{"id":41931,"date":"2010-04-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/justified\/"},"modified":"2010-04-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-04-01T00:00:00","slug":"justified","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/justified\/","title":{"rendered":"Justified"},"content":{"rendered":"

Justin Timberlake is one of the few modern day pop-stars that I actually really dig.\u00a0 He\u2019s handsome, is a fantastic dancer and although vocally limited, he makes up for it with some seriously great songs and a genuine desire to entertain his audience.\u00a0 I\u2019m no fan of boy-bands, in fact I find them nauseating so I (probably along with many) first discovered JT when he released his debut solo album Justified<\/i> in 2002.\u00a0 Not only was I instantly smitten but I appreciated his style and for some reason his music sounded fresh and edgy when so many of the R&B\/pop artists of the day were turning out generic clich\u00e9-laden fluff.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

When listening to Justified<\/i> today the thing that first strikes me is the obvious influence that Michael Jackson had on this kid and how well Timberlake was able to weave those sounds that MJ made his own into his own music, however subtle they may be (\u201cAnd She Said (Take Me Now)\u201d).\u00a0 It\u2019s also evident that although JT was still part of \u2019NSYNC at the time, he was not only testing the waters, but hell-bent on creating a sound and career for that matter of his very own.\u00a0 Even on the love songs, the young JT never sounds mushy or out of his depths, he actually plays the romantic quite well as evidenced by songs like \u201cTake It From Here\u201d and \u201cStill On My Brain.\u201d\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

A lot of credit for this record\u2019s ultimate success must go to Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams who co-wrote most of the album with JT and its their understanding and guidance that no doubt made these songs as great as they are.\u00a0 Some of them became big hits on all sorts of charts and deservedly so because they are insanely catchy and well crafted pop songs.\u00a0 A case in point is of course the dace\/pop gem \u201cRock Your Body\u201d which is about as perfect as modern pop can be.\u00a0 It\u2019s got a great hook and funky bass-line that makes it impossible to hear and remain still at the same time.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

Another hit single was the album\u2019s opener \u201cSenorita\u201d which is a mid-tempo, Latin-inspired dance song that still sounds contemporary.\u00a0 The most experimental moment of the record was another hit for JT and remains one of his finest moments to date in his short but illustrious career.\u00a0 \u201cCry Me A River\u201d is a absolute gem with which the team unloaded their full bag of tricks on and it worked a treat.\u00a0 The layered vocals and subtle orchestration would go on to form part of the sound that would turn JT\u2019s next album FutureSex\/LoveSounds <\/i>into one of the defining pop albums of the decade.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

There\u2019s virtually no filler here as even the album tracks offer something unique and fresh.\u00a0 \u201cLast Night\u201d is probably the best of them as it finds JT pushing himself in the vocal stakes and it also sports one of his sharpest lyrics.\u00a0 \u201cNothin\u2019 Else\u201d is also great and although it\u2019s a straight forward love song, again they have worked it into a slick and beautiful sounding track that is topped off with some more layered vocals to compensate for JT\u2019s limited lower register.\u00a0 <\/o:p><\/p>\n

There is not much more I can say about this one except for saying that I cannot for the life of me understand the harsh criticism that is too often directed at this young man.\u00a0 There\u2019s more to Justin Timberlake that good-looks and the media\u2019s obsession with his private life.\u00a0 Justified<\/i> is a mature, well-crafted pop album that was a huge success for that very reason.<\/o:p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":30277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7888],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-41931","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-justin-timberlake","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41931"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}