(All songs produced by Timbaland, Justin Timberlake & Danja unless stated)
1. Futuresex / Lovesound | 4:02 | 3.25 - 3.5
Taken a little more seriously than it really is.
2. Sexyback (Featuring Timbaland) | 4:03 | 3.5 - 3.75
This song has really lost it’s luster over time though. Still, regardless an intelligent song for what it is, not what it is about.
3. Sexy Ladies / Let Me Talk To You (Prelude) | 3 - 3.25
4. My Love (Featuring T.I) | 5
Very layered, artistic beat, operatic singing, and T.I’s stellar flow. Nothing goes wrong here.
5. Lovestoned / I Think She Knows Interlude | 7:24 | 4 - 4.25
I’m more into the violin strings in Lovestoned. I like the little concept that spread out throughout the four (in total) tracks, it’s an interesting pop moment that people should consider.
6. What Comes Around ... / ... Comes Around | 7:29 | 4 - 4.25
Continues to develop very nicely on Comes Around.
7. Chop Me Up (Featuring Timbaland & Three Six Mafia) | 5:04 | 2.25 - 2.75
It goes on for a little too long, I would’ve preferred just Justin singing only, Timbaland doing his usual backup vocals thing, and Three Six eliminated. I do sing the chorus whenever I hear it though.
8. Damn Girl (Featuring Will.I.Am) | 5:12 | 4 (Produced by Jawbreakers)
A very fun, poppy song. The Will.I.Am verse doesn’t really bother the flow either.
9. Summer Love / Set The Mood (Prelude) | 6:24 | 4.25 - 4.5
Summer Love holds a special place in my heart, and it really helps that it’s a all around very good song about the innocent of summer love. I have grown more partial to the interlude though, it is well thought out.
10. Until The End Of Time (Featuring The Benjamin Wright Orchestra) | 5:23 | 4
All around good song. I wonder if a rapper would ever try productions more artistic like this album provides.
11. Losing My Way | 5:22 | 2.75 - 3
Apartside the inspiration used to create this song, everything trips on it’s on feet.
12. (Another Song) All Over Again | 3 (Produced by Rick Rubin)
Overall Rating: 43 - 45.25 | 3.7 / 5 | 71 - 75% | Impressive; well above average; TRY IT
This album is seminal to me, because it was during a time where I started to dive into the music world, which was around the 6th grade. This recently came out, and I was definitely impressed with the world of pop music, and what this (obessively girl loved from my old friend) Justin Timberlake had to offer.
Now it’s four years removed from that album, and I still give it spins, partly due to the fact that this was Timbaland’s seemingly final great moment of producing in pop (Well until Drake’s Thank Me Now existed, but that’s another story), and Danja’s breakthrough. It’s a hell of an album, because there’s a sub-conscious idea that all these free-flowing elements really fit together like the complete pop package that their supposed to do. I also listen to it because of the singing, obviously.
This album although not realized at the time, is a small icon, a small landscape for what the pop album really had to offer. Sure, not every element works (Losing My Way, Chop Me Up), but when the moments truly work, such as the start of My Love onto the end of ...Comes Around, it’s an exhilirating ride, because all these instruments, the melodic singing of Timberlake, it was genuine and just great on the ears.
Don’t let my humble rating influence you otherwise, this is truly a great pop moment. The only true flaws that I saw within this album was the lack of Neptunes production at the time, (They were at some of their best moments when they worked with Timberlake, only rivaled by Clipse, yet they’ve fallen off with them too) and some of the moments where Timberlake or Timbaland tried a little too hard, such as the last two songs on the album, where the pace slows down.
But, remember this is a definite pop moment that works successfully and admirably.
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