Justified

No.

This will Rock Your Body.

I was thinking wow he must have a black producer or something and then I learned he was singing songs originally written for Michael Jackson and it all made sense

i did not expect to enjoy this as much as i did

3/10 I came into this expecting to not really jive with it, but to at appreciate the pop quality of it. Good pop songs, well produced with competent vocal performances. I knew some of the singles beforehand so had hopes, as Rock Your Body is a really solid pop song with a decent groove to it. And in reality, for the first 6 tracks, that was what I got. A Mickey Mouse Club graduate trying his best to be a slightly more ‘street’ Michael Jackson with some decent songwriting and production behind him. Yes, I wasn’t a massive fan of most of those tracks, but there were a few decent moments and I could appreciate what they were going for. I never really bought his delivery and, to my ear, Justin Timberlake does a fantastic job at being the 21 year old that 12 year olds think is the coolest 21 year old, but that other 21 year olds think is icky and are careful not to leave their drinks unattended when he's present at a party. For a few songs, the songwriting and production (and occasional flashes of performance quality) does a good enough job to keep it ticking along. Señorita isn’t bad. Cry Me a River is, retrospectively, awful, but it’s a really solid pop song. Rock Your Body is great. But after that point, the insipid qualities that are present in the first few songs start to swell and envelop everything. There are still the odd moments here and there, when Pharrell Williams remebers the brief, but frankly, as the songs dragged on, I felt a bit like Artax from The Neverending Story, unable to bring myself out of the swamp of sadness, or in this case, beigeness. It gets a couple of extra points for the first half, and if they’d have made this a 35 minute album, it wouldn’t have been nearly as bad, but I expect more than this from a group of artists and producers that were (apparently) aiming for Michael Jackson, Earth, Wind & Fire and Angie Stone. Sheesh. Señorita - Well it’s a pretty cringeworthy intro, but it’s a well written and produced late-era Michael Jackson style pop song. By late-era, I mean lacking the charm and quality of hook inherent in MJ’s earlier work, but it’s still got a good groove. Justin is a very good pop singer, but he’s nowhere near the standard of MJ and he just sounds like another cookie-cutter pop star who wants to be like MJ, but doesn’t have anything particularly unique or special to offer. And the call and response and spoken word parts are just toe curling. Like I Love You - I just don’t buy his delivery. It’s like someone trying to be cool, rather than actually being cool. But putting that aside, this has a pretty decent groove to it. There’s depth and sheen to the production, but it all feels very calculated rather than organic. There’s nothing particularly memorable about any of the hooks here. I mean it’s not bad, it’s a very well produced pop song (with some very, very MJ moments) but it feels completely disposable. (Oh No) What You Got - There’s a nice shuffling groove here, and there’s a lot there that contributes to the rhythmic flow of the track. But there’s no real hook that grabs me here either. It’s like a beige wash of pop that has enough of a funky groove to it to grab people who aren’t paying a vast amount of attention. But I’ve pretty much forgotten everything about it by the time the next song starts. Take It From Here - This is a well produced track with some particularly lightweight and insipid vocal delivery. I’m not one to put too much focus on lyrics really, but these stuck out to me as being particularly awful. It’s very, very repetitive and even the odd bit of production trickery to add variation can’t save it. I think underneath it all, the bones of something with potential is in there, but they haven’t managed to eke anything of significant quality with this effort. Another completely forgettable little pop song. Cry Me A River - This is one of the big hitters. In hindsight, it’s also one that shows Justin up to be a colossal prick, basically publicly shitting on Britney Spears despite seemingly being the big problem in their relationship. Not the last time he slid through, squeaky clean, while throwing a woman under the bus. Remember Janet Jackson? Yeah. Anyway. It’s a very well written pop song. It’s got a solid groove to it and is actually quite interesting from a sound design point of view. His vocal is pretty try-hard, but serves the song pretty well. It's not really my bag, but it’s easy to see why it was successful and why people like it. Rock Your Body - And here’s the best song on the album by a long way. This one’s actually a knock off of a really good MJ song. It’s got great rhythmic choices that sit really nicely against one another and create a really funky groove. It's got solid melodic hooks in the vocal, and a variety of sections to add diversity and range to the track. The vocal, and particularly the lyrics do lean a little too close to being cringeworthy, but it can just about slide through because the rest of the track is so solid. Nothin' Else - Ah, so they listened to Paint It, Black and decided to make a weak-sauce version of Liberian Girl from the main riff. Interesting. Or, as it happens, not very interesting. It’s more insipid stuff. There’s one synth part that really doesn’t blend in with everything else, which is super odd. But the rest is just another beige wash of well produced but ultimately meaningless drivel. Next. Last Night - He's trying SO HARD to be Michael Jackson. He’s not succeeding. Even the composition here is super limited. There’s very little going on and it’s very repetitive. There are touches here and there that are nice enough, but as a whole it’s just uninspiring and lightweight, again. There were moments during the opening few tracks, but this is falling off a cliff fast. Still On My Brain - I feel like I’m just repeating myself at this point. This is another weak Jackson-a-like song. There’s no real memorable hook to it. The vocal delivery is actually on the stronger end of the spectrum for the album, at least in part because his Stars In Their Eyes mimicry is the closest he’s got yet to his hero. But the song is now fading out and I already can't remember how it went. (And She Said) Take Me Now - Well this is a rhythmically decent start at least. It’s got quite a nice groove to it, but again it’s a bit of a wash of forgettability above that when it comes to the melodic and harmonic content of the composition and production. It does have the odd moment of interest, particularly when the layering builds up and there’s a bit more depth and nuance, so it’s not all bad, but it’s not going to find its way onto my favourites list any time soon either. Right For Me - This is a vaguely interesting beat that pretty much repeats as is for four and a half minutes with some uninteresting vocal nonsense over the top. I’m not even sure what they’re trying to achieve here. It’s dull, it’s uninspired and it inexplicably drags on for far longer than the limited idea has any right to do. Let's Take A Ride - It’s a very stilted start, and then we’re into a repeating pattern of a backing track that only changes by adding some fairly poorly designed synth patches to add flavour. There’s no hook to this at all, it’s just sort of generic R&B singing, the effect of which is somehow lessened by the doubled vocal that creates a more distant connection with the lead. It all feels very forced, while at the same time being utterly generic. If you asked AI to write an early 2000s R&B pop song, it would give you this. Never Again - Weak sauce. It’s supposed to be a heart-wrenching ballad, but I just don't buy it. Timberlake is to busy trying to throw in vocal gymnastics that he forgets that he should actually inject some kind of emotion into the song. He sounds like a whiny little boy, and the backing is so by the numbers and generic that it almost completely passes me by. And how on earth did they drag this crap on for four and a half minutes. It’s shit.

This is an exhausting listen. You get a few singles that remind you this is Justin Timberlake, but the filler is brutal. WE 👏 DON'T 👏 NEED 👏 FIVE 👏 MINUTE 👏 POP 👏 SONGS 👏👏 It’s all style with absolutely no substance. Spins: 1 Playlist Additions - Cry Me a River - Rock Your Body

This album really took me back to a certain time and was a fun re-listen. This was a pretty innovative mix of pop and R&B for mainstream music at the time of release. I love when this album makes an appearance in the movie LadyBird.

