https://www.thethings.com...ince-feud/

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He sucks, full stop.

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No more candy 4 u, u can't sing its true.

StrangeButTrue said:

ShellyMcG said:

StrangeButTrue said:

https://www.thethings.com...ince-feud/

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He sucks, full stop.

.

No more candy 4 u, u can't sing its true.

Is your opinion on his music based on whether or not he liked Prince?

.

Nope, its based on how my ears want to seal themselves whenever he starts to "sing". Its not sexy, its not soulful. I maintain this stance since Nstync first came about when the other one was obviously the better vocalist but ramen-head got all the attention bc he was cute/doable or whatever.

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Him dissing Prince just sealed the deal.

StrangeButTrue said:

StrangeButTrue said:

https://www.thethings.com...ince-feud/

.

He sucks, full stop.

.

No more candy 4 u, u can't sing its true.

Dude, i thought you were TP cuz of your avatar

I was about to give you the :rolleyes: emoji!

But, since you are not TP, i will agree a little bit.

Justin Trousersnake is a bit of a poser, but he has his business all sorted.

nayroo2002 said:

StrangeButTrue said:

https://www.thethings.com...ince-feud/

.

He sucks, full stop.

.

No more candy 4 u, u can't sing its true.

Dude, i thought you were TP cuz of your avatar

I was about to give you the :rolleyes: emoji!

But, since you are not TP, i will agree a little bit.

Justin Trousersnake is a bit of a poser, but he has his business all sorted.

Trousersnake...

THE REAL T.P. IS HERE. (PS My symbol has an E on it, for my first initial)


I've not listened yet. He's slowly leaked songs on his Instagram. He posted last year that he was in studio with Pharrell, so I sorta thought late 2023 or early this year we'd have an album.

He did a great performance of "Selfish" on Graham Norton.

I'll listen to it this weekend. When things leak out or are teased, I don't listen. I wanna go into a movie or an album fresh.

I thought The 20/20 Experience was a little heavy handed, but I enjoyed that he was pulling 7-9 minute songs like Prince, and other R&B artists were 30 or 40 years ago. A lot of those songs sounded like a natural progression.

Man of the Woods was more abbreviated and, besides "Filthy," had a definite aesthetic. I bought the CD, and the orange wood grain vinyl. I have the vinyl of 20/20 too I believe.

I was obsessed with FutureSex/LoveSound because there was so much Prince influence on it, even with Blackwell and Rev. Scott in the live touring band.

I think he's had a good track record overall with his releases. They seem thoughtful, purposeful, not just a mash of random songs. When he's teamed with someone, he can write a great pop song. So I always have hope for a new JT album being good and something totally new.

I think people shit on him for any various reasons, and most of those are invalid. I'm not a huge stan, but I can dig his music.

[Edited 3/15/24 13:54pm]

[snip]

[Edited 3/17/24 0:12am]

"Truth is the music is just better then some others."

...then some others are better?

WHAT!!?

I've listened to the first three songs, then I had to stop (mostly because of what I was doing). I was not impressed with half of them at least.

Looking at the reviews, every outlet has sorta rated it right in the middle, a good C or C+.

When I circle back to it, I'll start from track 2, because the opening "Memphis" is just like every other bland hip-hop infused R&B song out there. Nothing stands out about it. Sure the lyrics tell a story, but his rhythmic talking over half of it (I can't call it rapping) feels lazy.

If I write a full review I may post it on The Violet Reality and I'll post a link, but I'll at least give a shorter two cents here.

CynicKill said:

Forgive me in advance for this little rant I'm about to go on.

But I don't like the hate train that's going on about Justin Timberlake as of late because to me it screams of hypocrisy.

I have to get this Janet Jackson thing out of the way because now we have the press carting out anniversaries of Nipplegate.

There are hard truths concerning Nipplegate that people fail to acknowledge, mainly that it was a cooked up stunt that backfired. The problem is when they decided to go with the wardrobe malfunction story it should've ended there. Janet's people told Justin not to say anything, and honestly what was he supposed to say? People take this as him hanging her out to dry which comes to the second hard truth, which is that Justin had nothing to do with Janet's downfall. You can blame the media and the public for that.

All these people crying about Janet's career either weren't there at the time or didn't care. They were too busy grabbing their popcorn and following every salacious detail for months. They didn't fall into the record stores en mass to purchase Janet's albums, because while they were watching the news I was busy buying "Damita Jo". So don't blame him, blame the media for latching onto any story they can milk for headlines (Scandalval) and you for not being able to resist.

