Tuesday, November 5, 2024

The Awful Truth: Justin Timberlake Now an Adult Artist, New Album Is a Dud With Just 130,000 Copies Sold

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It’s not easy out there for pop stars over a certain age.

Jennifer Lopez learned that the hard way recently. Her album, “This Is Me…Now” was instant failure, dropping off the charts after a week.

Now Justin Timberlake has had to face that awful truth. His “Everything I Thought It Would Be” is dead. Total sales including streaming come to 130,000 copies. Of those, 45,000 were CDs and downloads.

The album yielded one hit single, the very catchy “Selfish.” But nothing else from the collection made a dent anywhere, not even a surprise Nsync reunion single.

But “Everything” — with an especially difficult title to market — was lacking a main Timberlake ingredient — the producer and writer Timbaland, who’d been Justin’s collaborator for years. He’s barely credited. And that speaks volumes.

The best Timberlake song of all was a fluke. “Can’t Stop the Feeling” is from the “Trolls” soundtrack, circa 2010. It’s one of the most infectious dance tracks of all time. In a drug store the other day, I saw people tapping their fingers to their coats while this song played and they looked for shampoo. You can’t stop the feeling!

“Everything,” however, is dull. Aside from “Selfish,” none of the songs has a real hook. There’s nothing to come back to. Once you’ve traveled the distance of the collection, you’re done.

It’s odd to think of Justin Timberlake as over the hill. He’s from a boy band. He’s young! He has a great, R&B voice and the right instincts. But as with JLo, the record buyers have moved on. But would I go see him live? In a nano second!

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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