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!