As for this appropriation thing I don't know what to say other than Timbaland stated himself that Justin has an obsessive work ethic. He has an encyclopeadic knowledge of songs and Justin himself said that he became enamoured of the studio back in his N'Sync days (Michael Jackson said the same thing back in his Jackson 5 days) and he started writing some of the groups stuff back then. Ginuwine was stated as saying he could've had Justin's career if Timbaland would've focused on him.

But I'd argue only if he had a love of producing, or coming up with lyrics on the fly and writing songs. Basically a self starter, which a lot of singers aren't. So maybe this is why he and Timbaland work so well together and why the collaboration is so fruitful. Sure he's white and that helps, but it easily could've been a disaster. It's R&B with a tablespoon full of pop stirred in. It's Bruno Mars. Maybe that's the formula more than anything else.

Next is this Britney Spears thing.

First I need to ask what the percentage is of successful teen romances standing the test of time, because I'd wager it's very low. Why on earth anyone expected these two bubbleheads to have the romance for the ages is beyond me. People argueing that he exposed their relationship as not being platonic when no one back then believed their purity pledge, and they were going around like water back then. Then come to find out she lost her virginity at fourteen. So why was this ever a big deal?

Everyone's mad at "Cry Me A River" saying he cheated on her. Guess what? They both cheated on each other but while her team was sitting around playing with her hair extentions he was coming up with a stunt to break through. Why didn't her team put out a rebuttal record? To this day I have no idea, but the fans would've loved that. They easily could've gotten a years worth of PR out of that, but she felt more comfortabe crying on Diane Sawyer.

And unless he knocked her out, kidnapped her and strapped her down, he did not force her in any way to have an abortion. There's no way you can convince me that Britney was willing to end her massive career at the time by having a baby, which it certainly would have. Her body her choice!

Now the stans are coming up with sabotage campaigns to ruin his rollout. At the release of "Selfish" they ran Britney's "Selfish" from over a decade ago up the charts. Now you can hate the song all you want, but coordinated sabotage campaigns are weird. Isn't that gen z's favorite word?

And I see the press following suit. What's wrong with sounding like yourself? I think a lot of reviews are premature, because nothing is more boring than current top forty and their queen (you know who). If she can be bigged up then anyone can.

I guess the saving grace is that the tour is doing very well which is expected, because the one thing you can't take away from him is his showmanship. Just look at this performance:

https://www.youtube.com/w...zN_2yG_jzU

To me the only one doing it like this in pop is Bruno Mars. I've glimpsed at some of the faves out there. They are boring performers. Everyone salivates over the Weeknd but I saw that concert on Max with the massive stage. He's not u2. Whatever made him think he could pull off stadium shows. Don't get me started on Beyonce's blinding screens and camera crews blocking what little view you have. So maybe he's settling into legacy act status. Can't cry about that.

At the end of the day hypocrisy just rubs me the wrong way and I feel like Timberlake is getting the brunt of it because people feel he was a bad boyfriend at nineteen or that he got away with stuff. Truth is the music is just better then some others.

ShellyMcG said:

I have to give it a listen. This week had too many artists that I am more interested in and follow (The Black Crowes, KAcey Musgraves) both of those are killer records, so they have my focus

StrangeButTrue said:

ShellyMcG said:

StrangeButTrue said: Is your opinion on his music based on whether or not he liked Prince?

.

Nope, its based on how my ears want to seal themselves whenever he starts to "sing". Its not sexy, its not soulful. I maintain this stance since Nstync first came about when the other one was obviously the better vocalist but ramen-head got all the attention bc he was cute/doable or whatever.

.

Him dissing Prince just sealed the deal.

His singing is pretty got damn terrible.

It's like borderline in a Bob Dylan, Billy Corgan territory. You might say easy on the hyperbole, those two are unequivocally worse, but considering JT works within an R&B paradigm, a genre literally built on great vocals... mm, yeah, he sucks. He makes Jon B. look like prime Marvin Gaye.

Most people only tune in for the phat Timbo or Neptunes beats, whether they admit it to themselves or not.

Figures his catalogue would lose its luster with each subsequent release since he's adament on continuing to work with those two, who both literally peaked about 20 years ago.

'Futuresex/Lovesounds' was Timbo's artistic peak, so ofc it was JT's as well.

And yeah, his Prince bashing is kinda relevant when he's best album is literally a Prince wannabe record top-to-bottom. Bro even literally samples Prince's linn drum on that one.

