I definitely think JT has talent and like some of the the songs he did with Pharell and Timbaland, but I think he is very overrated.

What really bothers me is when he used Prince's band on one tour, then Prince had 10 horns, and the next tour, JT has 10 horns. He pretends to play guitar and keyboard, but can barely do that. I guess the fact he is looked at as the new Prince or MJ just bothers me. He's not at that level and will never be.

DMSR said:

DMSR said:

I definitely think JT has talent and like some of the the songs he did with Pharell and Timbaland, but I think he is very overrated.

What really bothers me is when he used Prince's band on one tour, then Prince had 10 horns, and the next tour, JT has 10 horns. He pretends to play guitar and keyboard, but can barely do that. I guess the fact he is looked at as the new Prince or MJ just bothers me. He's not at that level and will never be.

I think people just need someone to hate on. Many artists that are talented rarely get the credit they deserve, and are often in the "overrated" category, out of no other reason that spite. You want to talk overhyped? Let's talk Miley, or Rihanna, or any other girl group some producer threw together. Let's talk about Bieber, or half of the hip-hop world.

First, JT can play. He's 40 years old. He's been in the business a long damn time, and started before Prince did in age Ppeople learn how to play things along the way. Hell, whoever thought Madonna would pick up a guitar, but she did. She's not Clapton, but she's not a 5th grader in music class either. You can't dismiss someone's willingness to learn something new, and use that, because perhaps you didn't learn it first, you just never learned it at all. JT can sit and play and write a catchy tune. He works with great producers than can pull the best out of him. That's what good artists do - they challenge themselves.

JT's 20/20 tour was quite original in idea, and Prince certainly wasn't the first to have horns. Hell, Prince stole half his act from other artists, including Earth Wind & Fire, Santana, The Ohio Players, Parliament/Funkadelic, James Brown, and more. All those "everybody stuck on the one!" things? Pffft, not his idea. "Hit me in the back!" Nope, not his either. So let's not pretend everything Prince did was 100% original. Every artist borrows from another. It's synergy. FutureSex/LoveShow was like nothing folks had seen in a long time, if ever. The staging, the video projection, the fucking set list, the stage moving - it was pretty fucking amazing. JT threw back to the 40's with a big band aesthetic to the set for 20/20. Prince didn't do that. He did his own thing.

The fact that you look at JT as the "new Prince" is your burden, and why you've adopted to carry something so meaningless is beyond my scope of comprehension. There is no New Prince. There never will be. There's no new MJ. There's no new Elvis. No new Beatles. No new Rolling Stones. No new Hendrix. No new Janis. No new Bowie. Of course, JT isn't on the level of Prince, so why maneuver in the illusion that he is? Most artists aren't, and never will be, not before I'm dead anyway.

He's talented, but the constant comparisons only create more unnecessary friction and divisiveness in a world where there is room for everyone to make music and be heard. If you don't like it, don't buy it.

To MotownSub... I never heard him being touted as the new king of pop w/ 20/20. I just knew when I heard part 1, it was one of the freshest things I'd come across in awhile. Part 2 was a bit more bogged down, but had good songs on it. Part 1 is the superior, though.

He's got a few cool songs that I like.He's decent.I can actually tolerate him

Justin Timberlake is not 40 years old. He's 36.

novabrkr said:

MotownSubdivision said:

novabrkr said:

Justin Timberlake is not 40 years old. He's 36.

He's 35, actually. TrivialPursuit, they didn't say it but it was heavily implied. That whole thing at the VMAs really gave it away. No reason why he should have gotten the Vanguard Award besides being the moat popular choice at the time.

Yeah, 35. I'm not sure why I had 40 in my head.

As far as that Vanguard award, he has done some interesting videos, and nicely shot. Who didn't need it is Rihanna.

Perhaps because he's EXTREMELY overated?

Revolution said:

JT has talent and charisma. Nothing like what Prince had, but he has more than most in this generation. He's a step down, but isn't everybody?

I don't see why there has to be a comparison at all. Didn't we have enough of that with MJ vs. Prince in Right On! and Teen Beat??? If Prince is far and about 99.999% of other artists (and he was), then any comparison is always going to come up short. Why bother.

JT has his thing, and Prince had his. JT fully recognizes that had it not been for people like Prince or MJ, he'd not have the motivation or career path that he chose. Hell, even Madonna patterned her early career after Prince's. No one said boo about that.

