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Review: Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience

Rating: 6.7

Seven years after gracing us with two of the greatest pop singles of all time (My Love & What Goes Around...Comes Around), Justin Timberlake's finally put out some new music. Thank god too. I was pretty tired of having Justin Bieber as the sole claimant to the now permanently vacated throne for the King of Pop.  If nothing else, the marketing blitz that's being put on for this album has been something to behold.  Music publications everywhere are tracking his every move, and he seems to be appearing on every single TV show, all at once.

Now for the music.  It's certainly interesting.  The average song is 7 minutes long, and the song structure is all over the place.  However, it feels more like lazy editing than grand ambition.  Most of the songs don't even have enough good melodic ideas to fill out a standard 4 minute track, let alone the 7 minute behemoths here.  Just as an example, the chorus to "Let the Groove Get In" is sung 60 times in the song.  I don't care how good a melody is.  I don't wanna hear it 60 times.  There's a reason why everyone can't stand the Black Eyed Peas' I Gotta Feeling.

The drums programming is still top notch, as it always is when Timbaland's involved, but the rest of the production work really suffers from the absence of Danja.  His synths were what really put songs like SexyBack and Summer Love over the top, and, without him, everything comes off rather flat and boring.  It's a shame that such a great promotional campaign is being run for such mediocre music.

Key Tracks: Mirrors, Tunnel Vision

 Track-by-Track Rating:
  1. Pusher Love Girl - 6.5
  2. Suit & Tie - 7.0
  3. Don't Hold the Wall - 6.5
  4. Strawberry Bubblegum - 6.0
  5. Tunnel Vision - 7.5
  6. Spaceship Coupe - 7.0
  7. That Girl - 6.0
  8. Let the Groove Get In - 7.0
  9. Mirrors - 7.5
  10. Blue Ocean Floor - 7.0

Since I don't think I've ever actually rated an album before, here's a bit of info to give the scale some meaning:

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