Post by blaze on Aug 8, 2007 10:21:43 GMT -5
www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22209539-5003421,00.html
TRENT Reznor's unspeakable carnal demands are booming out of the speakers at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena.
Somewhere in the bowels of the building, right on cue, one Justin Randall Timberlake is feeling his nightly adrenaline rush as Nine Inch Nails' Closer changes the mood.
Reznor's R-rated lament has been handpicked by Timberlake as the warm-up music for his FutureSex/LoveShow world tour; warm-up music he shares with the entire audience.
"I just like the energy of that song," Timberlake says. "It really gets you amped up and ready to go out on stage."
The choice of the profanity-soaked, primal Closer is just another indication of how far Timberlake has come since his pop apprenticeship in boy band 'N Sync.
The FutureSex/LoveShow tour is the culmination of all he's learned since bursting on stage as a precocious teenager on The Mickey Mouse Club.
He's flown over stages in 'N Sync and busted serious dance moves on his first solo tour for 2002's Justified.
But no one could accuse Timberlake of having a one-track mind. In the last year he's released one album, had four US No.1 singles, three movies (Alpha Dog, Black Snake Moan and Shrek the Third), continued his clothing line (William Rast), opened a restaurant (Southern Hospitality) and started a new record label (Tennman Records).
He's broken up with one movie star (Cameron Diaz), professionally pashed another (Scarlett Johansson) and has been surreptitiously photographed squiring yet another (Jessica Biel), although he effortlessly deflects any journalistic probing into his personal life and won't "buy into the soap opera" of the tabloid world.
More importantly to Timberlake he's written and produced songs for everyone from Rihanna to Reba McEntire, not to mention Duran Duran, Macy Gray, 50 Cent, oh, and Madonna.
Paparazzi photographs of Timberlake and Madonna leaving recording studios in London have appeared in magazines all over the world.
The pair share more than a CV that includes kissing Britney Spears.
So far Madonna, Timberlake and FutureSex/LoveSounds co-producer Timbaland have written half a dozen songs for her looming album.
"There's a couple of duets in there," a cagey Timberlake says of the album.
Madonna offering the creative olive branch to a young performer (Timberlake is still only 26) must be like getting to meet pop's answer to Yoda (if a hotter version) – she was topping charts when Timberlake was filling nappies.
"She's a very talented lady," Timberlake says diplomatically.
"There's definitely moments when I think 'Wow, I'm singing with Madonna.' But she's so cool. She's very clever, very innovative. I was humbled working with her. She's fun to work with and she takes advice. Plus she has an amazing mind."
Timberlake says some of the lyrics are "more advanced" than her first album but have "grooves" reminiscent of it.
"It kind of meets in the middle between what she does and what I do. It's exactly how you want to hear Madonna right now, it doesn't sound quite like anything she's done yet it sounds like Madonna."
Madonna gravitating towards Timberlake is perhaps the ultimate barometer of his acceleration from pop star to pop icon – and his credibility.
Unlike most of his contemporaries, Timberlake can do more in the recording studio than muck around on video games while waiting to come and sing someone else's lyrics.
The FutureSex/LoveShow tour is the ideal showcase for Timberlake: musician.
Throughout various points of the evening he plays guitar, piano and keyboards.
He's been on big stages for more than a decade and it shows.
"It's phenomenal and weird and crazy and thrilling and it's still amazing to me," Timberlake says. "Especially with this tour. I've found that throughout the first tour with the first record it was different for me. I don't feel like I have anything to prove on this one. I wouldn't be honest with myself if I didn't say that with the first record I was like 'OK, take me seriously – I'm good.'
"With this one, I'm like 'If you like it come on out and if you don't you don't have to come.' I love what I do and I'm lucky to have a job like this – it trips me out. Every show I look around and I'm like 'I can't believe all these people are here to see me'."
One of highpoints of the show, unsurprisingly, is Sexy Back. Ironically, it was the song his record company baulked at when Timberlake insisted it be the first single from FutureSex/LoveSounds.
They thought it was too radical, that his electronically altered vocals wouldn't be recognisable.
It was a global No.1. "At the live shows I don't even sing that song," Timberlake says. "The audience do. It's fun. It should be fun. It's become an anthem for people, not just for me. That's what the song is about. I wanted to people to feel that way. Luckily that's what it turned into."
Last year Timberlake was spruiking FutureSex/LoveSounds by saying he was planning to "drop bombs on the dancefloor" and "change the face of music" with the album.
One year on, he chuckles when reminded of his pre-release bravado.
"Yeah, I'm laughing at myself with that comment.
I don't necessarily think it's changed the face of music, but it's changed the face of music for me. I actually can't believe I said that! It's kind of funny, but I was probably gesturing a bit because I was nervous. I think the most important thing about the record is that it sets me up for the next step."
Timberlake's modest, but FutureSex/LoveSounds has had a major impact on that state of pop music, just as his debut Justified did.
