Justified

Weird to think this is 20 years old! He's a likeable chap who sings well enough and has good producers in Timberland and The Neptunes. Some good pop hits. Pleasant, easy listening modern inoffensive r&b. Such a huge mistake by Jacko to pass on these songs! Im sure it outs have revitalised his career. Pretty good pop, but just not special enough for 3.5 stars.

R&B. Pop. Soul. Muy comercial.

4 kæmpe bangers. Og for det får albummet 4 stjerner. Alt for mange skips, der gør albummet fuldstændig ligegyldigt. Kunne have være 4 sange langt og så havde det fået 5 stjerner.

Just brilliant 4/5

Love "Señorita," "Cry Me a River," and "Rock Your Body," and while the rest of the album's a little uneven, it's hard to fail when you've got Timbaland and the Neptunes producing. 3.5 stars.

Some of these are jams from the era, but listening now feels dated. 3.5

Justin Timberlake has a few good songs, but this is pretty generic. ‘Cry Me A River’ is alright, though.

Lekkere gladjakker, die Justin! Hij glijdt alleen veel te veel binnen de lijntjes om 't echt boeiend te laten worden.

Ja, het is allemaal wel goed enzo, maar het is me toch allemaal iets té gladjes

Meneer T heeft best goed naar M.J. geluisterd, en dat kan ik zeer wel waarderen. Niet alles op dit album is even sterk maar er zitten echt heel wat zeer catchy tracks tussen.

Soms funky en best leuk, soms heel zijig.

Truly awful.

I've heard some of his songs before and seen him perform on shows like the Grammys, and he's definitely talented and entertaining. This album is okay. I like the style but most of the tracks to my ear seem to be lacking something, not sure what it is. Like they held back or something.

This album came out when? Oh boy, am I OLD :( Sure, some boyband filler here, but back in the day, who knew the Trousersnake could be so FUNKY. The Neptunes influence here means there's plenty of top-notch pop / R&B crossover vibes. "I'll have you nekked by the end of this song" - indeed.

3/10. Dude looks like Anakin Skywalker, but somehow his writing is even worse.

There are a couple of entertaining songs on here but the 2000s era overproduction is in full force. Also, this album goes for over an hour for pretty much no reason. 6/10

fine...just not my jam. Probably good for its time and audience.

Daddy

Buena voz masculina para una sucesión de canciones unas más calmadas y otras con más intensidad. Pop un tanto blandengue. Fácil de escuchar en cualquier momento.

trousersnake with his pervert music. i'm well out of the loop on anything but is this music the type of stuff that these days gets cancelled for being creepy, like blurred lines? the big hits on this album were the nonsense music that young not nigel had to endure when going to bars and clubs as a youngling. like some sort of coming of age endurance test.

Justin Timberlake struggles to piece together the ashes of his life after his daughter is murdered and presented to the king as an amuse bouche. This tragic tale descends into madness as the singer screeches in pain and tries to sellotape his mind together with memories of his grandmother's large breasts. The climax of the record finds Timberlake smacked off his tits on energy drinks trying to persuade a young boy to frolic with him on the shallow grave of his offspring. It's a sad story with a happy ending. 4 stars.

Fun fact: Justin Timberlake is allergic to music.

Æji þetta er voða þreytt

I feel like this album is here as a time capsule to 00s pop music. Aside from two of the songs, the production is handled in turn by The Neptunes, or Timbaland with Scott Storch. I prefer the Neptunes tracks, typically (I'm not all for Storch's pseudo-Middle-East schtick), but most of the songs on the record drag out far too long, and some of the tracks wear their influences too close on the sleeve. Still, an interesting listen, if only for the glimpse into what pop would become. Favorite tracks: "Cry Me A River", "Like I Love You"

This was kind of the last album I expected to be listening to on my journey through all of these albums. What I'll say is that I wasn't completely blown away, but I was also pleasantly surprised by some of the cuts on this. Justin was already famous before this came out. He didn't have to build up his career from ground zero off of his debut. And I think Justin has a nice voice. I mean, it sounds like any radio-friendly pop singer voice from the 2000's. But that doesn't mean it's not good. He has a falsetto, and he puts it to good use on this album. The closing track is definitely where he shows it off the most. And honestly, any album where you have Timbaland and The Neptunes collaborating on songs together is bound to be good. That trio probably has more hits than any other combination of producers ever. And it's deserved, because they are all truly masters of their craft. The song "Señorita" starts off the album strong. And I love the section on that song where it sounds like Justin is speaking to a group of people at a party and telling them when and how to sing. I don't care what anyone says, "Rock Your Body" still hits just as well as it did the day it came out. And it just hasn't aged for me. It could come on in the club today and I would be dancing and singing along. Some of the other deep cuts I enjoy are "Last Night" and "Take Me Now". I find that I like about half of the album, or like every other song. The ones I'm not into as much aren't bad, they just didn't click with me. The lyrical content of this album is pretty consistent. And by consistent, I mean if you aren't into love songs, don't listen to this. Every song is a love song. It is honestly impressive how Justin manages to sing about the same topics in different ways on so many songs. I enjoyed listening to this more than I thought I would, just because it was a nice break from music I like to listen to a little bit more critically. This feels more like fun background music to put on while studying or doing dishes, and I think leaning into that mindset makes this much more enjoyable.

