Fury said:

I used to think the same thing until I heard his last album. The stuff that wasn't done by Tim was better. Maybe Justin is finally growing into his own person.

daPrettyman said:

you think Damn Girl is better than the hit singles??

graecophilos said:

I didn't say that. That song is a stinker for sure. I was thinking about Until The End of Time and Sexy Ladies. I'm thinking that JT wants to break from the Timbaland sound and try to develop his own sound.

The stuff he's done for other people is good. This is stuff he's written himself (Let It Out with Charlie Wilson and the duet he did with Reba McIntire).

daPrettyman said:

Sexy Ladies is a Timbaland produced track!

I think only Until The End of Time and Damn Girl and the two b-sides were NOt from Timbaland.

Damn Girl is by will.i.am, and a great example of what an mj track with will.i.am might have sounded like, totally noisy garbage!

wow, a whole ten year age gap between the youngest & oldest people on the album!

graecophilos said:

I'd consider him on the same level as them. He's made a career out of biting MJ's and Prince's style, all the while not possessing much in the way of vocal chops, originality, or personality.

And for those waiting to jump down my throat accusing my Backstreet-loving self of boyband favouritism. Nope, sorry. I actually like the rest of the former *N SYNCer's. But if I ever met Timberlake I can't promise I wouldn't kick him in the balls.

Moonbeam said:

Same here. There are other performers I don't like but they don't set me into anywhere near the same seething hatred Lou Pearlman's bitch Timberlake does.

alphastreet said:

I agree. I'm not a Will.I.Am fan. Especially his drum sounds don't fit with MJ. MJ needs tight beats.

graecophilos said:

that's true, I could see his overproduction drowning mj's vocals out. Maybe prince would be a better match for him.

Someone made a comment about how Justin didn't make it past the 8th grade and it's a false statement because the kid did actually graduate high school and was a straight 'A' student, even liked Physics and Chemistry . Dude really is far from dumb. Plus, he was writing songs when he was with NSync ("Gone" anyone?)...him and JC Chasez, who needs to put out another album because "Schizophrenic" was quite good.

Seriously, Justin really is far from being the least talented artist on the scene right now IMO. There are soo many other over-hyped and over-produced artists who get praised while JT gets hated on. At least he's taking the initiative to want to produce his own album, some artists seem content being lazy and paying others to do the bulk of the work for them while they get all the undeserved praise (and sometimes underserved criticism). He could just do the old "phone it in" thing like some of his counterparts, but the fact that there is video of him sitting in the studio and learning on his first solo album ain't something that he should be getting beat up over. At least he showed his ass up and stuck around to see how the whole process works. Britney got praised for "Blackout" and she didn't do anything but sing, barely...no producing, no song-writing, but lots of praise for an album that she probably can't even remember half the words to.

Hate him or love him, the guy is a hard worker and a dedicated artist who seems to love and respect his craft, so he should at least get some respect for having a good work ethic about him. He may be arrogant at times, but what celebrity isn't nowadays? Even the ones who have no talent at all act like they are God's gift to the world. Whether his new album will be better without Timbo or sucks ass is to be determined, but at least he's trying to stand on his own two feet and do something different. Just my

Moonbeam said:

Justin died for me when he left Janet hangin'

VoicesCarry said:

good joke.

estelle81 said:

you're right. I think he really work hard and has a lot of influence on his songs/productions.
And aren't his tracks with Timbaland not one of Timbalands best work? From where does the better quality come all of a sudden? Must be JT's influence.

And I still say, out of all these modern R'n'B males (Usher, Ne-Yo, Mario) he's the best.

Just look how many replies this topic has. Would you have discussed that much if it had been about Ne-Yo??

graecophilos said:

What joke? I will not support his work.

estelle81 said:

I agree with you,and I'm not even a big fan of his I applaud artists who mix it up a little and don't allow themselves to become complacent.There are many pop artists who never really grow and evolve as artists.They stay in their comfort zones,remaking the same album over and over and over....afraid to branch out and try some new beats/sounds.

graecophilos said:

The only thing I've really loved from Timbaland besides several Justin tracks is his work with Missy Elliott and Aaliyah. When Aaliyah died and Tim decided to stray away from Missy, I really didn't have much enthusiam with Tim until I heard him and JT's collaborations. I think Tim is a good producer because unlike some producers he actually seems to like to make up his own beats moreso than borrowing beats from older songs, so I commend him for being creative and not a beat recycler.