[Edited 3/20/24 14:35pm]

WhisperingDandelions said:

And yeah, his Prince bashing is kinda relevant when he's best album is literally a Prince wannabe record top-to-bottom. Bro even literally samples Prince's linn drum on that one.

If you're talking about "Until The End Of Time," that's entirely false. He used a Linn machine on it. Of course it's going to sound like literally anything else in the 80s. More groups than not used that thing.

TrivialPursuit said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

And yeah, his Prince bashing is kinda relevant when he's best album is literally a Prince wannabe record top-to-bottom. Bro even literally samples Prince's linn drum on that one.

If you're talking about "Until The End Of Time," that's entirely false. He used a Linn machine on it. Of course it's going to sound like literally anything else in the 80s. More groups than not used that thing.

Wait, so you're going to try and argue that album isn't one ginormous Prince xerox? That take is too ridiculous even for you. TP, wipe yourself up.

Anyway Timbo admitted in an interview it's a chopped Prince linn but I can't find the quote easily through Google.

Never mind this isn't the mid-80s, if you're using linn drum over a slow jam past 1987 it's to intentionally imitate/evoke one man. JT wasn't bumping obscuro 80s Billboard hits in between takes at the Micky Mouse club.

It sampled the "Raspberry Baret" intro.

WhisperingDandelions said:

ShellyMcG said:

His Prince bashing is not relevant to me because regardless of what he said or did it doesn't change the sound of his music. Music which is, as JT has said multiple times, is very much inspired by the likes of Michael Jackson, Prince and other artists of that era. So it's only natural that his music would sound like theirs.

Yeah it feels hypocritical to say Prince was the greatest artist in a century and he influenced everyone, then when someone shows that they get pounded for it. Can't have it both ways.

His alleged "bashing" was what - 17 years ago? JT was around 26 at the time, a young cocky kid who bit back at a jab made by Prince. So what. Prince clearly survived the attempt. So did JT. He wasn't exactly going around saying Prince was a whack songwriter or something.

Folks need to simmer down.

TrivialPursuit said:

ShellyMcG said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

His singing is pretty got damn terrible.

It's like borderline in a Bob Dylan, Billy Corgan territory. You might say easy on the hyperbole, those two are unequivocally worse, but considering JT works within an R&B paradigm, a genre literally built on great vocals... mm, yeah, he sucks. He makes Jon B. look like prime Marvin Gaye.

Most people only tune in for the phat Timbo or Neptunes beats, whether they admit it to themselves or not.

Figures his catalogue would lose its luster with each subsequent release since he's adament on continuing to work with those two, who both literally peaked about 20 years ago.

'Futuresex/Lovesounds' was Timbo's artistic peak, so ofc it was JT's as well.

And yeah, his Prince bashing is kinda relevant when he's best album is literally a Prince wannabe record top-to-bottom. Bro even literally samples Prince's linn drum on that one.

[Edited 3/20/24 14:35pm]

His Prince bashing is not relevant to me because regardless of what he said or did it doesn't change the sound of his music. Music which is, as JT has said multiple times, is very much inspired by the likes of Michael Jackson, Prince and other artists of that era. So it's only natural that his music would sound like theirs.

It couldn't be less relevant to the discussion what JT says his influences are.

This is like when you were arguing MJ and Prince should've "collaborated".

Put down the super stan playbook, JT and MJ are pop stars who show up to sessions and sing stuff over beats/tracks other people composed. They maybe tweak a lyric here and there, like a Beyonce or Mariah Carey, but that doesn't mean they have any connection to who the actual composers/songwriters of their material were influenced by or how they were inspired. They're not pulling up a piano and creating something out of thin air, gimme a brea.

The bulk of JT's material is composed by Timbaland or Pharrel Williams. Both have been explicit that they were huge Prince fans growing up and that Prince was a direct inspiration on their art.

Not that I'd even need quotes or citations. Literally the album I'm discussing--'Futuresex/Lovesounds'--it's clearly Prince inspired. MJ? Maybe less than 5%. The other 95% is Prince.

Literally there are quotes where Timbaland and Danja say they played non-stop Prince in the studio for JT to get inspired by,

And Pharrell did an entire podcast episode centered on how Prince inspired him specifically to become who he became. These are the opinions that are relevant, not the guy just who showed up and badly sang some melodies over a beat other people composed.

