https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DksSPZTZES0 Every decade needs its heartthrobs, its showmen and its supremely gifted singers. Justin Timberlake, having decided that N-Sync wasnt giving him quite the level of kudos that he wanted, ticked all three boxes as a solo artist. He reinvented himself as a mix of Michael Jackson, George Michael and Al Green and he did it nowhere better than on Cry me a river. Appropriating the Ella Fitzgerald song of the same name, here the male is the heartbroken and bitter victim instead. Its a spectacularly rancorous response to the ending of his supposedly chaste relationship with Britney Spears. The child stars of The Mickey Mouse club were now all grown and launched song after song at each other. But Justin Timberlake was incredibly smart here. In Timbaland, like Michael Jackson before him when he chose Quincy Jones to produce Thriller, he was getting the best in class production and songwriting. This gave him the credibility he needed to make it out of the boy band swamp. And crucially he focussed on that invaluable currency of the 00s sophistication. Taste, class, and style were the new order of the day. Good looking enough to have teenagers screaming and their mums giving their approval too, yet clever enough to use an uber-hip backroom team to get the critics salivating. This was both a credible and calculated attempt to speak the language of the pop culture of the decade. And against all the odds it was a tremendous record too.
What makes music fantastic? Star quality, amazing music, breathtaking lyrics and the ability to bring something new to the table, even if that means a new take on the classics. That's what I love to listen to and write about.
As well as writing for What Culture, I occasionally write a blog http://tedney.blogspot.co.uk and sometimes use Twitter, but sparingly @TedneyNash