Without a doubt, I think Justin Timberlake “won” Sunday night’s VMAs. I was sitting there thinking to myself, “Wow, I didn’t know he still had it in him… OMG, I had forgotten how many great pop songs Justin has made.” Which is the point of these Video Vanguard Awards, I think. A sense of nostalgia, a reawakened interest in the artist. Because truth be told, Justin’s new album isn’t all that. The songs feel bloated, weighed down by their own sense of self-importance. That’s why the VMAs were so interesting – like, did Justin think to himself, “Hey, remember when I used to make great pop music?”
So Justin earned a lot of goodwill with his 20-minute hustle, but just hours later, he’s got to remind everyone why he’s still sort of douche-y. Justin wrote an open letter on his website yesterday:
The last time I wrote you an open letter, it was in January and I promised that it would be a “Big 2013.” Since then, from The Grammys to the release of the first part of The 20/20 Experience to the crowd’s response at the VMAs, it’s been a wild ride. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have.
This letter is to tell you that we’re not done…Not even close.On Sept 30th, the second half of The 20/20 Experience, “The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2”, comes out. Since all these songs were written together over a year ago, it’s been so hard to wait this long to release them. I can’t wait for all of you to hear The 20/20 Experience in full.
So..below is a short clip of the recording of the experience so you can get a feel of what those 20 days were like. It was like no other time I’ve ever had in the studio.
Catch your breath, TN Kids. We’ve still got the 3rd and 4th quarter to go.
This is too much fun.
Crap, I didn’t realize The 20/20 Experience was a two-part album. Hopefully Part 2 will have all of the really good songs? Harsh, I know. Anyway, do you think it’s cheesy for Justin to go back to “shilling” mode just after he wins a de facto lifetime achievement award? Or do you think it’s all part of the same hustling game? Because if Justin proved anything at the VMAs, it was that he’s not “above” shilling and hustling. Which is sort of admirable AND cheesy.
Oh, and you know how Justin was all “You asked for it” when N*Snyc came out? I wondered if he was saying that because he did NOT ask for it but he felt obligated to include his boy-bander past. Turns out, that’s exactly what happened. Us Weekly says that the rest of the N*Sync guys were pissed off that their part was so brief, and that Justin vetoed his former bandmates singing for any longer. A source tells Us Weekly: “They were pushing for more. While he was thrilled they could come for him, he didn’t want the reunion to be the whole thing. They originally were told that it was going to be more of their old hits, not just Bye Bye Bye — but then Justin reworked it. The guys wished it could have been more songs. He told them to trust him, he was going to make it great.” JT: still kind of a douche.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I honestly don’t care if he’s a hustling douche, he’s still the President of Pop to me. His performance at the VMAs blew me away. So incredibly talented.
ia. I was great at the VMAs. As much as I like Robin Thicke, JT performance showed that there is no comparison between the too.
Also,I love the 1st 20/20 Experience and will be buying the 2nd 20/20 when it comes out in September.
A big thank you for not calling him the king of pop. Huzzah!
president of pop? GURL, BYE.
Hahaha.
I’d say speaker of the house of pop maybe?
He put on a fantastic performance. But the nsync but could have been soul longer!!!!!! Poor JC.
hahaha i like that…”speaker of the house” lets go with that!
Would it not be Prime Minister of Pop?
…I’ll show myself out.
Douchetastic definitely!
well, I can’t blame him for capitalizing on the good cheer, lets face it he will do something douche-y tomorrow. As for the N’Sync bit, the award wasn’t for them but for Justin so unfortunately they have to fall in line. (and I can not believe I’m somewhat defending him damnit)
Justin is very talented, musically; don’t get me started on his acting -nobody can take that away from him. The NSync reunion reminded me of the Beyoncé/Destiny’s Child Superbowl reunion, that featured the group for all of 30 seconds, then turned into one big Beyoncé ego stroke. The problem with all the countless award shows is that they little to do with honoring a peer who produced great work, and more to do with ego massage, borne out of sentiment, political expediency, or winning a popularity contest. Heck, some of these award shows only give the prize to those celebs they know are going to show up!
Doesn’t Justin only have 3 solo albums? How many albums did ‘N Sync have?
You may think it was bloated, but everyone I know adores 20/20. No, it’s no FutureSex/LoveSounds which I think was one of the best pop albums of the past decade, but it is a different type of album. Justin may not talk about his wife, but I have to say he really let it show in his music where he showed his love to her in the lyrics he wrote.
I agree, he shocked me with his performance. It’s been so long seeing him in a long-form concert, that I was amazing at his attention to detail and great performing ability. In so much crap that night on the VMAs, it was refreshing to see true performing. Bruno was fantastic, though, also.