Timberlake has a great voice, but this era of music was not my favorite.

This album was not made for me. That said, “Cry Me a River” is a great pop song

Great artist but 2 to 3 songs from him is more than enough. Other than “rock your body” and “cry me a river” it all just kind of ran together

God what the FUCK was this. It felt like a 63 minute parody. By the 3rd song I was having serious doubts about my commitment to this project.

La primera canción recuerda a steavie wonder

I've had this album since shortly after its release, but I've cooled a bit towards it over the years. I still think it deserves four stars though.

This was good, actually…

Well that was awful.

Har jo noen bangers. Men føles dated.

I’m not saying Timberlake doesn’t deserve an album on the list, but it should be FutureSex/LoveSounds. If that one is on the list…well, I’m sorry, but he doesn’t deserve two albums on the list. (Personally, I prefer 20/20 Experience over either, but it should still be only FutureSex on the list)

OK album. So 2 stars. Why not 1 star? I'm going to assume that this is really good for those that like this genre. The production value was there. So was the cultural appropriation. I just don't see how this is one of the 1001. To me, it was a wasted hour.

I was never super into his music and this isn't really better or worse than most of it. With Timbaland and Pharell on the beats the lineup is quite impressive and the production is very well done. A lot of fun, banging rhythms, sexy jams and jus creative beats all around. Vocally the album is not as impressive, a lot of pretty average performances and most of the songs are around 5 minutes long which is a bit much too.

A landmark Pop album from a genuine triple-threat showman. At the time, Timberlake was the New King of Pop, long before certain revelations ruined more than just the tour.

I went through a phase where I really dug Timberlake's stuff, now he just annoys the piss outta me

Pop isn't a dirty word if it's done right

Front loaded album but decent

Not my kind of music, just pure dance pop, completely disposable

Don't really need anything besides the singles off this album. It's well produced but has a lot of boring songs on it. Cry me a River and Rock Your Body are alright, the rest I don't care about all that much. Just really not my thing and not good enough to sway me from thinking otherwise.

Very ho-hum. 1.5/5

some singles were cool, the rest of the album is boooring

Good, but far from great. It’s not a great candidate for this list really. Nothing original going on here, but some catchy tunes all the same. It was everywhere for a while, but not listened to it in a long time. Which says a lot really. 2.5

For those who complain about too much Brit-pop, this is retribution. This has no appeal. It's painfully bland, and cheezy.

I quite liked Take It from Here, Nothin' Else and Still On My Brain. The last two of those remind me of Stevie Wonder. Never Again is quite nice as well. I never liked the hits very much. Rock Your Body is definitely the best one of those.

Ol

Pas hyper fan de R&B, toujours un peu pareil et des sonorités qui me touchent pas trop. Cry me a river la plus connue mais pareil j'y suis pas trop sensible

Premier album, je connaissais que les bangers ! Je suis très sensible à sa voix ! Je préf les albums suivants Contente de changer de style !

J'ai plutôt bien aimé, surtout la première piste! J'avais jamais trop écouté Justin Timberlake et je savais pas qu'il faisait ce genre de registres 4/5

actually pretty fun, wouldn't be mad if it came on

RIP my Spotify algorithm. Only heard a few Justin Timberlake's songs so interested to listen to a whole album, he obviously has a great voice. A bit cheesy pop for my taste. It's okay I guess, I'll give it middle of the road 2.5 starts.

This sounded pretty good. The production and features are the highlights but JT is charismatic and brings charm and style.

neptunes and timbaland carrying this guy.

This album is really defined by the producers, because while Justin is a decent singer, it would be a pretty average white boy rnb album without all the backing. This is a Neptunes album featuring Justin Timberlake on every song, I think. That real instrument feel spliced with some synthetic stuff is really characteristic of the production teams involved and it's a highlight. I think Justin Timberlake is a decent singer, obviously very influenced by Michael Jackson, and has a lot of range, but that's not what makes this album interesting. I'm not going to dig in to the rest of his catalogue because this isn't my kind of music really, but I wonder what he sounds like without the guys in the studio.

They call him Timberlack. Timber Timber Timberlake. Really? Please don't put me in the ground yet. I haven't heard 2002's megahit album "Justified" by Justin Timerlake.

Listens: 2 Standout Tracks: Cry Me A River Yea, so Justin Timberlake along with NSync, Backstreet Boys, and 98 Degrees were borderline inescapable "bands" if you were a pre-teen/teen in the 2000s. I mean, you might have liked them as a young adult too, but I doubt, for example, my parents enjoyed them (or even tolerated them) the same way they enjoyed the Beatles or the Beach Boys. At least with those bands, they actually also played instruments. Anyways, this shit mostly sucks. Cry Me a River is interesting insofar as the underlying beat is amusing - some weird mumbling going on deep in the music, and for the fact that I love using that phrase when someone's being whiny and obnoxious. But yea, not a fan of this. Not a fan of the genre, not a fan of the history of the modern 90s boy band, not a fan of the subject matter or lyrics; Overall pretty shallow and boring. And of course, I will take any opportunity to reference or quote Futurama whenever I can: Fry: How can you guys be so blasé? Here we are in the year three-hundred-or-so, yet you're just sitting around like it's the boring time I came from. Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Boring? Wasn't that the period when they cracked the human genome, and boy bands roamed the earth? Not a direct reference to Justin Timberlake, but amusing nonetheless.

While Cry Me a River is a classic, this is honestly pretty bad. Did not finish.

I kept forgetting I was listening to this album.

The hits carry this album.

This is going to ruin the tour

Solid album. Good production. Some classic tracks on here

Too many sneering reviews getting high and mighty about this record. Don’t take it seriously, it’s a decent enough pop record with some bangers on it, perhaps a bit longer than it needs to be, but by no means terrible.

Mickey Mouse effort here. There's just NOTHING here that I want to listen to - ever.

Hard not to give this a 4, first half rammed full of bangers. Tails off second half

vocally, he's between Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. But his music just doesn't have their groove, so it just feels watered down. 3/5

The first white boy to get a little motion

Nooh aika perus poppia, en nää sillein ihmeellisenä. Pari isompaa hittiä toki. Parhaat: Rock Your Body, Like I Love You

It wasn't a bad album. However.....that's about all that I can say for it. It all sounded the same to me and nothing made it memorable for me. "Dick in a Box" might be the best thing that he's done.

Irritating

As usual it's an early 2000's pop album which is way too long for it's own good, which is a shame cause a tighter track length, with the four fantastic singles, and I'd be giving this a higher score. Plus Justin Timberlake has a really punchable face. 3 Stars.

There's a lot to commend about rejected latter-day Michael Jackson tracks sung by a highly punchable douche-bro but you won't find those commendations here.

One great song.

If the album ended after Rock Your Body, it would be considered a decent effort. What follows is 7 songs that sound pretty similar and seem to never end. This album is at least 30-35 minutes too long. Unfortunately, JT is not MJ.

