Sexyback by Justin Timberlake

The summer of 2006 was a challenging time in the world. Tension between Israeli and Palestinian forces resulted Israel’s first ground invasion into Gaza since it’s withdrawal a year earlier. The fighting in Darfur between government-backed militias and rebel groups which led to more than 200,000 deaths and forced 2 million from their homes, continued despite a peace agreement that was signed in May of 2006.

More tragic and dire was the fact that there was no “sexy.” No one was quite sure exactly when we lost “sexy” or how it disappeared but the fact was that somehow “sexy” was gone. When it seemed that all hope was lost, Justin Timberlake brought “sexy” back!!

Timberlake’s first single off his second album FutureSex/LoveSounds not only promised to bring “Sexyback” but was itself the “sexy” that was so lacking in our lives. This was such a powerful moment in our culture that them other boy’s simply didn’t know hot to act and as we turned around, Justin picked up the slack.

We first got to know Justin Timberlake as a member ‘N Sync. This group, a manufactured corporate boy band was releasing finely constructed but derivative pop hits like “I Want You Back”



As time when on, it became clear the member of ‘N Sync were not satisfied with swimming in the kiddie pool of popular music and decided to stretch the boundaries of popular music with more adventurous hits like “Gone.”



Now to no one’s surprise in 2002, the members of ‘N Sync went their separate ways. While my money was on a JC Chasez on having the best shot at a solo music career it was Justin Timberlake who most firmly established himself as a solo artist.

After his first album, Justified, Timberlake went into the studio with producer Timberland to try something different. Timberlake describes “Sexyback” as an “experiment gone right.” Not satisfied with how his voice sounded on the record, Timberlake decided to experiment with different ways that he could make his vocals have more a distorted rock sound.

While experimenting with different vocal effects, Timberlake tried sticking a microphone in a guitar amp and found the sound he was looking for. Most distortion and effects are done to vocals after a clean track has been recorded but Justin’s vocals were recorded distorted coming straight out of a guitar amp giving a unique an dirty distorted tone.

The distorted rock vocals against Timbaland’s hip-hop beat was an amalgamation of styles. Rarely in dance music are the vocals distorted in a dark and gravely way and rarely is rock vocals backed with a hip-hop beat. The combination of these two styles combined the driving energy of hip-hop with the intriguing darkness of hard rock music.

The words in “Sexyback” are boastful, and a little kinky. After declaring that he is bringing sexy back, Justin goes on to talk about how he’s a slave and wiling to take punishment if he “misbehaves.” With the distortion the lyrics don’t come across all that clearly and the most apparent words are encouragements to dance and party, which is really what this song is about. Justin isn’t so much bringing sexy back himself but setting up a environment to “get your sexy on.”

We all owe a great debt to Justin Timberlake for bringing the sexy back, now if someone can just bring back the “lower unemployment rate” we’ll be set.