If anything, Justin Timberlake is highly ambitious. From the sprawling "FutureSex/LoveSounds" to the neo-soul opus "The 20/20 Experiennce" released in March 2013, he definitely knows where to move his music and how he wants to get there. The problem with an album like second half of "The 20/20 Experience", then, is that he just doesn't know where to go next. True, the first half of this enterprise was only ten tracks, but inflating it to twenty-one songs, all trying to paint Timberlake as a serious and accomplished artist, it appears that he may have used up all of his grand ideas. The lead single "Take Back the Night" proves this suspicion true, as it competently cuts a slice from the "Off the Wall" era, but it's rendered utterly joyless with Timbaland's robotic production. In fact, that could be said for "The 20/20 Experience Part 2" as a whole; it's still reductive of all retro-R&B and soul, only without the joy. The covers for both part one and two of this 'experience' are the same, only one is white and one is black. This means that both parts are pretty much the same, the only difference between them is that part one focused on 40s-60s soul and swing, part two goes further and reworks 70-80s funk and disco. Other than that, "The 20/20 Experience" is still in tact: everything, whether it be the production, melodies, or Timberlake himself, still moves at a glacial pace, Timbaland exhausting every trick in his arsenal, and all the motifs and phrases here are pulled far beyond their limit. However, eleven tracks in 74 minutes isn't the problem, what's irritating about "The 20/20 Experience Part 2" is that no song has an excuse to run at its projected length. "True Blood", while definitely entertaining and haunting, would be a trial to sit through for five minutes---it's nine plus. The closing track "Not a Bad Thing" would be a fantastic closer to an otherwise overwrought sweatshop, but for some reason, Timberlake felt the need to tag one more bonus track on to it, "Pair of Wings". It's not good in the slightest, and it only delays the inevitable end of this entire project. Longtime fans will be pleased to have 144 minutes of new material in one year, but for everyone else, "The 20/20 Experience Part 2" is a disappointment. It could have been more than just a bold statement of purpose, Timberlake could have changed the game and have taken far riskier chances than he does. If he would've stumbled, it would have been more interesting, for the paint-by-numbers production doesn't do Justin nor Timbaland any justice. And maybe that's the problem, because as ambitious and as excited JT is on paper and in person, on a record he simply cannot execute his ideas with grace, humility, or personality on a record. He desperately tries to prove that being a musician is where he excels, and while his efforts have proven fruitful in the past, in 2013 they've become antiquated, and quite frankly, boring. It's clear that his music is simply an artifice to conceal the fact that he isn't, and never really was, on the vanguard. "The 20/20 Experience" suffers the most from his overzealous ways, as it was meant to be a triumph and a grandiose synthesis of retro-futuristic sounds, but instead, Timberlake has created something forced and artificial.
Recommended Tracks in Bold:
1. Gimme What I Don’t Know (I Want) 2. True
Blood 3. Cabaret
4. TKO 5. Take Back the Night 6.
Murder
7. Drink You Away 8. You
Got It On 9. Amnesia
10. Only When I Walk Away 11. Not a Bad
Thing/Pair of Wings
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