While there are good songs on this, this does not feel like a Justin Timberlake album so much as a "Everyone we can convince to sing with Timberlake to fill out this" album.

Mid-00’s summer party fuel. Extremely solid singles, sagged pretty bad in the latter… third or so? Still, great stuff and a surprisingly solid solo debut.

2000s "R&B" (heavy on the air quotes) was a crime against humanity. But I'll still give it an extra star because it's kind of a catchy crime against humanity.

Someone tryin to be MJ …Only one MJ dude. This shit boring and not for me. A bunch of skips.

This was like so boring it's offensive.

naja, schon etwas weichgespült. easy listening, R&B, good times.

Gut gemacht auf hohem Niveau. Einfach nicht meine Musik.

I only know Sexy Back. I think that’s how I’d like to keep it.

Eu gostei

I can barely tolerate Michael Jackson so this had no chance. 2 stars or D+.

Maybe a couple songs that were hits, but seemed to be a lot of filler for an album that was over an hour long. Because of this, I will say 2.5 - round down.

Some good musicianship here. JT is pretty much doing his impression Michael Jackson here. Last handful of songs could have been cut from the album. The last song is sooooo sappy lol

The first half has some absolute bangers but the second half definitely drags. I don't Justin TImberlake would have gotten anywhere had it not been for The Neptunes producing this album - those guys are excellent. Also fuck Justin Timberlake, he seems like a real dick.

I hated this

It wasn’t terrible, but it makes no sense to be on this list. At times I felt like JT was just going through the motions of making a pop album and some songs lacked any type of personality or emotions. Often times the singing isn’t even that great, and while I’m not the biggest JT fan, I know he can sing better than this. 2.5 / 5

Still surprised this is on this list. Meh with some shining moments that stop me from knocking this down to a 2

Every song on this is about a minute too long That being said, the call and response section of Senorita is so fun

One of my guilty pleasures

Wow, not a single half-decent song!

You are not michael jackson, lightweight early 2000's pop. Not my thing

The early 2000 Neptunes and Timbaland beats are great, too bad it's ruined by Justin's singing.

One of those albums where you just don't need to hear the whole album. The singles are still pretty baked into pop culture DNA 20 something years on, I think mostly because of very savvy production from Pharrell, and the tracks that aren't singles offer nothing else.

Pop garbage

Appropriative and entitled 😡

Solid R&B album with lots of nostalgia. Still holds up, though. It suffers from a common CD-era problem: overstuffed runtime to get as much on the disc as possible. With some editing this would be better. A soft 3-star.

Still slaps. Cry me a River is still so good

He's super talented but this was too much of a Michael copy. Didn't need to be on the list.

The Neptunes and Timbaland era of pop music had a lot of really great tracks. Case in point: Rock your body. However there were zero (as far as i can recall) really great albums. Case in point: Justified. When it’s good it really slaps, but there are too many weak points with stale beats and uninteresting singing/lyrics.

"Cry Me a River" and "Rock Your Body" are both fine, it's clear why those were the singles from this album. The rest of this one is decidedly meh. Every song is 5 minutes long and super repetitive, which I guess is probably good for dance music in a club, but is tedious to listen to straight through. I was never a Justin Timberlake fan, even though I was smack dab exactly in his target demographic when he was at his peak.

Is this the best album ever? No. Is this the best JT album? Also no. Is this album good? Yeah, I’d say so. Not sure why we have this here over FutureSex/LoveSounds. Production is good, the singles are catchy, great feature from Clipse. Favorite songs were Like I Love You, Cry Me A River, and Rock Your Body.

It's just the same song played over and over again.

Was enjoying it for a while, but it went on too long and became a little too cute.

I guess it was better than *NSYNC, but that’s a pretty low bar

Blind album, know the artist by name and his recent DUI lmao. Completely forgot this dude got famous from NSYNC, and then completely forgot that I am not really a fan of him or the band.

Was just talking about this artist’s very successful solo career after *NSYNC, and referencing Cry Me A River off this very album! This one has multiple good songs, but probably not my favorite of his start to finish.

Being a stubborn jouster of the ever-revolving pop music windmill, I'm surprised to like this. More organic than the icy "Sexyback" material with which I'm more familiar, kinda like a pre-Thriller Michael Jackson, it still feels over-caffeinated for these weary ears. I might feel different if it was 2002 and I was 23 on the prowl.

Blue-eyed pop R&B with strong whiffs of Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. It’s well produced and arranged, as you’d expect from a guy with Timberlake’s star power, and there are a couple interesting songs. But overall, it feels colored by that vapid tabloid-party nip-slip ethos of its era and feels dated. I was already too old for that scene when this came out and if I’m going for turn-of-the-millennium soul, I’m putting on D’Angelo or Erykah Badu.

This was fine. Enjoyable mostly!

This was fine but doesn't move me much.

Okay, zerst chli Abgschreckt gsi es ganzes Album vom young JT lose. Aber sobald cry me a river und rock your body cho isch bini onnnnn gsi! Nachher hets denn natürli wider biz nahglah aber han doch viel me Spass gha wieni denkt han! Bravo Y2K Teenie-Schwarm, da gits als überaschigseffekt und wege fun vier füechti träum

Hmm jüstin case das mir mal uf e holzalbum treffed würi sege, wie mer ne kennt eis 2 riese tracks und de rest normals gedönse Hed mi nöd vum hocker ghaue Muss mich ez da au nöd rechtfertige: Three timberlankes

Boy band member goes solo. The vocals started sounding similar out of the gate, and reminded me of MJ. I am not a fan of JT overall, but some of the 2002 lyrics gave me cringe. Listened before? Not the entire album, but I am familiar with several tracks Saved to library? N Favorite track(s): Take It from Here. ⭐⭐ Didn't hate it. Didn't like it. Saved no tracks.

I like the strings on Take It From Here. Lyrics are meh when they're not cringe. An hour of this is too long. At least I got to skip Cry Me a River and Right For Me because I cannot listen to the mouth sounds. Thanks, misophonia! /s Listened before? N Saved to library? N Favorite track(s): N/A ⭐⭐: Didn't like it, didn't hate it. Saved no tracks.

Incredibly diverse in its sound. Especially for a 00’s pop album. What’s great is really great. What’s mediocre is aggressively mediocre. If you can listen to this album in Spatial Audio,I highly recommend it.

jstin bimbrlake

Decent pop. Love Timbaland

Less welcome soundtrack to my younger years, I like about four moments on the album - feels way too long for a pop album and a little too much 'new MJ' for the noughties. That bridge/hooky extra verse on Rock your body though - magnifique...

Was best geinig

Really didn't know much about JT except in passing over the years. Didn't expect to really enjoy it at first but it did surprise me in alot of ways.

Midway through the second song my girlfriend and I said at the same time, "This sounds just like Michael Jackson." And that comparison never stopped throughout the album. As others have noted, there is one very good song and it's Cry Me A River. It's the only one that sounds different and seems to be want to more than just an MJ clone. This isn't a bad album, but it's not one of the ones I needed to listen to before I die. There's a part of me that feels this deserves a three star rating, but the fact that every song is at least four and a half minutes long (way too long IMO) and the album is over an hour long will drop it to a two.

not in 1.000.000.000.000.001

One of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die? Unjustified.