In an era of iTunes and short attention spans it has reminded the world of a time when albums used to be albums, not just a collection of songs.
"I was thinking of it as a whole project," Timberlake says. "Half the songs are way over the time limit for radio, but I think you've got to do what feels right for you."
Where Justified was followed by Timberlake-wannabes, there's already a string of artists who've flocked to get the hit fingerprints of Timbaland and Timberlake over their records.
One of the first was Duran Duran – Timbaland and Timberlake co-wrote and produced two songs, including one called Night Runner.
"That was exciting," Timberlake says. "They wanted to modernise their sound."
He's started a production/songwriting team with Black Eyed Pea Will I Am and has signed Dutch teenager Esmee Denters to his label after seeing her singing covers on YouTube (she then taped What Goes Around with JT on piano; he notes at the end "she sings my song better than I do".)
While Timberlake-wannabes inspired the move away from the sounds of Justified, the singer has a vision for his third album.
He's still got an album's worth of songs he recorded with Rick Rubin (only Another Song made the cut on FutureSex/LoveSounds) but he won't be pressed on whether that will be his next direction.
While Timberlake is no stranger to wooing the masses, he's never been able to do it as swiftly – on a global scale – as last Christmas's internet hit Richard in a Box, co-written by comedian Andy Samberg for a Saturday Night Live sketch.
Amazingly, the song was nominated for an Emmy, for outstanding original music and lyrics on a TV show. "I was stunned, actually," Timberlake says of hearing the news.
The song, a pastiche of early '90s R&B where Timberlake details putting your "junk" in a box as a gift for a lover, scored over 5 million viewings on YouTube in a matter of days.
He even performed the song with Samberg during a New York leg of his world tour earlier this year.
"We wrote that song and thought it was hilarious," Timberlake says.
It gave Timberlake a chance to show his sense of humour, after worrying that the bravado on some of the lyrics on FutureSex/LoveSounds (understandable for a man reared on rap) may be taken too seriously.
"A lot of this album is me having fun, being tongue in cheek, being smart. I don't think I'm bringing sexy back. Look at (50 Cent's) In Da Club. It's not always going to be your birthday. It's just a song. I hate breaking it down like that, but when you hear it in the environment it should be heard in, like in your car, or a club, or a house party or whatever, people started getting it. I mean, I don't necessarily think I've got 'sexy ladies all over the floor'."
Timberlake may be quoting from his own lyrics, but surely he's singing from experience – if he doesn't have sexy ladies on tap then who does?
"Unfortunately that's not the case," Timberlake says, laughing. "The truth is a lot more boring."
TRENT Reznor's unspeakable carnal demands are booming out of the speakers at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena.
Somewhere in the bowels of the building, right on cue, one Justin Randall Timberlake is feeling his nightly adrenaline rush as Nine Inch Nails' Closer changes the mood.
Reznor's R-rated lament has been handpicked by Timberlake as the warm-up music for his FutureSex/LoveShow world tour; warm-up music he shares with the entire audience.
"I just like the energy of that song," Timberlake says. "It really gets you amped up and ready to go out on stage."
The choice of the profanity-soaked, primal Closer is just another indication of how far Timberlake has come since his pop apprenticeship in boy band 'N Sync.
The FutureSex/LoveShow tour is the culmination of all he's learned since bursting on stage as a precocious teenager on The Mickey Mouse Club.
He's flown over stages in 'N Sync and busted serious dance moves on his first solo tour for 2002's Justified.
But no one could accuse Timberlake of having a one-track mind. In the last year he's released one album, had four US No.1 singles, three movies (Alpha Dog, Black Snake Moan and Shrek the Third), continued his clothing line (William Rast), opened a restaurant (Southern Hospitality) and started a new record label (Tennman Records).
He's broken up with one movie star (Cameron Diaz), professionally pashed another (Scarlett Johansson) and has been surreptitiously photographed squiring yet another (Jessica Biel), although he effortlessly deflects any journalistic probing into his personal life and won't "buy into the soap opera" of the tabloid world.
More importantly to Timberlake he's written and produced songs for everyone from Rihanna to Reba McEntire, not to mention Duran Duran, Macy Gray, 50 Cent, oh, and Madonna.
Paparazzi photographs of Timberlake and Madonna leaving recording studios in London have appeared in magazines all over the world.
The pair share more than a CV that includes kissing Britney Spears.
So far Madonna, Timberlake and FutureSex/LoveSounds co-producer Timbaland have written half a dozen songs for her looming album.
"There's a couple of duets in there," a cagey Timberlake says of the album.
Madonna offering the creative olive branch to a young performer (Timberlake is still only 26) must be like getting to meet pop's answer to Yoda (if a hotter version) – she was topping charts when Timberlake was filling nappies.
"She's a very talented lady," Timberlake says diplomatically.
"There's definitely moments when I think 'Wow, I'm singing with Madonna.' But she's so cool. She's very clever, very innovative. I was humbled working with her. She's fun to work with and she takes advice. Plus she has an amazing mind."