Dude… no. Literally the music that made me get into alt genres. Production is impressive tho.

Some dizzy music. Don't mind it tho.

good

This album is super over-produced empty-calorie pop, but I can't help but like it. It probably comes from listening to Michael Jackson basically non stop when I was in the second and third grade. I can't say that I ever go out of my way to listen to JT, but I'm never sorry for hearing it in the wild, so this gets a 3/5 for that.

Not bad. Definitely better than I expected. There was a lot of diversity between the songs. It did seem to peter off in the back half though. Overall, I wouldn't ask my daughter to turn this off if she turned it on. 3.25/5

I came of age right around the heyday of Britney and the boy bands, so they’ll always have some kind of place in my heart even if this was never the music that excited me. And I definitely remember when Justin became the heir apparent to Michael and just how good some of these songs are. I never listened to the album before, only knowing the hits, but some of the deep cuts are good, just the kind of 2000’s R&B that takes me back. Definitely too long and runs out of steam halfway in, but I can’t rate this any lower than a B.

Not a huge fan of the sound, but I do like JT’s voice. I like the jazzier sound of the 2020 Experience, but this isn’t too bad and obviously Cry Me A River is a bop.

As a lot of others have mentioned, the Neptunes/Timbaland production throughout is easily the best thing about the album. The opening two songs and the two big singles all absolutely slap, but unfortunately it’s a very front-heavy album and nothing after Rock Your Body makes an impact. A lot of the songs go on for a good minute or so longer than they should, and a couple of tracks (especially Nothin Else) are just outright bad

Turn-of-the-century heart-throb pop at its finest. Say what you want about him, you have to respect JT for the career he has made, he’s a true entertainer. Pure listening pleasure for me is like a 2, but he gets an extra star for the nostalgia factor and for the way he makes every 30-something year old woman turn instantly back into a 13 year old girl with his poster on her wall and his CD in her Discman.

Justin Timberlake is a generational talent. no doubt about it. I think one of the things he does best is working with the right people. The Neptunes did the bulk of production on this album and turned out some incredible tracks like Senorita, which is a massive leap above the status quo of the pop charts in 02. Pharrell's choppy drum work and genre-bending vision makes this album still groove 20 years later.

I just can’t with this album. Maybe if I reviewed it back in 2002 the rating would be higher, but the songs all sound the same, and I find his voice to be very whiny on this album. I love his SNL skits and enjoy him as an entertainer (if you know what I mean, and I know you do!), but this album Just Indicates to me that it should be viewed similarly to seeing the Timber of the forest or murkiness of a Lake.

Man wanted to be MJ so bad! This is such a Time Capsule of an album… The Neptunes sound was everywhere when this came out and there are a couple of great singles. But so many of the rest are grafting forgettable songwriting and indifferent vocals onto that production. Songs *feel* long even when they’re not. Not great.

Grody.

R&b tovet i genèric, que per alguna raó va encumbrar el seu autor, passa per ser un dels discos clau de la primera meitat dels 00's i troba el seu lloc a la llista dels discos que se suposa hem d'escoltar abans de morir. Misteris de la vida

This is horrible, rock your body was good for The first 10 seconds as it reminded me of partying with my friends.

I hated how much I enjoyed it, starts strong but loses a lot of steam in the second half.

Vintage JT just a little depressing song choices

hard to get past my dislike for JT in general

Not bad. Cry Me a River is a banger. I think what I bump against on this album is that while I find the production interesting and creative, I don’t find Timberlake himself to be that compelling as a singer. Technically, he’s good, but I don’t hear a lot of originality. That makes it hard for me to listen to this and think it’s anything other than fine.

That was awful. Torture.

3.75

Oh lord, it's a whole album of Justin Timberlake. The mouth clicking sounds on Cry Me A River are ewww. Rock Your Body is fine, but holy moses this is a slog.