This one really surprised me! I'm not really a Timberlake fan, but I like a lot of his earlier singles. Nostalgia. I didn't realise how many songs off this album were hits! A few songs were a bit naff and should have been knocked off - I probably would have given a 5 without them This took me right back to childhood... what a time 4 ⭐️ This is going to ruin the tour

Surprisingly decent, with some innovative production, but should have ended about 30 minutes sooner.

Best Song: Rock Your Body. It's just a great dance song of the era. The call-and-response of the chorus is especially good. Worst Song: Never Again. What a strange choice to end this pop-dance album with a weepy ballad. Overall: Some catchy pop hits here, but there's also something grisly about the duds that never made it big. Something about this style/era of music, which is all about shooting for mega hits, that makes the failures somehow feel even more bleak.

01) Señorita - 10,0 02) Like I Love You - 10,0 03) (Oh No) What You Got - 8,5 04) Take It from Here - 8,0 05) Cry Me a River - 10,0 06) Rock Your Body - 10,0 07) Nothin' Else - 7,5 08) Last Night - 7,5 09) Still on My Brain - 7,0 10) (And She Said) Take Me Now -7,5 11) Right for Me - 7,5 12) Let's Take a Ride - 7,5 13) Never Again - 6,0 TOTAL: 8,23 (82/100) Current ranking: 171/701

Not my fave.

Сольный дебют ДжейТи — темпоритический бардачок, который пускай и запустит будущую коллабу Тимберлейка с Тимбалэндом, но сам по себе лично меня не увлёк ни продакшеном, ни вайбом, ни исполнением.

I mean, it isn't very good. Rather bland, but definitely some pleasures that i listen to on the regular

Great album from my youth, surprisingly fun to listen to the hits again. JT can be seen as just a pop star part of the machine, but I really rate the first half of this album. The back half fell away, so not perfect but still worthy of the list.

Alright so this album has one actually perfect song (Cry Me A River, obviously) and Pharrell sure knows what he’s doing. Otherwise it’s probably the worst era of Justin Timberlake and feels kind of shallow and slick.

I legit fell asleep halfway through this. What did I miss? Probably nothing, I felt like I was having a stroke with those songs near the end.

There were some good songs on here, and I love his voice. But, some of the songs were kind of whiny and crying, sappy.

The singles are well known and stronger pop songs. The rest of the album to me has the vocals try to be too much and the lyrics are generally uninspiring. There's no lack of confidence here.

Very dull as an album but, although they're not my cup of tea, the singles are competent pop songs I'd give it 1.5 if it were possible but 1 feels harsh

This album is overlong and the songs are pretty derivative of early 2000s pop R&B. But it doesn’t have a raft of huge hit singles and solid pop production. Not my cup of tea though

Entirely derivative. Sweet voice, slick production. Weak songs.

The most common yardstick I judge a pop album by is its hit rate, and by that measure Justified is firing on all cylinders. The first half is chock full of singles that kept the radio waves busy for the decade following its release. It is a huge step up from his output in *NSYNC and confidently sets out his stool as a solo performer. I enjoy how multi-layered and ridiculously over-engineered the production is at points, with extra little details flying at you with gay abandon. It's a maximalist presentation and the clicky percussion never gets boring. I don't mind that he is essentially proving a 2000s, modernised version of Michael Jackson's sound - its a solid approach. On the more low key second half it’s Justin is more in lounge entertainer mode but it works nicely. It's a smooth, enjoyable experience that rarely flags.

JT gets a high 2 from me I loved the 4 singles, some of the pop music I loved even in my early twenties which was rare and sounds just as good today. I only liked 2 of the album tracks, leaving 7 which passed me by or actually annoyed me. This album is a great example of why I struggled to get into pop music in the 2000s and early 2010s, I’m firmly an album person and pop stars just weren’t delivering full albums of good music

I think I’m gonna not listen to it but give it a three

2002 - when the producer was king. 20 years on this feels very overcooked.

Obviously some great pop on here but the rest of the tracks were bla

very 2000s

If it wasn't for Pharell, this album would be trash

This has some well known songs and a good sound. JT is talented for sure but this is not monumental. I think it is on the 3 side of a 3.5.

Why is this on the list? Almost all of this music is completely disposable. I will say, the production’s pretty good and I do like Rock Your Body, but most of this is subpar songwriting with a singing voice that constantly teeters between decent and insufferable. All the spoken bits make me want to slam Justin Timberlake’s face into a table, I can’t stand his speaking voice. I could feel my brain turning into mush towards the end of the album. The record isn’t entirely unenjoyable, but the parts I like are few and far between. 2/5

oh...

Solid, catchy. Not usually a pop person but i didn't mind that.

Not my cup of tea, it sounds like a dirtier version of Michael Jackson with lesser beats. The kids must have loved it at the time.

This wasn't that bad. Perfectly good for what it is. The singles are obvious highlights, but the album soon becomes quite samey and directionless. Not necessary to hear before death, by any means.

too long, -1

shut up ramen boy

listened to this while translating 12th century Japanese yōkai stories about demon spit, invisibility, fire protection incantations, and a sick princess. It was a unique experience

high 3 low 4, lost me a bit near the end there but some MASSIVE bangers on here, unreal prod Fav song: Senorita

Timberlake, torna a fare In Time

Is it over yet? Long and similar

Man, for a dude who was probably getting laid plenty, he sure sounds in this one like a dude who's desperate to get laid.

Going in, was not expecting much. But found a couple songs other than the two hits that were listenable. Some dated songs but overall fine. Would probably give this a 2.5 if I could.

Ha venido a seducir y no se va a ir sin conseguirlo. Creo que el y Orlando Bloom son la misma persona. Temazos "Like I Love You", "(Oh No) Whar You Got" y "Cry Me a River", falla el bajo que pega en las ultimas canciones.

There are some jams on here from a production perspective, from Timbaland and others... I feel like this album dates itself moreso than the one with SexyBack on it.

IDGAF about him or this album, he's just a wanna be Michael Jackson

You know what, I hated this stuff when I was a teen. I'm really not interested in engaging with it now. Everything I don't like about the late 90s/early 2000s. Just giving it my 1 and moving on. Also, garbage album cover. Why'd they MSPaint paste him on to the moon?

2/5 kind of annoying pop.

Enjoyable

Just completely unlistenable for me unfortunately. Like auditory battery acid.

justified stupid ass title def not a must hear album but im pretty fond of cheesy radio rnb from the 2000s. also if the neptunes are in the credits than the album instantly gain points for me. i lowkey loved the second half of the album ngl

This album was very catchy!

Some of the songs are catchy, but there's a good amount of cringe in here too. Enough that it makes me uncomfortable listening. It's not as good as Madvillainy.

This is a fun, dancy album with lots of bangers. Unsurprisingly, the singles are the best part, especially "Cry Me a River," one of the best revenge songs of all time that I would always crank up on my Saturn's SL2 radio back in 2002. The rest of the album is basically nondescript. Top tracks: "Cry Me a River," "Rock Your Body," "Señorita," "Like I Love You"

not even his best album. Fuck this, what the fuck, who needed to hear this?????

