Justin Timberlake is one of those r&b singers that I’ve just slept on lately, I haven’t heard anything new from him since the song he did with Ciara. Anyways, I love that album cover! <333 – Justified starts off with the opening track Senorita. I really and I mean really love this song, it sounds familiar on my ears like I’ve heard it before on the radio or on television and I think I did, it’s been a while ago though. Justin’s vocals were pretty playful and nice, he seems like he’s having a good time with this song. The arrangement is your typical drums played in a jazzy way and the rest of it sounds latin-esque, that was one of the reasons why I ever liked this song.
Like I Love You was my jam back in the day and it still is today, no one can sing this song like Justin, no one! Justin did this song a lot of justice and so did Clipse when he did his rap session. The arrangement is rock, dance-pop, pop, and a dabble of r&b, what a lovely combination. This song is for the nightclubs because it sounds so lively and upbeat and pretty much anywhere where you wanna feel good at.
Suddenly, the good mood is gone with the next track (Oh No) What You Got. I used to like this song but now I just sit around instead of dance to this song because I would feel kind of foolish doing that. The arrangement is urban but turkish drums, snyths, and flutes. Justin’s vocals are just fine in this song but they seemed wasted on such an annoying, generic, and repetitive composition. FAIL.
Justified slows it down with the next track Take It from Here. I’m still scratching my head from when I saw that Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo wrote the lyrics and not Justin. Anyways, I really liked this song and I also remember hearing this one back in the day. Justin really can sing, I’m a huge fan of him and I might come across as bias when I’m reviewing most of his work. The arrangement is relaxing and it’s drowned in deep into r&b and pop, I loved his vocals in this one.
Cry Me a River is another one of my favorites from this album. The arrangement is Timbaland-produced of course because he put some of these songs together on here. Justin decides to go falsetto on us on here and I had no problem with that all since he excels at that most of the time, it’s Timbaland’s beat-boxing that made me a bit uneasy but that grew on me instantly because I just tried to get past it, this song is actually pretty awesome.
This next track Rock Your Body was another one of my favorite songs back in the day and I still adore it now. Justin’s vocals were nice in this one and he reminded me of Michael Jackson in the way he sung the song – R.I.P. The arrangement sounds retro and I’m talking old school 70’s funk with some modern updatability. I really liked this song and this stands alone as one of his strongest songs throughout his entire singing career, it’s stuck in my head right now.
We’re slowing it back down with the next track on this album Nothin’ Else. Justin Timberlake really pleases me with the songs he makes because he always experiments with them all, this one is one of those songs. The arrangement sounds like an old song from Stevie Wonder which happens to be one of my favorite old school singers, Justin also sounds just like him on here and I adore how he pulls it off so well.
My love for this next song is wearing off on me all of a sudden but not completely. Last Night isn’t a bad song but I’m not really feeling it like I used to since I used to play it about a billion times on my i-pod, it’s meh to my ears now. I don’t favor Justin’s vocals in this one alone, he sounded strange in the chorus but really good in the bridge when he sings this part: I hope you’re thinkin’, I hope it sinks in…’ This song is all right in a sense but it can be awkward at times.
Still on My Brain is quite the tearjerker especially when he sings the chorus and belts out his ab-libs. The arrangement is very soothing in r&b and pop, I loved that little fact. Justin did an awesome job with this song and he excels with slow songs more than the up-tempos in my opinion, this song was pretty nice.
The next track (And She Said) Take Me Now used to be one of my favorite songs on this album but now I don’t know… Justin is doing it again with the sexiness in his vocals and there’s no problem with that but if he didn’t sing in such an annoying pitch in this song then I would have like this song and the chorus was WTF? The arrangement was strange and I don’t know what was going on but it was irritating and I liked it in the beginning, not the very end.
Here we go again with the most bland song on this album Right for Me. The arrangement is terribly bland and uninteresting, Justin did this song a lot of justice but I found myself not caring because it seems wasted for such a lazy put together beat, FAIL.
Now things get much better with the next track Let’s Take a Ride. The arrangement is very mellow, carefree, fun, and relaxing. Justin’s vocals were awesome in this song and I adored the way he sung this one especially during the chorus. This song is another one of my favorites off this album, Justin did an amazing job with it and pleased me once again.
The album wraps things up with the full blown ballad Never Again. Justin did another awesome job with this next song, his vocals were falsetto yet again but I liked the way did it because no one can do it better than him. The arrangement sounds familiar to my ears and I think he’s singing the cover of Brian McKnight’s song but I’m not too sure so I have to check later for that but anyways this was pretty nice.
Senorita
Like I Love You
Take It from Here
Cry Me a River
Rock Your Body
Nothin’ Else
Still on My Brain
Let’s Take a Ride
Never Again
Justin Timberlake’s debut solo album Justified was pretty good, not amazing but good enough. His vocals were on the spot back then and he really put his high-pitched vocals to the test on this album, he exceled with this album and I can understand why this one sold so many copies. The second album is pretty good also but I think Justified is the best album from him until he comes out with another one, I’m a huge fan of him so I might come across as bias but I mean what I say for this review.