People seem to hate to refer to JT as an R&B artist, something that he has said he was pissed about when they dubbed his first album a pop album. I like Ne-Yo as more a songwriter than an actual artist. Mario is a good singer, but has yet to really crossover ("Crying Out For Me" is a kick ass joint though ), and Usher, or as I like to call him, "Curious George", has not really changed his style since he first came out. As much as I don't like Chris Brown; he, or I should say is record label, is really trying to cross him over to the pop charts with "Forever", which was a surprise to me until I noticed that he's signed to Jive Records. That label is all about artists that can be marketed to the 'pop'ular crowds, which is all pop music really is...what's popular with a large amount of people.


I like JT. He's worked with soo many different types of artists, from Duran Duran, to Beyonce, to Britney (of course), to Reba McIntyre (sp?). In many older interviews, he's said how much he loves Al Green, who lives in his hometime in Tennessee, and in his first audition, he performed a Donny Hathaway song. I don't get why people would think him as being less inclined to being a soulful artist than they would to say, Robin Thicke. I like both of these two artists and can't really see the comparison other than they are both "blue-eyed soul".

I think many people hate Justin for five main reasons:

1). He's everywhere right now...which is a reason to hate everyone from Lil' Wayne, to Madonna, to Rhianna, and several other artists for that matter, which is a stupid reason to hate someone in my opinion because he's gotta make his money and not being in the limelight isn't going to make that happen,

2). He was in a boyband, again another stupid reason because so was Robbie Williams and Michael Jackson, so yeah, okay

3). He copies MJ, but who the fuck doesn't nowadays? Usher was copying MJ in the mid-90s but people want to point fingers more at JT for some reason...Chris Brown is damn near trying to take MJs whole persona. At least Justin can sing live and dance at the same time...some people can multi-task, some can't.

4). The Superbowl fiasco, which I was mad at him for, but if Janet got over it, then everyone else should really consider doing the same. It happened and I was more mad at the people who kept egging it on and making a big deal about it than I was at Justin in the end. It was a less than 3 second incident that very few people actually noticed when it happened, but the media being the attention whoring machine that it is just had to slow it down and play it back frame-by-frame for all the soccer moms to see and bitch about. Not to mention that no other male performer during that half-time show stuck up for Janet either, so why nobody is bestowing the same amount of hate and disgust at Nelly, Kid Rock, or Diddy is still beyond my understanding. That whole production was too lewd for young eyes and it wasn't just the Janet nipple slip portion either.

5). The whole Britney thing, mostly hate from Britney fanatics. I didn't agree with him putting their business out there like he did, but when I found out, in college and on three different occasions, from three girls that grew up with her that she didn't lose her virginity to Justin, than I just laughed at the whole thing.

People like to dislike Mr. Timberlake, and that's fine because everybody has a right to their opinion, but some of these people get offended if you criticize their favorite artist(s) and want to verbally assault you instead of have a respectable debate about it. If someone comes with an intellectual argument as to why they don't like a particular artist, actor, celebrity; which, doesn't require name calling and childish remarks, than cool. If you don't like someone and can't give an intellectual reason why u don't, than why waste time commenting? People saying they don't like him becaue he's arrogant, (again something that many celebrities are), making fun of his name (which isn't his fault...blame his dad for that injustice), one of the 5 reasons I listed above, and/or insisting that he's the reason the music industry sucks now is just retarded IMO. The music industry sucks because the music took a backseat to the business and that's been obvious for years now. If a large group of people like something and a record company takes note of it and signs that act, than why is it the artist's fault or even the record labels? They are giving the populace what they want and making a shitload of cash by doing so, so I ain't mad at them. Unfortunately, money rules the world.
[Edited 9/18/08 9:10am]

SoulAlive said:

I believe that there are three categories of people when it comes to artists:
Haters, Fanatics, and Critics.
I define a 'hater' as anyone who can't say anything nice about an artist. There's many artists I can't stand, but I have no problem commenting on things that they have done that I like. I don't like Beyonce, but I have no problem praising her for her live performances and her duet with Luther Vandross is absolutely delicious to me.
I can't stand Britney, but I have no problem saying that "Lucky" and "Toxic" are both great pieces of pop music that I love and many of her past performances were very well executed. That's the difference between being a hater and being a critic IMO.