I prefer the FutureSex 20/20 stuff

Extremely talented squeaky clean guy pretending he has grit and failing. I like his music a lot more since he stopped trying to be the dude version of Christina Aguilera.

It’s a pop album. It’s fine.

I like this because its a album of my teens, but objectively, its not very good, it's very front loaded and really tails off at the end

3/4

Nothing surprising, exciting really. Some songs are very "catchy". 3/5

If a cumsock came to life and decided to make an album, this is the album it would make. Except even a sentient cumsock would probably think 63 minutes was taking the piss a bit.

Basic pop

I’m offended by this album. I don’t know why, I just am. I’m offended that he came to the conclusion that this piece of shit should be out there for us all to listen. This doesn’t contribute to society in any way, quite the opposite. I’d bet all my money that this album has brought more negative feelings than positive ones in general. I pity my fellow unfortunate souls who have had the unlucky fate of hearing this humdrum album. A tedious journey. Listening to this makes you feel like you’re in an empty locked room with only Justin Timberlake performing and flaunting and dancing really close to you. And you just have to sit there and watch, utterly terrified. For an hour and three minutes straight.

The album starts strong but whimpers off.

I like the pop

Party music for horny teenagers. Designed by studio execs, produced by committee and performed by an obnoxious manchild who can neither write nor create his own music, it's more an industrial product than an album. Even the Neptunes’ production felt derivative (the blatant "Paint It Black" rip-off in "Nothin’ Else" being the cherry on top). Not only is the end result a torture to listen – it’s also everything I despise in music. 1/10

Good producing, not my style as I can't stand R'nB. But kuddos to the guy for bouncing up after his boy's band and the carrer that we know.

This album serves its purpose well as typical pop music aimed at teenagers. It's neither exceptionally bad nor remarkably good; rather, it falls into the category of average, somewhat annoying listening material with an R&B influence. While it merits more than 2 stars for not being terrible (not as bad), it barely justifies a 3-star rating due to its lack of standout qualities (not as good).

Lol… seriously? The only thing saving this album is The Neptunes, they carried the production and wrote half the songs, like “Rock Your Body.” Meanwhile, I’m just wondering why N.E.R.D’s In Search of…, which dropped right before, isn’t on this list instead. Way more deserving. Without them, Justin’s debut would have been pure generic music. With them playing Cyrano, though, he ends up with one of the best pop records of the early 2000s. On his side, Justin looks good on the cover and dances well in videos, which is basically what people expected from him anyway.

Some absolute nostalgic big pop hits on this album. Loses some points for me because absolutely some of these songs could be cut and it would be a stronger album. If edited down to the singles a maybe 3 or 4 of the other songs it probably could have been a 5 for me. Still though, I really enjoy it overall. Takes me back to being a young teenager.

I found out I don't really care for JT. Apart from "Cry Me a River", not a big fan of the rest.

This album did a good job of catapulting Justin Timberlake to solo stardom after leaving NSYNC. Cry Me a River and Rock Your Body absolutely dominated the airwaves when this album came out, so I'm long since familiar with those. The rest of the album doesn't feel as interesting to me as those two songs are.

The only Justin Timberlake album that deserves to be on here is FutureSex/LoveSounds, which is legitimately a 5 star album. It really did something and influenced pop music in a big way at the time. His debut, in comparison, is boring. Even without comparing it to future albums of his, this is nothing special. It's way too long, and "Cry Me A River" has not aged well. The singles are okay, but beyond that nothing stands out. It's all kind of corny and cringe. Really not sure how this album ended up on the list.

mid

No. Not justified!

What a whiny dork this guy comes across here. Another prime example of how so much from the early 2000’s should just stay in the early 2000’s. Yea, sure his voice is fine and some of the beats are ok but there is so much filler on this. People bending over backwards telling Justin just how great it all is and then we end up with an hour of mostly bullshit. Just Take it From Here is the steamiest pile of garbage I’ve ever heard. “I wanna be your Broadway show on review. “Why?” So I can act out how god was when he made you.” Almost had to pull over and barf on the side of the 401 when I heard that song. I get R&B isn’t for me, I mostly hate it but this is trash right? I want to give it a 1 but I’ll be fair bc the best on Dork Your Body is pretty good. 2 stars

I've never been much of a fan of Justin's music. In fact, I've always said that he should have concentrated on comedy, where I think he is really truly talented. But, keeping an open mind while listening to this, I have to concede that he (along with the Neptunes) does indeed have some good songwriting chops. "Senora" is a very catchy tune, "Like I Love You" sounds a bit like something early N*E*R*D might have come out with, and "Rock Your Body" has some questionable beatboxing in it. On the better side of pop music, and at least it's not completely manufactured nonsense. The standout is "Cry Me A River". Catchy and intelligent songwriting, it's genuinely a great song. Unfortunately the rest of the album is filler. Justin is trying his best to emulate early Michael Jackson in a more-RnB-than-disco setting, and it all feels quite bland. It's the songs where he's not trying to sound like something from "Off the Wall" or "Thriller" that show some of the talent he has. But, ultimately besides a few decent songs, and one great one, I'm still hoping he concentrates on his comedy career.

1 - nothing good

There are some fantastic pop/r&b songs here, the biggest tracks are somewhat cheapened by their ubiquity but four HUGE singles is impressive. Nothin' Else is a great Stevie Wonder parody, but after that, the album really starts to lose it's way - the final seven tracks send us into the weeds with them ranging from non-descript half baked single ideas to the straight up uncool.

he should khs

murder-suicide was #justified by this album

This guy 100% grinds on a mirror and listens to his own album. The “I think I’m sexy” voice is so embarrassing.

odeio o que ele fez com a brit, mas gente... que album BOM. a produção das faixas impecável. infelizmente, ele brilhou muito. e obrigada brit pela gaiada que tu deu nesse corno fazendo com que cry me a river existisse. 3,5.

Cry Me A River is fantastisch, sommige andere nummers ok, de rest matig, of slecht.

Perfectly fine pop album. Not his best. Other than the hits nothing struck me as particularly great

It would be tough to explain to a 20 year old how big of a star JT was in 2002. Justin being MJ crossed with Jimmy Fallon didn’t age well but this album actually does. Pharrell is the real star of the album in retrospect - those Neptunes beats stand the test of time.

3.3 I have tried to listen to this over the past few months. Im just going to resign myself to the fact Im not going to get through it all. The first half is very good pop music, with all of the bells and whistles money can buy.

Ever since JT became the hottest pop-boy for parent-approved parties at my school, I couldn't stand the guy. I wouldn't touch anything with his name on it with a ten-foot pole. I still think of any breathy, high, nasal, plastic male pop star as a JT 2.0 and cringe hard. So, I can admit, the guy left an impression. But opinions change with time, so I gave Justified an honest try for the sake of this whole 1001 Albums experiment. And, well... baby me was wise beyond her years. There are a couple of nice beats, but not nearly enough for an hour-long album. The only thing that's changed with years is that now I can understand the lyrics and suffer from that, too.

