Attn Archaic: J. Timberlake Bringing Back the Sexy
faux_rillz
14,343 Posts
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/13/arts/music/13sann.html?_r=1&oref=sloginCritic's NotebookThe Return of Justin Timberlake: He???s a Pretty Face, and Proud of It By KELEFA SANNEHPublished: July 13, 2006[/b]???It???s kind of disappointing and disgusting in a way, how some people are focusing on how we look.??? Another day at MTV, another new pop star fighting an old battle. You work hard on your album and on your live show, and what do you get? A bunch of fans who don???t even notice; they???re too busy ???drooling??? over you. It makes you feel cheap; even worse, ???it taints the music.???A heartfelt feminist critique of the music industry. Except that it was delivered by Ryan Ross, the guitarist of the all-male emo band Panic! at the Disco; it was posted on mtv.com early on Tuesday morning. And although his rant may have been a bit theatrical (like his music), his point was a familiar one. Male pop stars are generally expected to play down their own physical appeal, or at least pretend to.And then, on the other end of the spectrum, there???s Justin Timberlake, who has evolved from Mouseketeer to boy-bander to pop star. (Only Dr. Moreau knows what comes next.) Last week, three and a half years after the release of his solo debut album, ???Justified,??? Mr. Timberlake returned with a new single, ???SexyBack??? (Jive). And while Mr. Ross says he is outraged by all the ???drooling??? his band inspires, Mr. Timberlake seems eager to inspire a little more. He is that rarest of creatures: a male pop star who is willing to sing about being sexy.That doesn???t mean, of course, that male pop stars are obliged to avoid the subject. From Usher (who became the new Justin Timberlake in 2004, a year and a half after Mr. Timberlake became the new Usher) to Chris Brown, we have plenty of male heartthrobs who inspire female ??? and, whether they know it or not, male ??? screams with every falsetto note and piston-smooth dance move. But stars like Usher and Mr. Brown acknowledge their own appeal only indirectly, by singing about the appealing women who just can???t resist them. And rappers take this strategy one step further, shrugging off sex appeal as a mere byproduct of fame or money. As 50 Cent put it, dismissively, ???When you sell like Eminem, you get plenty of groupie love.??? The message is clear: sex appeal matters only if you???re broke. Which means no self-respecting man ??? even one often seen shirtless ??? would brag about it.In this context, Mr. Timberlake???s new song is a surprising act of defiance. ???SexyBack??? was produced by Timbaland, along with Mr. Timberlake and Timbaland???s prot??g?? Nate Hills, and there???s a techno-derived dance beat so sharp and so emaciated that it can???t help sounding paranoid. The lyrics begin with Mr. Timberlake purring his manifesto: ???I???m bringing sexy back/Them other boys don???t know how to act.??? So he teaches them.There is a woman in this story: a ???dirty babe,??? according to Mr. Timberlake. (Naturally, the epithet sounds more appealing when he sings it.) But she???s a minor character, upstaged by the ???dirty babe??? behind the microphone. And not just upstaged: the more he sings, the more Mr. Timberlake sounds as if he???s campaigning to replace her. ???Girl, let me make up for the things you lack,??? he moans. After all, she???s not the one ???bringing sexy back???; she???s just watching him do it.Surely it???s not a coincidence that this song borrows a line from Mr. Timberlake???s most famous ex-girlfriend. Britney Spears once sang, ???I???m a slave for you???; now he is singing, ???Baby, I???m your slave.??? With its slightly sadistic beat and purposefully repetitive melody, ???SexyBack??? evokes the vague menace of Ms. Spears???s best dance tracks. It???s the clammy, claustrophobic sound of a pop star in ???shackles,??? putting on a show for us.???SexyBack??? brings to mind another pop hit: ???Promiscuous,??? the irresistible chart-topping collaboration between Timbaland and Nelly Furtado. In that song, Timbaland and Ms. Furtado trade playful, sexless pickup lines: ???Promiscuous girl, you???re teasing me???; ???Promiscuous boy, let???s get to the point.???Oddly enough, Timbaland has slightly better chemistry with Mr. Timberlake. ???Look at those hips,??? Timbaland raps. Also: ???You make me smile,??? ???Come here, child??? and ???Get your sexy on.??? After each phrase, Mr. Timberlake croons back his