Justin Timberlake Drops New Single Filthy Ahead Of Super Bowl Performance
January 05, 2018
Days after announcing his new album Man Of The Woods, Justin Timberlake dropped a new single on Friday morning titled Filthy.
Baded off the cover art and teaser video for Man Of The Woods, it was reasonable to expect that the lead single would have a folksy feel. Timberlake is pictured, well, walking through the woods, talking about going back to his roots. One would have thought those roots were in reference to his Memphis upbringing and that Timberlake would insert some country twang into his sound.Instead, the roots he taps into on Filthy are very much buried in his pop classic FutureSex/ LoveSounds. His go-to producer Timbaland returns to work on the track, getting a production and writing credit alongside Danja. That same duo helped put together both Sexyback and My Love, and the pairing goes for a similar but updated feel on Filthy.The textbook Timbo stuttering kick drums are there beneath heavily synthed instrumentals, but it manages to avoid sounding dated. Timbaland recently sat down with Complex to talk about his recent comeback, of sorts, and his relationship with Timberlake over the years:Early reviews of the track have compared it to a Prince track, although any song with a funky vibe automatically is compared to The Purple One. That said, if that was his inspiration, it would be fitting given that hes performing in Minnesota during the Super Bowl halftime show, the home of Paisley Park.As for the remainder of the album, its possible that the lead single isnt an accurate representation of the kind of music well get throughout. In particular, new age outlaw country star Chris Stapleton has been listed as a collaborator in the album, which would likely result in the kind of country-folk-pop fusion most expect on Man Of The Woods.Timberlakes performance at Super Bowl 52 may be the first time we hear the new tracks performed live, though its already rumored that Justin Timberlake tour tickets will go on sale shortly after the album release on February 2.JTs last single, Cant Stop The Feeling is one of the biggest singles of the streaming era, so it cant be expected that a somewhat experimental track like Filthy would perform quite as well as that. That said, anything Timberlake touches tends to be extraordinarily successful, if not increasingly divisive.Image Source: YouTube