I believe a fanatic is anyone who can't say anything negative about an artist they love. I love Janet Jackson, but really wish that she would tell JD to stop producing her albums and was a little mad at her when she apologized for the 'wardrobe malfunction'...don't be sorry, Janet. Kids go to museums for school field trips and have books with nude paintings in them in school, so why apologize for something that they will see at some point anyway?
I love Christina Aguilera also, but when she used to bad mouth other artists that pissed me off, nor can I stand all the make-up she constantly wears and the lip-syncing at this year's VMAs was not acceptable at all to me, because she's better than that. I'm not going to make excuses for any artist that I like because the first thing fanatics like to throw in your face when their favorite artist makes a mistake is, "They're only human." To which I always reply, "Exactly and all humans should be held accountable for their actions." They choose to be famous, nobody forced them to be in that situation, and they can quit anytime. Media scrutiny and criticisms come with their job titles, just like scooping dog poo comes with mine. I don't like it, but I deal with it; and so should they.

I believe a critic is anyone who sees both the pro and cons of an artist and offers an non-biased opinion on that person, which you just did, so I thank you for that and wish that others would follow suit. You don't have to like an artist, but you don't have to bestow hate and disrespect on them either. Just my

estelle81 said:

Well that may be true for some, but I think some people like myself can see that Justin is not as great as some like to make him out to be and have valid reasons for disliking him and it's not for most of the reasons you stated. I dislike him for several reasons:

1)He is a medicore talent. He is an average singer, average dancer, average performer and a below average musician and songwriter. I will admit that I like both of his albums, but that's mainly due to his producers.

2)He has no musical identity of his own. On his first album, he was trying to be MJ, the second album he was channeling Prince, who's next? Stevie Wonder? Ray Charles? Johnny Cash? Seriously, the guy has no identity of his own. There's no originality there whatsoever.

3)Denies his influeneces/follows whatever is popular. Yes, I'll admit that i'm an MJ stan so maybe that makes me a bit biased, but I think it's wrong how Justin likes to deny these days that he's been influenced by Michael. He says the fedora he was sporting and other things are because he was influenced by Frank Sinatra.....yeah right. "Justified" was basically "Off The WAll" for the 00's and his performance of "Like I love You" at the VMA's was the biggest rip off of MJ's performances i've ever seen. I guess because it's not "cool" or "in" to like MJ, Justin likes to deny that he's been influenced by him, which is not cool to me. Everyone can see that he's been influenced by Mike, yet he denies it. You mentioned Chris Brown, but he along with Omarion, Usher and others don't get on my nerves in that sense because at least THEY ADMIT Michael is an influence, Justin on the other hand denies all the comparisons and downright LIES about being influenced by MJ.

It's just funny though how Justin is all about Prince, Johnny Cash, Sinatra and others these days, but yet he NEVER mentioned these people as an influence before and used to mention Michael as an influence before the trial. Point is that he just goes with what's ever cool to like at the moment or what the "in" thing is. He is fake, bottom line.


4)Superbowl. I'll admit that I definitely did not liked the way he handled it. Both parties are to blame, but he didn't handle that well at all and I thought it was messed up how he left Janet hanging like that and left her to take all the blame.


5)Overrated and overhyped by the media. I know it's not his fault, but I think it's annoying how the media constantly kisses his ass and acts like he is the second coming. Basically, the media has hyped him up as being "The great white hope". What's going on with him reminds me of Elvis in that sense. His talent does not match all the praise he gets. I've never seen Justin Timberlake as being some great talent or being a superstar and I never will. He just doesn't have that "it" quality and lacks charisma especially when he's on stage. I see guys who look like him every single day, which is not something I want in my stars. The thing I like about people like Prince, MJ, Madonna and even Elvis (who I admit i'm not a big fan, but can see that he was talented and had loads of star quality) is that they had charisma and the "it" factor and kept you interested in watching them. They kinda seemed like these untouchable, larger than life figures. Who wants artists who are normal and like everyone else like Justin? Zzzzz boring. I mean I can even see the hype with a more recent artist like Beyonce. True, most of her music sucks, but the girl can sing, dance and perform her butt off. She definitely has that special quality that makes her standout from the rest, but with Justin I don't see it. I just don't get the hype at all.