flirty (and somewhat cryptic) response: ???Go ???head, be gone with it.??? With that, the ???dirty babe??? first introduced in the second stanza officially becomes a third wheel.It???s possible to hear ???SexyBack??? as a reaction to the same state of affairs that inspired Mr. Ross???s amusing ??? and probably, by now, infamous ??? interview. To be sure, male pop stars don???t face as much pressure to look good as their female counterparts do. And that may be why they complain about it more. Certainly if a female pop star complained about ???drooling??? male fans, she would be called na??ve, old-fashioned, a spoilsport. But Mr. Ross sounded alarmed to hear that his concerts drew some fans who were ???just there because they heard we were hot.??? What, they didn???t care about his personality?Plenty of male pop stars through the ages have flaunted their own appeal. But it???s been nearly two decades since Prince posed naked on the cover of ???Lovesexy??? (perhaps that coinage helped inspire ???SexyBack???), and the taboo against male preening is stronger than ever. For example, ???Sexy Love,??? a hit by the R&B singer Ne-Yo, conforms to the current status quo: unlike Mr. Timberlake, Ne-Yo goes out of his way to let listeners know he???s describing a woman (???I???m so addicted to how she???s the sweetest drug???), not himself.Mr. Timberlake isn???t the new Prince, not by a long shot. Unlike Prince, Mr. Timberlake hasn???t made a career of acting as his own object of desire. And there???s no particular reason to think that on his forthcoming album, ???FutureSex/LoveSounds,??? due Sept. 12, he will continue the fight on behalf of ???sexy??? boys everywhere. (Though it seems his assault on the lowly space bar WillNotEnd/AnytimeSoon.)Still, ???SexyBack??? feels, in its own small way, like a bold move, an unexpected twist on the thug-love duet. It???s not the kind of song likely to change the way the other boys sing. But it???s a song that makes you think about the things the other boys don???t ??? can???t ??? sing about.
Comments
Feel that. Or you have the heart of a milkdud.
The use of "Mr." is pretty standard for him (as is throwing shade).
There, that's my article on the subject.
and what about his musical output, you're not saying anything about that
Excellent.
the last justin timberlake album was SOLID.
R&B album of the year.
Trans: Sounds like something Basement Jaxx couldn't get the binman to take away.
The "Mr." stuff is in the NYT style-book (akak official newsroom style/policy). Most memorable for when they referred to Meatloaf as "Mr. Loaf"....
I see. The irony, of course, is that although I'm sure that all the Mr./Ms. business is some attempt at connoting respect, the end result (in matters of popular culture, anyway) is often a tone of slight snottiness and derision, not entirely unlike Nino Brown putting the venom to "Miz Hawkins" at the end of New Jack City. Or, more academically, like those turn-of-the-century photos with African tribesmen posed next to dudes in top hats.
Irony is lost on the people that populate the newsrooms of major daily newspapers...
like 90% of music journalism that article was an exercise in how to say nothing using the largest amount of random adjectives and vacuous metaphors possible.
Only somebody lacking a basic concept of the sexy would say that.
No doubt - what do you think they teach you in j-school?
http://www.vibe.com/music/audio/2006/07/07/justin_timberlake_sexyback/
complete with a pic of timberlake sporting alieniverson's favorite trend
The article is fine, not KS's most insightful work but it gets the point across pretty clearly. Like most of his articles, its more about fighting for positioning artists in certain ways in discourse, a rearrangement of our expectations and recieved wisdom about what is 'good' and 'worthy' of discussion. I don't have a problem with it.
Although I agree with this w/r/t most music crit:
i don't think this article is particularly related to that problem uh at all. Its pretty standard big-paper journalism. If you were having trouble understanding his argument get 1 reading comprehension.
Somehow, I knew you were going to show up and cosign this song.
that's fucking horrible.
watch it blow up..
Exactly..............Becky and them.
the streetwear train robber look is not really coming off
on anybody
I am ABSOLUTELY NOT feeling the train robber look, or that very unfortunate new track.
Sorry Justin...
this new song is dookie
same ole Timbaland ....Hit ...Miss ....Hit ...Miss