Nope

Rating: 3.5/10 Why is this on the list? It's not even the best Justin Timberlake album...

No sé si ha envejecido como el vino o como la leche, pero sé que todo el mundo estaba escuchando al menos una canción de este disco.

Love me some JT

68/1001 :: Justin Timberlake - Justified Heard before? ❌ Would I revisit? ❌ Rating: 6 Fav Tracks: Cry Me A River Listen before you die: No Best thing about this album is the production. Timbaland, Pharrell and The Neptunes, Scott Storch all have their fingerprints on this thing and it shows. Justin acts as the vehicle to drive their songs and frankly he’s doing a very good job at it. When this album popped up I thought it was gonna be a tough get. It wasn’t. Lotta toe tapping and good singing. Just not really my bag…

Super poppy, loved how old it made me feel.

This was a good album. This was a clear 3.5 but I’m rounding up to 4.

I despised this on release, my wife, then GF was a fan though and actually met him. As a result I heard these songs, mainly the singles, a lot I’ve mellowed to it these days and there’s undeniably some bangers on here but as with many pop albums, especially of this era, there’s way too much filler and it’s very dull stuff! So don’t mind the singles but I’m content to never hear this again

Couple of decent songs on here - enjoyed it more than I thought I would - but there are a lot of duds too! If this had been 20 mins shorter, it could have been a 4.

One of the first albums I owned. Can’t remember if it was a request, or it just seemed like a present an 8 year old boy would like with his new portable compact disk player. There’s no denying the bangers, but there’s also some absolute dogshit on here as well, the final track for example. Why make an hour long album if your bangers would make a very good 30 min album. Anyway, still a solid three. Cry Me A River into Rock Your Body is genuinely up there with the best back to backs on the list. Simpsons: Yes

Loved the first half of this,, especially Cry Me a River and Rock Your Body, but the ending was a little disappointing.

Started strong, ended dull. Some bangers but not a strong album

Some great pop songs accompanied by some naff and some crap.

This was really bad. The relentless funky beat did not make me want to rock my body. Some of it was catchy 20 years ago, but it was very grating today

*2002. Debut solo album. *Solo JT is not it for me - high pitched voice, latin flare with R&B but without any soul. *I can see why people would like some of it. *Flew through most tracks. Would not revisit. *Big hits - Cry Me a River + Rock Your Body RATING - 4/10

Thirteen milquetoast love songs that won’t shut up about baby. I skipped around each track for a few seconds, and almost every time I dropped in, there it was—baby, girl, or you, crooned on repeat. So thirteen tracks of ‘baby, girl, you’ on endless loop—romance Muzak with better sneakers

On the one hand, I enjoy pop music and am glad the genre is included on this list. On the other hand, meh. Never a big Justin Timberlake fan. The album is too long, but the real sin is that it's boring. Same rhythms and same sentiments repetated for an hour. There's two standout tracks, and you've probably heard those a million times if you were alive in 2002. As I was not a teen girl then, very little about this resonates. My nostalgia is untriggered. Brittney was better, and it's not close.

De naam alleen al roept weerstand op. Zet je het aan, dan krijg je slap, klef gedoe met een R&B-sausje en een vleugje Latin. Met grote letters staat overal 'COMMERCIEEL' op gekliederd, en hoewel commercieel heus niet per definitie fout is, ga je je bij een plaat als deze wel afvragen waarom hij dan in de 1001 moet. Bij tijd en wijle doet het denken aan Michael Jackson, met de gilletjes, het gehijg en de hoge stemmetjes. Maar dan zonder de strakke ritmes die het softe gedoe van Jacko optilden naar iets echt goeds. Pere Ubu had niet gehoeven, maar dit ook niet.

Ondanks dat Justin ruim voldoende muzikale creativiteit in zich heeft, had Pharell een grote rol bij dit album. Zeker iemand die iets heeft toegevoegd aan de muziek. Maar zoals eerder geschreven ook iemand die mij zelden weet te bereiken. De hits van dit album dragen ook zijn klanken. De (duidelijk) opvullers zijn heel wat saaier. Is dat dan de echte Justin? Ik kan mij goed voorstellen dat de pop-liefhebber dit album sterk waardeert. Zelf heb ik hier helemaal niets mee.

Ik heb even niet op mijn netvlies hoeveel boybands en afgeleiden daarvan we in deze lijst hebben. Het is natuurlijk best een lange periode in de muziekgeschiedenis geweest, 90s en early 00s, dat de hitlijsten werden gedomineerd door dit soort artiesten. Al hadden we daarvoor misschien ook al wel mensen als Lionel Ritchie en Diana Ross, die solo gingen na eerst onderdeel van een groepje te zijn geweest. Of dit soort muziek in een snoblijst als deze thuishoren blijft wel de vraag. Ik zou er geen nacht minder om slapen als ze er uit waren gelaten, maar zoals ik al zei hebben ze best een aandeel gehad, misschien niet zozeer in de muziekgeschiedenis, maar wel in de muziekindustrie. We horen het populairste jongetje van N-Sync hier, met hulp van producers, rappers en andere zangers/zangeressen. Er zit R&B in, wat rap, wat dancehall. Het is ergens wel een aanstekelijke mix van stijlen en het is (te) goed geproduceerd. Wat dat betreft kan ik er wel naar luisteren, maar het beklijft allemaal voor geen meter. Heel vergeetbaar dus en dat betekent meestal een 3. Maar ik vind het eigenlijk niet goed genoeg, het is te vergeetbaar, te nep, te overgeproduceerd. Het is meer alsof hij iemand anders nadoet (Pharrel bijv). NERD vond ik op zich best leuk hoor, maar dit voelt totaal zielloos. En dan mag hij nog blij zijn dat hij 2 sterren van me krijgt.

No Justin

I keep confusing these Justins {Bieber|Timberlake}. I had fond memories of just one song of Justin Timberlake and was excited about the album. Well, what I heard was very, very pleasant pop music. Too boring. You can hear the musical similarities to his former band. About as exciting as a Beyoncé album. I'll do with this album as announced in the last song: Never Again. 3/5

After being so pleasantly surprised by Christina Aguilera, I was ready to like this album. A couple of the songs have such great hooks (Cry Me a River!, Seniorita). But there's also more sappy pop than I can handle in one sitting (I'm looking at you, Let's Take a Rid and Never Again).

a collection of either competent pop songs underwhelmingly executed or underwhelmingly written pop songs competently executed.