Cinnamon234 said:

First off, I want to applaud you for having very valid reasons as to why you don't like Justin and I commend you for stating them in such a respectful and intellectual manner. Thank You.



I'll agree that he's not the most amazing talent, nor is he as good-looking as many people make him out to be; kinda like Shia Labeouf, but I think that's why I like them soo much, less Hollywood pretty boy glamour and more average Joe. Justin seems to pride himself into putting 100% into his craft, which I think is a great quality to possess in any career. He's smart enough to request good producers on his albums. From Timbaland to the Neptunes (who can make almost anything sound hot), I think his ear for music is his best quality. When his record label didn't want to release "SexyBack" as the first single, he pushed for it and it's one of his biggest hits to date, even though I still find it to be his most overrated; and I still don't like "What Goes Around Comes Around"....never could get into that song. I still think Ne-Yo is the best R&B songwriter at the moment...love his lyrics.



I have to agree with you. I think Justin tries to stick all of his musical influences into one pot at the same time and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. There's an old expression that says, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" or something like that . I think he's just making music that emulates artists that he finds amazing and awe-inspiring. I can't be mad at him, because he's got good taste in music, but he does need to find his own sound and I think he'll get closer to that goal on this upcoming album...at least I hope he does, because MJ and Prince are still very capable of making albums and don't really need the extra help.



Yeah, I remember him saying all that after his first solo VMA performance. How it had nothing to do with MJ or something along those lines. I laughed about that because, dude, total MJ lovefest right there, but he has mentioned in several interviews how he was a huge MJ fan as a kid in interviews conducted during his years with *NSync. I'm more irritated at the idea that he seems to want to forget that he was in *NSync nowadays and tries to distance himself from the group that put him in the spotlight than I am about his lack of constant praise for MJ. Without *NSync, there would be no Justin Timberlake and he needs to respect his beginnings; that goes for every artist. I actually hate when an artist keeps mentioning their idols whenever the question arises...it's like I get it, you like MJ, Prince, Madonna, Whitney, etc, now make a name for yourself and stop Xeroxing. Idol worship is just as disturbing from another artist as it is from a fan to me, if not moreso.
I'm hoping that his lack of mentioning Mr. Jackson is based off of him not wanting people to keep implying that he's trying to replace Michael, so he tries to distances himself from the comparison, but that's just what I'm hoping and not necessarily the truth. He is a trend-follower, I'll agree, but I've noticed a lot of artists (old and new) have a terrible habit of doing this. Personally, I hate it. That was like when MJ did that concert with Britney Spears, NSync, and all the hottest acts out at that time. I still can't stomach half of that special because half of the people there weren't worthy enough to whip Mr. Jackson's shoes let alone be on the same stage as him, but that's what Michael asked for, so . Madonna just did this with "Hard Candy" and I still find it somewhat disturbing, even though "Miles Away" is definitely a hot song. Plus, I used to hate when Prince would make negative comments about rap and he's done rap segments on many of his albums. But, I agree, it's annoying that he doesn't always give props to his musical influences a little more...just like it annoys me that Britney never credits Janet Jackson and it's very obvious that she is more like Janet than Madonna.



Yeah, but I still don't think either of them should have apologized for that. Intentional or Unintentional (I believe unintentional), it wasn't all that big of a deal. It was quick and I've seen longer and worst nipple slips while watching the red carpet coverage at some award shows that air on basic channels. It's a nipple. I saw a picture of Michaelangelo's 'David' when I was in fourth grade. It could have been worse than a nipple with a shield with the way that whole half-time show was going.



I still don't get the hype of Amy Winehouse, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Rhianna, or the Jonas Brothers. Amy ain't nothing new, sorry. Rhianna is the new Britney until she starts writing and producing her own material as far as I'm concerned. The Jonas Brothers are like the new Hanson, whoopty doo. Miley Cyrus just screams....alot; I think she's tone-deaf...extremely tone-deaf. Katy Perry is getting hype for a song that has subject matter that has been down a million times in the past:





Sadly, being original is a hard feat nowadays. Even fashion recycles itself as do movies. Entertainment as a whole is at a standstill because most good and interesting ideas have already been done. Originality is currently in a coma...please, wake up soon.
[Edited 9/18/08 13:02pm]