Funky. Futuristic. Fascinating.
Those were the words that I keep using when I talk about Justin Timberlake's new single, "Filthy". Earlier this week, he released a teaser trailer for his upcoming album, MAN OF THE WOODS, which featured some snippets of the songs that we'll all be hearing soon. They gave off a very earthy, folky feel, which felt intriguing as it would be considerably different than what he's done before.
Queue my surprise when I watched the video and heard "Filthy" for the first time.
It starts off with electric guitar and drums blaring in a theatrical manner, an entrance to the show. Justin asks repeatedly "if you know what's good", echoing as the drums crash and build and guitar cries out until it all cuts in a single moment. Justin says that "Haters gonna say it's fake."
That's when the synthesizer comes in, wobbling and low and gritty.
The song spins right on its head and goes from something you might hear in an arena to feeling at home in a dark club. But then the bass guitar comes in, grooving like nobody's business, and you find your senses conflicted as to where you should be looking - the electronic future, or the funk and jam of the past. That's the best part about this song. It takes your expectations and spins them again and again and all together. It acknowledges the past but doesn't imitate it - it innovates. The futuristic aspect continues even further with electronic distortion that takes the place of the wobble before the song slows into a eerie yet intriguing outro of forest noises and a female voice asking the listener questions.
Justin Timberlake's last release was nearly five years ago, when he returned to the music scene with The 20/20 Experience in two parts, which I reviewed here and here in the very beginnings of this blog. Justin has definitely taken his time with releasing new music, but I have absolutely no complaints. If him taking his time results in music like this, then let take all the time he needs. I would much rather have less music with a higher quality than more music with subpar quality. I read a comment online where someone talked about the similarities to Prince; I definitely can agree with that. He's going a direction thats very different and new for him, reinventing himself in the way that Prince or even David Bowie might.
While we still have to see what the rest of the album is like, I already have a feeling this is an album that will be making my best of the year list.
Rating: 5/5
Related: Prince, David Bowie
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