from mtv.com)
Justin Timberlake "Justify My Love"
-- Jon Wiederhorn, with additional reporting by Jeff Cornell and SuChin Pak
As he bounded into the skyscraper studio to talk about his first solo album, Justified, Justin Timberlake looked to be in high spirits when he warmed up the room with a brainteaser.
"A man lives on the 45th floor of a building," he began. "Every day when he goes to work, he gets in the elevator and hits 'lobby.' But when he comes home, he hits '15' and walks the rest of the way up. Why?" Smiling devilishly, Timberlake said the answer would be revealed after the interview was over.
Clean-shaven and bubbling with boyish charm, Timberlake looked as eager and excited as he was during his first American interviews with 'NSYNC over four years ago. He wore a black T-shirt under a red Pony warm-up jacket with the sleeves pulled up to his elbows, revealing a round black watch surrounded by diamonds on his left wrist and a blue and white wristband and diamond bracelet on his right. He joked with the producers and camera crew, repeatedly impersonating Dustin Hoffman's autistic character from "Rain Man" and smiled warmly as he greeted everyone on the location. Yet this is a newer, more experienced and more adventurous Justin, and his look and attitude belie the frustration, sexual discovery and personal growth he's experienced over the past year.
Not only did he end a three-year romance with Britney Spears, but he also stepped out from his multiplatinum pop group to record a racy, experimental dance album influenced by rap and '70s
R&B. In the process, he demonstrated a new taste for authority by hiring P. Diddy to produce a track for the disc, then axing it — much to Puffy's dismay.
Judging from the pulsing beats, sensual vocals and suggestive lyrics of songs like "(And She Said) Take Me Now" and "Rock Your Body," it would be easy to assume the babyfaced singer had outgrown his squeaky-clean finery and wanted to slip into something more revealing. But while Timberlake agreed that the musical changes on Justified stemmed from personal experiences, he stressed that he wasn't consciously trying to conjure a new image.
"This record was probably the most organic experience I ever had in making music or being creative," he said, hands clasped in his lap. "It's definitely honest. This album is completely me. The lyrics are just the way I say things when I get into those moods that are described in the songs. It's just me on a platter, which is kind of scary."
So, what's in the Justin du jour? It's a tantalizing medley of palpable emotions, flavorful sensations and delectable sounds that chronicle Timberlake's mindframe from the time he and Britney split to the point where he started hitting the clubs and dating again.
"I went through some real changes while I was making this record," Justin explained, crossing his right leg over his left. "There's definitely a continuity there. To hear the person who started off and the person who finished, I hear two different people."
In simple terms, the person who started off was frustrated and angry, devastated from an ugly breakup with a girl he thought he'd be with for the rest of his life.
"I was feeling angst in the form of heartbreak, and it was eating me alive," said Justin, adding that he started working on Justified as a sort of therapy. "Writing a couple of songs on the record helped me deal with things. It was like a whole big spa treatment. I just got better and better and at the end of the record I was like this person who had just let it all go and said, 'Wow, I'm over it. I'm past this. I'm in a good place.' "
Helping Timberlake find that place were hotshot producers the Neptunes and Timbaland, whose individual styles and sounds mark Justified like thumbprints. The Neptunes' Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, producers for the likes of Jay-Z, Mystikal and Ludacris, lend a sultry flow to songs like "Nothin' Else" and "Last Night." And various cuts, including the album opener "Señorita," contain breathy, spoken-word passages reminiscent of Britney's "I'm a Slave 4 U" (which was also a Neptunes production). Timbaland's tracks combine epileptic beats, unconventional songwriting and lots of layering with Timberlake's soaring vocals. As different as the producers are, they both imbued the singer's music with a more grownup, grinding dancefloor vibe. A hint of his more urban environment came with the Neptunes-produced single "Like I Love You," which blends Michael Jackson-circa-Off the Wall vocals with rapping by the Clipse.
"Initially people will be surprised to hear my voice in this venue, but I think at the same time people will recognize that it's not contrived at all," Timberlake said, his serious expression a sober bid for street cred. "I grew up on Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, and Al Green lives down the street from me in Memphis — literally five minutes from me. That's what I grew up on. And hip-hop is what determines pop culture right now."
While the rap and R&B references stand out like cleavage in a Mariah video, Timberlake said Justified was also inspired by a genre of music even whiter than 'NSYNC's.
"I love the Eagles and Steve Miller Band," the singer admitted. "On 'Like I Love You,' the guitar comes in and there's a crazy rhythm, and initially that reminded me of the Doobie Brothers on acid." Timberlake stopped talking and broke into a human beatbox rhythm, followed by a boy-noise impression of an electric guitar before singing the Doobies' "Long Train Running" in falsetto.
"I don't know if people will get this, but the way I treated my vocals in the verse of 'Take It From Here' was like [Radiohead's] Thom Yorke or [Coldplay's] Chris Martin," he added. "To me, Radiohead and Coldplay are the modern-day Beatles. I would love to do a duet with Chris Martin someday. That would just be something so original, and I know I could pull it off. It may not happen, but it doesn't hurt to put it out there."
While no members of the Britrock elite appear on Justified, Janet Jackson and Bubba Sparxxx managed to pitch in. Timberlake recruited the Underdogs to produce "Still on My Brain," Brian McKnight for "Never Again" and P. Diddy on "Love Don't Love Me," but when it came time to select the final track list, P. Diddy's ditty didn't make the cut.
"I just thought it was too friendly," said Timberlake, addressing an obviously touchy subject. "I felt there were songs that I did that were too friendly and they weren't big enough and didn't have enough balls as far as sonics. I think 'Love Don't Love Me' is a surefire song to get hella buzz on the radio, but that doesn't mean you should use it on this project."
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