I couldn't do it. I got through 2.5 songs and had to stop. I'm not sure how this "artist" sold that many albums?

æ þetta er kynferðislegt rogb. ekki konfekt. snoturlega unnið enda sæguðirnir við stýrið en ekki minn sjóhattur.

JT is Justin Timberlake and this album is JT, Just Terrific. I know a few of the songs from the radio but the others were new to me. He has got quite a great sound on this album. I was reminded of the 1970s Stevie Wonder and the 1980s Michael Jackson while listening to this album. 4/5

As much as I love to hear a full hours worth of Neptunes and Timbaland beats, this pretty much follows the usual formula of big mainstream pop albums. Any singles are packed into the front half of the album, and the rest is filled with pretty average filler. We even get a little piano ballad to finish it off. It wasn't too bad, but it really didn't need to be over an hour long. Every single song is like 5 minutes long, just cut a couple songs completely and trim a few to a solid 3 minutes and I'd be fairly happy.

this record all sounds the same i didn’t even realize it’d looped back over to the beginning. the early 2000’s are not my cultural space.

5 stars! Just kidding. But there are some bangers on here. This is his first solo album, and it’s way more soulful and r&b than *NSYNC, although there are a couple boy band songs on here. Great dance music

3.7 - He’s obviously talented but he’s a bit of a tool, isn’t he? Don’t get me wrong, I still like him. I mean, he did “dick in a box”, so there’s that. But doesn’t his whole lady’s man schtick seem a touch cringe in hindsight? Also the way he apes Michael Jackson in his dance moves and his grunts? Or the smooth synth R&B that sounds a little too much like Stevie Wonder (see “Nothin’ Else”)? Still, though it is derivative, this is a fun, danceable pop record.

En serio, ¿uno de los mejores 1001 discos? ¿EN SERIO?

I wanted to hate this. I expected to give it a single star and move on to something better. But, while there is a lot here to actively dislike, there's also a lot here that forms a compelling argument for JT's enduring presence in pop culture. The songs are mostly dumb, let's just make that clear. The subject matter is shallow and repetitive to an extreme degree. But they're built exceptionally well. There's a deep understanding here of what works and what compels listeners to stick around. Not that I credit JT with that. He's mostly just an excellent vocal talent packaged in a pretty face. But he's managed to pull together a team that knew exactly how to leverage his skills to maximum effect. In the end, I can't, in good conscience, fail the record. I still didn't enjoy it but I also can't hate the skill and, maybe more importantly, the psychological and sociological understanding on display. This is an album that understands its audience and plays directly to what moves them. That's worth some stars.

THE best pop album of all time no arguments nothing further from the defence thanks your honour. I've said it a few times now during this exercise but Pharrell is absolutely everywhere on everything if you listen for him, absolute production genius. Sprinkle in some Dre with JT over the top and you've got a recipe for something very special.

Bland early 2000s pop. It's competently done (Pharrell is a producer) but it's just bland. And too long. Could have cut 20 minutes and it would have been bearable. It's also really cliche and just sounds of that time.

This album really is all over the places with a lot of different sounds, instruments, influences. But despite variety of elements and vocal range, the album is severely lacking in any kind of soul or any aspects that make it actually interesting.

The singles are bangers and get an easy 3 immediately, but the rest is mostly filler and goes on too long. Still a fun slightly nostalgic listen.

This is better and more consistent than I expected - of course I knew the singles, but the rest of the album holds up okay as well. It's too long, there's a bit too much production on it so it sounds more manufactured than I'd like, but I guess that's part of the appeal. Won't ever listen to the album as a whole again, but pleasantly surprised when I did. 3/5.

I will go 4 stars because there are 4 good songs on here. There are several skips but a few of the high quality songs have become iconic, so JT gets the bump from 3 to 4.

Dull. Dull. Dull.

Generous 4 but the singles still bang

Just a very average collection of songs. Yes production is amazing, 2 big singles, but those songs only stand out because of 20 years of exposure. Objectively, they don’t stand out anymore than the other tracks on this album.

Good Album with some big hits but overall, at the runtime of more than an hour, the rest of the songs were just a bit too similar sounding to get 4 stars

incredibly odd - strong songwriting and beats on display here. Feels almost like an attempt at some great producers to create a nice non threatening star. His voice is ok, it's not Michael Jackson as much as he thinks he is. really it's an attempt at creating an edgier pop star who is still nice and cute looking, the stand out tunes are really good but they don't have any of the actual singer's personality in at all. Overall it's still a pretty good listen.

It was almost good. Almost catchy. Almost impressive. Sometimes it even was. But mostly, it was just... almost.

