Man of the woods review

The cover alone of Justin Timberlake's new album, Man of The Woods, speaks volumes about its
content. Severed into two, the 37-year-old appears dressed in a stylish black and white suit on top
juxtaposed with a rugged look of jeans and a flannel shirt on the bottom. Half traditional pop funk-
soul, half adventurous spirit and folk, Man of The Woods brings Justin segmented, creating contrasting
results therein. Justin Timberlake has without a doubt had an enviable career. Something of a
renaissance man across modern art, Timberlake has acquired praise for his work both on the screen
along with through his musical ventures. It is safe to say that his new album was among the most
anticipated in the industry as soon as first announced, marking his first since 2013’s 20/20 Experience.
Do not be fooled by those who will call this work experimental - Man of The Woods goes way beyond
that. Filthy, the first single released, is the song that comes closest to deserving the term, mixing
elements of hard rock, R&B and electronic music into a strange yet tasty composition, sounding almost
like a tribute to Prince. We are talking about an album well attached to already established musical
structures, where you can see clear inspirations for Timberlake resonating throughout. Midnight
Summer Jam and Say Something, with the participation of the great Chris Stapleton, feature a timid
country/folk influence, and don’t truly fulfil the potential that working with Stapleton deserved.
Pharrell Williams also strongly inserts his brand into the production, doubtless reminding listeners of
his previous dancehall pop in tracks like Higher Higher which exudes the retro-modern funk of Daft
Punk’s Random Access Memories, as in the excellent and friendly double of Montana and Breeze Off
The Pond. However, Timberlake also displays some of his worse qualities throughout the
record. Flannel turns out to be insipidly dully displaying the quintessence of mediocrity, exhibiting a
frightening breach in his production. Likewise, Timberlake closes the album in such a generic and
characterless way without ever truly leaving his indelible mark – a truly frustrating shortcoming
especially when JT’s self-proclaimed personality on the album is taken into account, “this album was
influenced by where I came from. It's a personal album” he has previously eulogised. Justin plays it
safe by sticking with his tried and trusted anodyne pop that secured him commercial success with
Can’t Stop The Feeling by creating the poor and forgettable arrangement of Man Of The Woods - the
eponymous tune of the album does not seem to convey anything of the much talked about "personal
side" of the album, simply acting as an addition to Justin’s ever growing catalogue of weak lyrics and
cheap aesthetic. Man Of The Woods clearly sins excessively. The music market has been producing
unnecessarily lengthy pop albums in recent years and this is yet another example. Of the 16 tracks,
Timberlake could easily remove 10 instantly forming a leaner and cohesive album. The same goes for
the duration of the songs, which are often longer than necessary (almost every track lasts more than
4 minutes, which makes it almost seem like a contractual clause), leading to an exhaustive repetition
of not so refined choruses that will only survive for so many minutes. Overall, Justin Timberlake's new
album is satisfactory, but rather inconsistent falling short of being a reinvention. It fails miserably in
its attempt to be conceptual and sounds too shallow for a work said to encompass folk music and act
as a paragon for the pop singer’s personality especially for someone once responsible for redefining
the face of R & B.