Timberlake says some of the lyrics are "more advanced" than her first album but have "grooves" reminiscent of it.
"It kind of meets in the middle between what she does and what I do. It's exactly how you want to hear Madonna right now, it doesn't sound quite like anything she's done yet it sounds like Madonna."
Madonna gravitating towards Timberlake is perhaps the ultimate barometer of his acceleration from pop star to pop icon – and his credibility.
Unlike most of his contemporaries, Timberlake can do more in the recording studio than muck around on video games while waiting to come and sing someone else's lyrics.
The FutureSex/LoveShow tour is the ideal showcase for Timberlake: musician.
Throughout various points of the evening he plays guitar, piano and keyboards.
He's been on big stages for more than a decade and it shows.
"It's phenomenal and weird and crazy and thrilling and it's still amazing to me," Timberlake says. "Especially with this tour. I've found that throughout the first tour with the first record it was different for me. I don't feel like I have anything to prove on this one. I wouldn't be honest with myself if I didn't say that with the first record I was like 'OK, take me seriously – I'm good.'
"With this one, I'm like 'If you like it come on out and if you don't you don't have to come.' I love what I do and I'm lucky to have a job like this – it trips me out. Every show I look around and I'm like 'I can't believe all these people are here to see me'."
One of highpoints of the show, unsurprisingly, is Sexy Back. Ironically, it was the song his record company baulked at when Timberlake insisted it be the first single from FutureSex/LoveSounds.
They thought it was too radical, that his electronically altered vocals wouldn't be recognisable.
It was a global No.1. "At the live shows I don't even sing that song," Timberlake says. "The audience do. It's fun. It should be fun. It's become an anthem for people, not just for me. That's what the song is about. I wanted to people to feel that way. Luckily that's what it turned into."
Last year Timberlake was spruiking FutureSex/LoveSounds by saying he was planning to "drop bombs on the dancefloor" and "change the face of music" with the album.
One year on, he chuckles when reminded of his pre-release bravado.
"Yeah, I'm laughing at myself with that comment.
I don't necessarily think it's changed the face of music, but it's changed the face of music for me. I actually can't believe I said that! It's kind of funny, but I was probably gesturing a bit because I was nervous. I think the most important thing about the record is that it sets me up for the next step."
Timberlake's modest, but FutureSex/LoveSounds has had a major impact on that state of pop music, just as his debut Justified did.
In an era of iTunes and short attention spans it has reminded the world of a time when albums used to be albums, not just a collection of songs.
"I was thinking of it as a whole project," Timberlake says. "Half the songs are way over the time limit for radio, but I think you've got to do what feels right for you."
Where Justified was followed by Timberlake-wannabes, there's already a string of artists who've flocked to get the hit fingerprints of Timbaland and Timberlake over their records.
One of the first was Duran Duran – Timbaland and Timberlake co-wrote and produced two songs, including one called Night Runner.
"That was exciting," Timberlake says. "They wanted to modernise their sound."
He's started a production/songwriting team with Black Eyed Pea Will I Am and has signed Dutch teenager Esmee Denters to his label after seeing her singing covers on YouTube (she then taped What Goes Around with JT on piano; he notes at the end "she sings my song better than I do".)
While Timberlake-wannabes inspired the move away from the sounds of Justified, the singer has a vision for his third album.
He's still got an album's worth of songs he recorded with Rick Rubin (only Another Song made the cut on FutureSex/LoveSounds) but he won't be pressed on whether that will be his next direction.
While Timberlake is no stranger to wooing the masses, he's never been able to do it as swiftly – on a global scale – as last Christmas's internet hit Richard in a Box, co-written by comedian Andy Samberg for a Saturday Night Live sketch.
Amazingly, the song was nominated for an Emmy, for outstanding original music and lyrics on a TV show. "I was stunned, actually," Timberlake says of hearing the news.
The song, a pastiche of early '90s R&B where Timberlake details putting your "junk" in a box as a gift for a lover, scored over 5 million viewings on YouTube in a matter of days.
He even performed the song with Samberg during a New York leg of his world tour earlier this year.
"We wrote that song and thought it was hilarious," Timberlake says.
It gave Timberlake a chance to show his sense of humour, after worrying that the bravado on some of the lyrics on FutureSex/LoveSounds (understandable for a man reared on rap) may be taken too seriously.
"A lot of this album is me having fun, being tongue in cheek, being smart. I don't think I'm bringing sexy back. Look at (50 Cent's) In Da Club. It's not always going to be your birthday. It's just a song. I hate breaking it down like that, but when you hear it in the environment it should be heard in, like in your car, or a club, or a house party or whatever, people started getting it. I mean, I don't necessarily think I've got 'sexy ladies all over the floor'."
Timberlake may be quoting from his own lyrics, but surely he's singing from experience – if he doesn't have sexy ladies on tap then who does?
"Unfortunately that's not the case," Timberlake says, laughing. "The truth is a lot more boring."