Pretty strong record with Timbaland's prints all over it. Just bloated heavily.

I get why they added a huge pop star like Justin to the list, but it seems lazy choosing his debut which is pretty uneven. The following album Futuresex/LoveSounds is much better in my opinion.

Mediocre Justin Timberlake album. Weak songwriting. The production is nice of course, but the follow-up album is quite a bit better.

I went into this with very low expectations and came out of it with expectations confirmed, but also frustrated, because behind Timberlake's rather irritating delivery there was some pretty good music here and there, especially when things got funky.

In the middle section I spotted some favourable melodies.

Wow this is garbage. Great voice though.

2.5/5. I almost wanted to play this album in a private session because I don’t want any presence of this slimy bastard on my Spotify. It’s fitting that they got him to play an even bigger scumbag than Zuck in the Social Network. He ruined Janet Jackson’s career and reputation all because he wanted to get back at his ex and did not get nearly as much flack because he’s a man. Half star is for Pharrell Williams.

It's a strange album. The music is a mix between R&B, boy band pop, and a huge dose of Michael Jackson. I think the album is best when it's leaning into the MJ style pop, but it obviously can't measure up. Justin Timberlake is a great singer, which this album showcases, but I'm not sure if this is the best display of his voice. The lyrics are fairly basic which is to be expected, but at over an hour, this album is way too long. Overall, it's fine but doesn't quite get to where it needs to.

Pharell Williams has obviously written most of this, to the point his voice is the first thing you hear on the album lol. And Pharrell loves Michael Jackson, but JT doesn't have the chops to really pull off the vocal theatrics needed for a good MJ knockoff. There's cheesy "reppin" from no doubt wholesome rappers, eg. Pharrell himself, maybe 1 or 2 others. Really cringey lyrics; almost every line a tired cliche. I recognised way more than I thought I would (club hits from when I was 18 I guess, even though I tried to avoid clubs I still ended up in them from time to time). It's at least consistent in songwriting, and the production is flawless, but overall too long and too many ballads. Dragged on towards the end. 3/5. None of the full charm of catchy boy band stuff, but at least there wasn't 300 different songwriters like on Britney/Christina etc albums.

I don't disdain, and even admire in some ways, ther star maker machinery (behind the popular song). The judicious addition of soul and hip hop elements to the dance and pop foundation of his boy band roots is well considered and well done. He certainly has the goods, both in voice and star quality. Typical of products of the machine, it has that manufactured taste... the human element almost glossed over. For what it is its top of the line though, if not really my cup of tea.

2 stars

You know what? I wish I could hate on this, but it's pretty damn solid. JT might not sound the most heartwrenchingly sincere, and the songwriting may be several shades away from personal and moving. But his vocals are pretty smooth and agile, the hooks are sticky, and the production (Timbaland and the Neptunes) is so crisp, clean, and creative. Pretty nice batch of pop songs.

Super nostalgic. Takes me back to HS and college days. Half of these songs were played on the radio and in "da club". Some songs have aged, but the hits still sound fresh. Hard to believe this album is over 20 years old now.

Not bad at all but a little boring

Yeah Nah. I don't really understand the hype, it's boppy it's fine, but not for me. I did enjoy Cry Me a River and Rock Your Body (probably more because I know it from Just Dance)

Nope, didn't enjoy that - the singles, of which there were far too many, got played to death when this came out. I suspect if I was hearing them with fresh ears I probably wouldn't find them too offensive. But then three or four of the non-single tracks were slowed down syrupy ballads, and those were actively offensive to the ears. Gross. Fave track - "Like I Love You" was the least aggravating single, so that one I guess, though it brought me precious little pleasure.

Generic, bland early aughts pop drivel

it’s not bad it’s just really not any good

I understand that there's been a cultural reassessment of JT in the last several years, but the fact is that most of his early 2000s stuff sounds like Axe Body Spray smells. Best track: Cry Me a River

Never listened all the way through. The hits are hits, there's a lot of quality, but also a bit of boy band hangover.

I ALREADY RATED THIS YOU IDIOTS

Not bad for the guy who threw Janet Jackson under the sexy bus. 4 stars.

Not a fan.

Can't wait, really enjoyed, always love justy timm

Throwing the inner hater a bone is totally healthy, occasionally. Best when it's by the Neptunes, and hurts even better. Justified certainly has some sounds: The obviously synthesized ones stick out like mental infection, pinning the album directly to 2002. The inability to reconcile sincerity and silliness is fascinating, the vocals ranging from Michael Jackson impersonation to acceptable. There are a few songs I could spin as sweet, but hope I always respect myself enough to keep them out of a lover's ear.