TrivialPursuit said:

Yeah it feels hypocritical to say Prince was the greatest artist in a century and he influenced everyone, then when someone shows that they get pounded for it. Can't have it both ways.

Oh you and your willfully obtuse platitudes. Like he's getting criticized out of the clear blue sky.

I never critique Beck or Andre 3000 or The-Dream or others for putting out xerox'd Prince records--because they're not jackasses who turn around and bash Prince after they just put out a Prince karaoke record.

ShellyMcG said:

I don't really know what he said anyway. I remember someone telling me that he made a comment about Prince's height at an awards show and also said something about Prince's lack of chart success. Was there something else?

lolwut, why are you even repeatedly commenting on this then?

Aren't you from Ireland or something? Is it like our American fast food where our "debate first, ask clarifications later" style of internetting has now expanded globally?

JT literally bashed him in a JT song by the way. Now I'm gonna cringe I'm probably somehow a bigger JT fan of that specific era than you are, ugh.


But here's the theory why this is one of the lamest moments in the history of art:

JT likely was primarily inspired by MJ, because he wanted to be as big of a pop star as MJ. What pop star doesn't?

So he hits up the biggest hitmakers of the era to become that pop star. Neptunes, Timbaland, etc. People who were primarily inspired by Prince, who are on record as being primarily inspired by Prince.

Timbaland and Danja say they played non-stop Prince when they were recording 'Futuresex/Lovesounds'.

Now, just because they know and love Prince doesn't mean JT knew jack shit about Prince at this point. Otherwise, why else are they spamming Prince in the studio? Timberlake would've been 3 years old when Purple Rain hit, and 7 when Prince's star started fading, and 10 when he had his last major hits.

So to him, hey, MJ probably is the bigger "influence", even though his actual records were most inspired by Prince because---the actual composers of his records were inspired by Prince.

So of course he gets in a little flame war diss battle with Prince, because who tf is Prince to him? He barely got into him like a couple months prior when he was recording the LP.

We can cite the Britney Spears autobiography at this stage, because she's explicit that JT wanted to be the biggest and started acting like a culture vulture in their personal lives at this stage. He wanted to be "legit" even though he grew up pampered Mickey Mouse Club like her.

Now most celebrities are fake, manipulative tacticians, hence why every single last one of them will be cancelled eventually, so Mr. Culture Vulture, Mr. Facsimile, Mr. Timberfake aged a bit and realized "hey wait, I'm bashing Prince but my album is a Prince wannabe album," so he backtracks and does the Superbowl tribute. Says he was always inspired.

But again, his "inspirations" are irrelevant becaaause--he's singing over tracks other people composed. Other people who were actually always inspired and always respectful of Prince.

WhisperingDandelions said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

Tennessee Kids!!!

It's amazing how they all got fit behind that desk and even moreso, how the sound mix was

pesented without carryover

nayroo2002 said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

ShellyMcG said:

WhisperingDandelions said: His Prince bashing is not relevant to me because regardless of what he said or did it doesn't change the sound of his music. Music which is, as JT has said multiple times, is very much inspired by the likes of Michael Jackson, Prince and other artists of that era. So it's only natural that his music would sound like theirs.

It couldn't be less relevant to the discussion what JT says his influences are.

This is like when you were arguing MJ and Prince should've "collaborated".

Put down the super stan playbook, JT and MJ are pop stars who show up to sessions and sing stuff over beats/tracks other people composed. They maybe tweak a lyric here and there, like a Beyonce or Mariah Carey, but that doesn't mean they have any connection to who the actual composers/songwriters of their material were influenced by or how they were inspired. They're not pulling up a piano and creating something out of thin air, gimme a brea.

The bulk of JT's material is composed by Timbaland or Pharrel Williams. Both have been explicit that they were huge Prince fans growing up and that Prince was a direct inspiration on their art.

Not that I'd even need quotes or citations. Literally the album I'm discussing--'Futuresex/Lovesounds'--it's clearly Prince inspired. MJ? Maybe less than 5%. The other 95% is Prince.

Literally there are quotes where Timbaland and Danja say they played non-stop Prince in the studio for JT to get inspired by,

And Pharrell did an entire podcast episode centered on how Prince inspired him specifically to become who he became. These are the opinions that are relevant, not the guy just who showed up and badly sang some melodies over a beat other people composed.

I don't know the extent of Justin's input so I won't comment on that but from what I gather MJ contributed quite a bit to some of his greatest hits. Also, I would say that Justified is largely MJ inspired whereas Future Sexy leans more towards Prince to my ears.