I totally dig JT, and his band is tighter than a virgin's....well. Let's remember he has Mike Scott in his band, and had John Blackwell, until John's unfortunate medical issues of late. He has Terry Santiel on percussion - is JT jacking Rose Royce's sound all of sudden? Of course not. He's using the best folks in the business to work with.

Prince has links to everyone in some fashion because people love Prince. So to say someone's jackin' this or that from Prince - well DUH. I sampled "Batdance" in a song I wrote called "Free". Why? Because it's PRINCE. hehehe

MD431Madcat said:

SoulAlive said:

He's got a few cool songs that I like.He's decent.I can actually tolerate him

same here, i like some of his stuff, but wouldn't run out to by one of his albums.
but whenever he comes up on shuffle or even if i happen upon him in a film, i'm
usually not mad about it

Get even!

Support Solange!

He bugs you because he is grossly overrated and fake.

IstenSzek said:

SoulAlive said:

He's got a few cool songs that I like.He's decent.I can actually tolerate him

same here, i like some of his stuff, but wouldn't run out to by one of his albums.
but whenever he comes up on shuffle or even if i happen upon him in a film, i'm
usually not mad about it

I like "My Love","Rock Your Body" and "Suit And Tie".......three good songs right there but yeah,I probably wouldn't rush out to buy his albums.

thedoorkeeper said:

Cuz he's shite.

thedoorkeeper said:

The Janet Jackson/Super Bowl incident affects many people's opinion of JT.

Outside this board, it really does not sadly. I find he has more fans than her these days, at least with the younger generation this is true. And most hear his catchier tunes as ear candy. I still like janet better obviously but I feel like a whole generation missed out on appreciating and knowing who and what she is because of the superbowl but are oblivious to that.

[Edited 10/4/16 7:53am]

EmmaMcG said:

MotownSubdivision said:

Actually the whole "Disney machine" crowd of performers bother me...

I like 4-5 songs by him (I like playing "Mirrors" on the keyboards too).

I don't know, maybe what bothers me personally is how the media seems to be in denial with his boyband past and how much the music he used to perform when he was younger still influences his overall sound?

I'm willing to give him credit for starting to make more artistically ambitious stuff after he went solo, but it's almost as if the pop music journalists want to desperately convince us that all the unwarranted attention they were giving to the manufactured, boyband shite back in the day was justified because "he's better now".

DMSR said:

I definitely think JT has talent and like some of the the songs he did with Pharell and Timbaland, but I think he is very overrated.

What really bothers me is when he used Prince's band on one tour, then Prince had 10 horns, and the next tour, JT has 10 horns. He pretends to play guitar and keyboard, but can barely do that. I guess the fact he is looked at as the new Prince or MJ just bothers me. He's not at that level and will never be.

There was a REALLY long thread about a year or so ago that addressed this issue with Timberfake. In my opinion he's very much a swagger jacker and is overrated and is miserably mediocre but benefits from media hype. If he were a black singer he wouldn't have this level of fame.

SeventeenDayze said:

He's white?

His voice is odd.

EmmaMcG said:

SeventeenDayze said:

There was a REALLY long thread about a year or so ago that addressed this issue with Timberfake. In my opinion he's very much a swagger jacker and is overrated and is miserably mediocre but benefits from media hype. If he were a black singer he wouldn't have this level of fame.

I used to think that but I was reminded there are worse black singers who are equally famous, like Usher. Timberlake is overrated but he's not as bad as a lot of people like to make out. He's had some good songs and he's had some awful songs. But he sings live and writes his own songs which is rare in pop music so he at least deserves credit for that.

Hey girlie, good to see you here! Well, I have to disagree. The point that I was making is that often times (and throughout music history) mediocre artists who copied black music were considered much better than what they truly were. I don't think Usher is overrated but I think he's more of a performer than he is a singer. He just has a very loyal fan base and he started really young so he has been around a long time. I'm not saying that there aren't any overrated black artists but I'm saying that white artists who, for example, try to style themselves as "soul singers" can be mediocre but still have the benefit of being marketed a certain way. But, a white artist who is a singer in a different genre would have a harder time getting promoted a certain way because the music industry seems to love white artists who imitate black singing but who happened to be mediocre...