JT can sing; Neptunes can produce. Timbaland writes interesting songs. I mean- it’s hard to fault this. As pop music goes this works. It’s just - it all feels like Michael Jackson cosplay. MJ was still alive when this was recorded. Was he not available? Justin has copied nearly every single MJ vocal mannerism and I’m only half way through this thing. The vibrato, the dynamics, the phrasing- everything is MJ. At least we get some Stevie Wonder sprinkled in here every once in a while. But where’s Justin? He hasn't quite figured himself out yet, which is fine. Some of his best songs are here, even with the awkwardness of youth so fully present. But yeah. This reminds me of looking at someone’s high school year book, or their baby pictures. It’s fine. But hey. “You’re out of this world except you’re not green”…..who wrote that one, guys? Who’s taking credit? THREE STARS

Before he became the poster boy for all things white boy cringe/privilege, before he was seen as the purveyor of sleek, silky love sounds, Justin Timberlake was yet another boy band puzzle piece looking to wiggle away from rigidity and break out into something larger and, with Justified, he largely succeeded in that mission. Tapping into the then-innovative beats of the Neptunes and traversing through their inner circle, Justin sheds his tightly wound skin and lets loose into the man he felt destined to be; the swaggering, visually staggering sex symbol that can covet the ladies as quickly as he can dismiss them all while the aspirant men admire him. All the praise and hype given to this at the time was justified and whatever influential capital it wielded remains strong to this day, possessing the type of vibes that would not ruin any tour. Favorites: Senorita, Like I Love You, Take It From Here, Cry Me a River, Rock Your Body, Last Night, Still on My Brain, Let's Take a Ride.

You can hear The Neptunes’ fingerprints all over this record—those clipped drums, the rubbery synths, the hyper-clean rhythm-first production. And it works; they were at their peak in this era. But even with all that talent behind him, this still feels like Timberlake in a transitional state. There’s a very self-conscious “don’t see me as a boy-band kid anymore, I’m edgy now” energy running through the whole thing. It’s not bad—far from it—but that posture feels a little forced, a little premature. You can sense the talent, the charisma, the spark, but it’s like he’s trying on personas rather than inhabiting one. It wasn’t until FutureSex/LoveSounds, where Timbaland had far more control and the sonic world got darker, stranger, and more confidently adult, that Timberlake really snapped into place artistically. That album felt lived-in; this one feels like an audition. Still: Justified is a solid debut, a clear upgrade from his *NSYNC era, and a blueprint of what was coming. It’s not the best work of Timberlake, The Neptunes, or Timbaland—but it’s where the evolution really started.

Aila tylsä ja tuli sellainen tunne että tyyppi teki kaikki biisit eri tytöille joita yritti hurmata(en tiedä onnistuko). Välillä melkeen nautin mutta sitten en kuitenkaan. Pinnallinen. En kuitenkaan sanoisi ertä oli huono.

A hour and 4 minutes? Really, are you kidding? Do I have to do this? I'm writing this before I listened, dreading what's to come. I would never - I repeat, never - choose to listen to this album. And, it turns out it was entirely an unpleasant experience for me. If I was had been a 14 year old girl in 2002 (I was a 37 year old man) or maybe even was one now, I might - might, I say - enjoy this. However, I have neither nostalgia nor appreciation for much of anything this is - the musical performance, the song writing, his singing, not a bit of it. And that's even with Pharrell along for the ride, whom I appreciate very much. Nope, nope, hard no thank you, do not prefer.

*shrug*

Pretty good, definitely a 2000s album

Annoying music.

Thought there would be at least one track I would like but nope they all sucked.

3/10

This could have stayed in 2002.

This is a good example of the problems of this format of media — a book documenting the “best” of an ever-changing artistic landscape. As soon as 2006, when Justin Timberlake released FutureSex/LoveSound, this list selection became completely invalidated. FutureSex/LoveSound is better in almost every way than Justified, with much more creativity in its musical elements, more pop-power, a wider range of sonic influences, and staying power and influence on music as a whole….but this book was originally written in 2005. It got me thinking that this list is quite outdated. One could argue that music as a whole since 2005 has produce more must-hear albums than the entirety of music before 2005. There’s been an endless multiplication of genres into ever more niche sub-genres that’s accompanied the explosion in musical availability via streaming platforms. Combine that with the many online communities which enabled increased discourse in more precise pieces of the musical culture and unparalleled access to resources to create your own music, and you get ample opportunity for anyone who wants to create music to create music — good music. How can a book, a static ranking, possibly provide a lasting slice of the culture? As long as the culture is changing, and as long as the boundaries of what’s possible are being pushed, it can’t. So while I’ll continue to do the list, I’ll do it out of a desire to discover the past, and not out of a craving to find the best, since, as we see in the selection of this album, this book and all future books like this, will never have the best.

like a room temperature bowl of water, I have no feelings about this at all. It exists, and I don't care either way.

I thought I was too hard on JT until I listed to this album.

the main problem with this album is that it's too bloated - there's quite a few pointless tracks here and there. the tracks besides those are quite a vibe though. overall, probably around a 6/10?

Cry me a river and Rock your body are the only two songs I remembered from this album. It turns out that those are the only two worth remembering.

Mewling approximation of singing with little regard for instrumentation, pandering to lowest common denominator themes of sex and dance without achieving sexy or successfully making your body move. This exists to market a washed up boyband member and has nothing to say.

Trousersnake’s power is his persuasive use of the familiar second-person form: he is actually addressing me, it’s not my couch anymore, and he’s sidling up to me, “hey, why so close on my couch, baby girl”? I can’t feel my legs. “Rock Your Body” is a fine song, the rest is costume for a make-out man-doll, largely assembled from the weakest sections of late-period Michael Jackson tracks.

Musical elements I cannot stomach: post-Thriller Michael Jackson (or any, in retrospect) late-90's/00's R&B Pharrell Williams productions ex-boyband members trying to become "serious artists" vocalists named "Justin" who were not in The Moody Blues What a vomit smoothie this album is!

mogao bih dati dvojku jer je ovo objektivno valjda okej, ali nisam uživao ni u jednom trenutku. naprotiv. i sve mi se vrijeme činilo ko da traje cijelu vječnost. naziv zadnje pjesme, ujedno i najpodnošljivije, idealan – "never again"

couple of classics. peak pharell/timbaland production

Meh - this didn’t age well. Not sure if it was even good to begin with.

Cry Me a River and Rock Your Body are still solid. The rest of it...is fine. Well-produced and catchy like you'd assume, but not overly memorable. Also, the whole thing is too long. I got tired of listening to it near the end and just stopped.

This album is not for me.

not really my style of music, but there are some songs you can enjoy, but overall not that strong of an album. Bonus point bcs it covers a lot of different genres, and contains both upbeat and also ballad like songs.

Best Song: Rock Your Body This album may be called 'Justified' but there is no way that this album being in the 1001 can be justified. Terrible. Dear Justin Timberlake, what you think is "sexy" comes off as whiny and annoying. Also, the Michael Jackson impersonation isn't even a good one. Absolute waste of time and should not be included on this list. 1/5.

Possibly entertaining pop music

When did albums start being an hour long? We can travel back the filler and sound over substance back to that moment. Before the CD age bands had to really want to make a double album. At this point there was nobody saying ‘stop’ and throwing out the 5 pointless mood pieces. This might have been a solid single album. Instead it rambles on with songs that lack any form. Though maybe I’m right and modern r’n’b is the worst music form ever created. It steals the name of one of the bedrocks of great music too. Doubly criminal.

This is the album that started albums sounding like this. Pharrell is awesome and this put him on the mainstream map. I heard him say that he tried to make an MJ record, but Jackson didn't want to buy any of the songs. JT heard this and jumped at the chance and it was an über smart move.

Nawp

Fairly bland white boy soul. Robbie Williams is miles better than Justin, I'm afraid.

