Rolling Stone: "What the Hell Happened to Justin Timberlake?"

[noa234 3,873]

The one-time triple threat is turning into the king of cringe

 

 

 

Zoomers, particularly those on TikTok, are really good at making previously lauded white men seem remarkably uncool. This is a curse that has now befallen Justin Timberlake, the once pop prince. 

 

At the turn of the century, Timberlake dominated every facet of pop culture. He was the de facto breakout star of dominating boy band *NSYNC and the boyfriend of pop princess Britney Spears. When both those parts of his life ended in uniquely dramatic fashions, he spun it into solo superstardom. Twenty years ago this fall, he made his mark with Justified. Four years after, FutureSex/LoveSounds would secure him enough industry good faith and clout for at least a decade more.

 

In between, he made some very big attempts at movie stardom. Though many of those would flounder (remember The Love Guru? *shivers*), bright spots like The Social Network and his recurring Saturday Night Live appearances at least gave the illusion that he was a triple threat. 

 

Over the last few years, however, things have changed drastically for for pop’s Bad-ish Boy-Next-Door. He took several long breaks between albums that eventually gained responses ranging from tepid to horrified (2018’s Man of the Woods, anyone?) and he hasn’t exactly taken over Hollywood. On top of some career missteps, public opinion on some of his actions as a budding star have been revisited, like the Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction that cost Janet Jackson her career and the way he made Britney Spears a villain after their break-up. The blowback was so loud that Timberlake had to issue a public apology to both women, though both Jackson and Spears have denied harboring any ill will towards him.

 

While his unchecked past catches up, his present is looking just as troublesome. In 2019, he was spotted holding hands with a co-star even though he was (and still is) very married to Jessica Biel. A host of alleged blind items have been widely attributed to him (though none confirmed), leading to speculation that he’s cheated repeatedly on his wife and may also be balding. 

 

All of this made it incredibly difficult for Timberlake — who like many of his early millennium peers was as known for his dancing as he was his singing — to survive the public embarrassment of messing up the Beat Ya Feet dance. In a viral video from his performance at Pharrell’s Something in the Water festival that could possibly loom over his career larger than anything else mentioned so far, the teen idol gives hardcore awkward dad energy for the first time in his music career. It’s as harrowing to the millennial psyche as it is unbearably cringe-y to the numerous TikTok creators who spent a week roasting how he turned the DC specialty into an Irish jig. 

 

Oddly, he’s since apologized for that too. At least it arrived in a more timely fashion than his other ones. 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/justin-timberlake-tiktok-cringe-podcast-dont-let-this-flop-1374158/

[Reginald 12,656]

5 hours ago, noa234 said:

 

 

It's the petty camera zoom in on his shoes that's killing me

[AkariGaga 480]

I am not a fan of JT at all but why do they need to mention balding? It sounds like  "The Sun ”instead of "Rolling Stones.”

[CannaeDrive 3,359]

Rolling Stone playing into the lame petty bitching of TicTockers ? That's a new low, right there 

[Dojo 18,342]

omg that was harsh   the author was very mean imo

[insight 2,342]

he gained weight #dadbod

[Dr Fudge 7,437]

He’s 41 years old with two kids. I think it’s just fine that he’s giving dad energy. He’s a dad.

Edited July 6 by Dr Fudge

[Dojo 18,342]

2 minutes ago, Dr Fudge said:

He’s 41 years old. I think it’s just fine that he’s giving dad energy. 

men can! but women need to strive to look like JLo, Shakira, Kim after 40 

[AnnaNicoleSmith 32,153]

I don’t think it’s right to make fun of someone for getting older… even if u condemn his past actions doesnt sit right with me. It’s a person, flawed, but has emotions. And attacking someone’s appearance is low in this case 

[Pennywise 29,686]

He's way too straight for pop, and not talented enough for any other genre. That happened 

[Mother of Puppies 29,142]

Why is it a thing to roast people publicly and to now label them as uncool only because they get older and age? It seems as if though some young folks (especially on tiktok) just want to find older people "uncool" to make themselves "cool" and point that out, but in the end it's just immature and petty to do that.

Edited July 6 by Mother of Puppies

[Mother of Puppies 29,142]

37 minutes ago, AnnaNicoleSmith said:

I don’t think it’s right to make fun of someone for getting older… even if u condemn his past actions doesnt sit right with me. It’s a person, flawed, but has emotions. And attacking someone’s appearance is low in this case 

yup, exactly this

[spector 1,587]

i'm here for cis-white-hetero-men-shaming, tbh

[Emvee 6,461]

It’s all fun and games until cis-white-hetero-men with guns are at the halls of Congress overthrowing our government because people were mean to them. 

[RichAssPiss 3,467]

Sure ageism is mixed in there somewhere but acting like this is exclusively or predominantly ageism is totally missing the point. Artists get reevaluated in the long term and the ones who benefited a lot from cultural biases are often diminished in favor of their more talented peers. I don't see people trying to take this approach with someone like Usher, who is older but was historically not as celebrated. If anything, his career has been reevaluated very favorably along with other black artists of the 90s like Brandy who were given less play than their white counterparts. It's why people reevaluated Elvis and starting talking more about Little Richard and Big Mama Thornton and those who innovated rock and roll but got less credit because they were not granted the same platform as white artists, sometimes singing the exact same songs (like "Hound Dog"). People realizing Justin Timberlake was overhyped is just nature taking its course.