I wonder when “douche” became the go-to word for “arrogant, self-obsessed, and self-aggrandizing”? Timberlake is one of THE most arrogant “artists” in the business, totally self-obsessed, and really a not-very-nice person–as there are many instances to prove this. It actually bugs me when this really unpleasant little man gets to skirt by on being called “douche”. If only that’s all he really was.
That doesn’t take away from his as a performer, which is what this article is focusing on. Many of the best performers probably are arrogant assholes but they are professionals and talented and entertain us with great music and performances. That’s all I really ask from a singer/band, as I don’t care about their personal life. Justin delivers.
Actually, the post is about him being a “douche” in the wake of his win. Please see post headline and repeated references to his douche-ness.
I don’t get the complaining about *NSYNC not getting enough stage time. The award was for JT. Yes, the band was part of his career, but the JT that deserved the award is obviously so much bigger than that. The Beyonce Super Bowl performance was for entertainment so a longer Destiny’s Child acts was justified. She was doing it to entertain her fans. Justin was performing to show why he deseved that big award. And he deserved that award because he managed to survive the stigma of a boy band and develop into one of the best pop acts ever.
Of course he “survived”. He went the R&B route and had a whole campaign to appeal to the urban community. He saw that pop was fading and jumped on the bandwagon. He also used Britney for publicity.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying he doesn’t have talent. But talent isn’t what made him a survivor because vocally speaking, I wouldn’t even put him in the top 10 singers from the boy bands of that era. JC Chasez and Joey Fatone were better singers.
Again, I don’t see doucheyness. How is writing an open letter to his fans about his massively successful album that has a two-part to it douchey? As a fan of acts, I live to hear from them about their upcoming work and to hear their excitement about it.
As far as how long NSYNC was on stage, this was an award for him, not NSYNC, and it was great to see them live together. It wasn’t an NSYNC show, and I could care less how long he decided to include them in that performance. It was just nice to see them together. One of the guys even admitted they were terribly out of shape and rehearsal was hard for them but they basically came to support Justin in his award and it was fun seeing each other and hanging out. I don’t know if that source is true, if they expected more air time, but that still doesn’t make him a douche. He’s done far more douchey things, than anything to do with this event. I’m just so glad to see him putting so much effort back into his music career as the pop/R&B scene needs him.
I don’t get the hate either. I’m not his biggest fan, so I haven’t paid much attention but the rumors that I’ve heard/read about him have all been very positve….he’s hard-working, professional, treats everyone well, OCD perhaps to a fault but driven to deliver his best.
Justin Bieber, Miley & other “newbies” are failing miserably in those areas.
The way he turned his back on them at the end was very telling.
Justin’s a talented performer, but I’m in agreement about his last CD. He could get away with the bloated lyrics if the album didn’t sound like elevator music, totally bland.
I personally think Justin should’ve given his old band a few minutes more, but he’s a complete egotist so I’m not surprised that he begrudged them the airtime.
His reputation the last few years has made him difficult to like, but his performance was good. Justified and FutureSex/LoveSounds will go down as my favorite albums of his.
Can we not call him the “new” King of Pop? I think there can only be one, and we all know who that was.
Andy Gibb?
I wonder why these former bandmates humiliate themselves by making thse appearances for 30 seconds or so. I just feel embarressed for the former Destiny’s Child and NSYNC’s band members. Are they really so desperate for attention that they are willing to stroke Beyonce’s and Timberdouche’s ego just for a few minutes on stage? How sad.
Oh and I just had a heated argument with 3 of my co-workers who claim Timberdouche is a good actor. I now know not to value their opinion. It is so weird to me that anyone could think he can act. I feel good knowing many on here are smart enough to see he sucks big time.
Good point; as you well know, the world all these people live in is filled with ego stroking and ass kissing and fame whoring. I’ll give him his due as an entertainer, but alot of today’s entertainers don’t seem to have the character that previous generations had, and our culture is much more narcissistic than ever before.
Just wish one winner played an instrument. Beside the media and their ego, I’m out.
NSYNC as a group still has fans. We loved seeing them together again.
I’m still miffed that they jacked up the Moonman.
Why were they dressed like pilgrims? And when Joseph Gordon-Levitt and he embraced when he gave him the award, I died. Too much for my heart to handle 🙂
Like I had mentioned yesterday….the old Nsynv dudes could barely dance and breath through their one song. Fatone and Kirkpatrick were struggling!!!
So true!!! But JC still brought it! (he was always my favorite)
That US Weekly story is false. Joey Fatone even tweeted them. Both JC and Chris did radio interviews, they all had fun. Tabloids just like negativity.
Anyone else notice that he didn’t thank Jessica Biel (or mention, his wife), in this award? Or Timbaland (From, “Cry Me a River” and everything except this 20/20 Experience, Timbaland made those beats and was incredibly vital to JT’s success.)
Just thought that was rather strange.