Absolutely not

Ok

Звук какой-то спартанский, не чувствуется попмузыкального блокбастерства. А может, я просто не понимаю.

Neptunes/Timbaland production is what makes this album shine. The main singles are pretty great for what they are and the era, but the rest was almost painful to listen to. Timberlake is definitely talented but nothing about his vocals stands out on this album to me.

The falsetto on the first song to mimic a female voice is pretty cringe. Really, the who Michael Jackson from Wish affectation is pretty off-putting. The music is great but can't overcome the frontman. Cry me a River is a classic though.

How did I not go to the Xtina / Justified concert when I had the chance!!! Love the hits!

I'll give it 2 stars for purely the nostalgia of going back to this one, and Cry me a River, but otherwise very generic sounding nokia ringtone R&B.

I had this one when it was new. Fun album. JT is a good singer and entertainer, but the magic here is the Neptunes.

Terrible filler

Gentlemen good night, ladies good morning. I'm pretty sure I caught a STD listening to this.

Turned out to be quite good. Solid 3.

Two hit songs, that’s it.

No surprise the production on this album is spectacular (Pharrell owned this entire decade). The hits are recognizable as being all over the radio. JT is clearly an entertainer. He can dance, and can sing. Like other said, he is no MJ, but he also doesn't need to be. He knows how to make music for various generations to agree on, but I won't be there to join.

Holy bloat

I enjoyed hearing the hits again, but in overall this album is a bit too smooth/overproduced for me.

Great pop album, some of the beat-box sounds/beats make songs distinctly obvious as JT songs

Solid pop. Is this considered nostalgia? Am I that old??

Pretty good. For a first record, he has some really strong and fun pop songs. Kind of ends on a slow/downer but it’s all good

I’m not immune to the pop hooks from Mr. Timberlake.

That was okay

Haters want to diss now, but this album made every woman in America want to have JT have them "nekkid by the end of this song." Don't act like this didn't get your head bobbing and your ass moving when it hit the radio and MTV.

Run of the mill early 2000s pop album

I can't say that I was looking forward to explore this record. The terrible stereotypical early 2000's cover didn't help either. I was surprised I didn't totally hate this, since it's basically baby-faced Justin putting on a weird sexy voice for over an hour. Why is this album so long? It totally didn't need to be. Especially the Michael Jackson style outro's that just fall flat. But some grooves were surprisingly cool, they justifie the release.

You have got to be kidding me. How did this make it onto the 1001 Albums list

I wonder why this album is on this list. Just generic radiopop. Thank god AI will save us from this crap in the future...

Just shit and time hasn’t treated this shit well

The "humorous" opening track was utter shite. All the sighs and whispering got really old super fast, I don't enjoy the über falsetto bits much either. While this album is clearly aimed at teen girls and young women, showing off vocal techniques on record is annoying, not to mention easy to finetune and can easily sounds very tacked-on. I love r'n'b and soul, just not the bastardized versions. Justin is a very technical singer, which he has been able to demonstrate later in a much more tastefull manner. I just wish this album had more good music, it feels like most of this album is fad chasing, committee designed, hit song emulating pop music running after the trends of last 2 years and trying to figure out what the future would bring. Majority of the tracks the Neptunes produced for Justified were originally intended for Michael Jackson, but after he turned them down the tracks were Justinized. All in all, it's trying to portray big r'n'b and soul vibes, slap on some modern hip hop and dance fads, only hitting the spot on few tracks for me.

HAHAHAHA!!!! This is hilarious! This album is definitely not something you need to hear before you die

Yuck Favorite songs: Rock Your Body, Like I Love You, Cry Me a River Least favorite songs: Take It From Here, Nothin' Else, Still on My Brain 2/5

3.5 pure nostalgia

A few undeniable bangers, a lot of awful lyrics and a great album title. Sadly it really falls off after the back to back of cry me a river>rock my body so it can’t be higher than a 2.5 imo

In case you have any questions about how bad this is, I've provided a lyric sample: You're out of this world Except you're not green I rest my case. 2/5

There are a handful of great songs on here (Rock Ya Body is a great Disco-MJ song) but only Cry Me A River is genuinely different and interesting. The rest goes by pleasantly enough but leaves no trace

Definitely listened to this when it came out in 2002. A few genuine bangers on this album gets it from 2->3.

not really for me

i’ve just had enough of him

I can see why 15 year old girls loved it. But I thought it was generally just a small step above awful. Rounding up to a two because I only felt it necessary to fast forward through two songs.

Did not stand the test of time.

If you are into this music at all, I think this has to be considered the state of the art. Produced by The Neptunes dudes about a year after N.E.R.D. put out that In Search Of... record. Timbaland Janet Jackson Clipse - both dudes All guest features. The little talking bits he does on some tracks, where he puts on his vaguely African American sounding, soft and sexy voice is quite hard to listen to, but the rest of it is not bad considering what my expectations were.

Some good runs, very party-able, but the vocals can get annoying at times.

This was interesting and a little bit of a let down if I'm being honest. Having chatted about JT with others, I learned that he had been given the moniker and title of "Prince of Pop" which definitely raised the bar high. However, after listening to the album in which the only actual standout in the sea of similar, high, breathy and bouncy songs was "Cry me a River" of course. This is not to say that the others were poor, but I'm not sure if it is exactly Prince worthy. It may be an unpopular opinion and the genres aren't quite the same but I would have enjoyed 2/3 starting albums of Akon much more than this and as such will be rating this as a 3.5/5 with a bump to 4.

Definitely nostalgic about this album. All in all, It was a pretty good debut album for JT, full of classic singles that are still bouncy to this day. Definitely showed an evolution to adopt more of an R&B vibe post his NSYNC days. Very impactful production (& songwriting) from the Neptunes too. 3.5/5

4 of the first 6 songs were the singles. Those singles are all bangers but the album takes a nose dive after. It ends up being too long and 20mins could easily be chopped. 3.5/5. Raising to a 4.

Was sadly underwhelmed by this. This album has some of my favorite JT songs on it, probably up there with best pop songs all time, but then has some stinkers. Sort of feels like every song is a single and isnt part of a larger piece of work.

Justin tæmmelig-lækker, er ren nostalgi for mig. Boogie tiden, og alt det drama som var omkring ham. Musikalsk er det solidt R&B, men hits er hits af en grund. Det virker som et filler album som pakker en EP ind.

4 bangers og resten er ligegyldigt fyld. Klassisk tidlig ‘00 pop. Det bliver aldrig mig.

I get why it was popular at the time but I’m really not into this stuff. The best song was “Rock Your Body”. 2.5/5

I can see why some people could like a couple of the songs but otherwise.

Ok

90 percent is so bad that I can’t give the decent parts any star-based credit

I get that this was supposed to be objectively good, but I didn’t enjoy a second of this.

Futuresucks/dumbsounds Listened to Futuresex afterwards. That’s a 5/5. This was a lukewarm watered down version of a much better album. The Lonely Island trilogy of songs with JT are better than this.

It’s crazy how much better FutureSex/LoveSounds is than this generic, soulless R&B trash is.