Adam Greenberg reviews Justin Timberlake's "Filthy," the lead single from Man of the Woods. The track surprises with gritty, sexually charged production and Timbaland wobble basses that clash with the album's teased rustic themes. Timberlake released it as a weekly single ahead of his Super Bowl halftime show on February 4.
Hey Siri, play Filthy by Justin Timberlake. Okay, let's hear Filthy by Justin Timberlake. What's up everybody, it's Adam Greenberg here. I couldn't even get out of bed to give you my new show, Good or Bad, just talking about anything that can be reviewed. And today, in early 2018, Justin Timberlake has graced us with his musical presence once again. I woke up to all sorts of comments, all sorts of talking. You're talking. You're not sure if you like it, but there's a lot of people saying that they love it. Let me explain it to you, okay? Because something like this needs to be explained. It needs to be understood. There's something going on here, people. We're talking future. We're talking not future sex love sound. We're talking more future than that. I mean, he starts it off with, "If you know what's good." I guess I got my swagger back. I mean, he knows what he's up to. You may not know yet, but he does. It's epic. It's an anthem. It's an intro.
It's not even supposed to be a single. You can tell.
Just like Future Sex Love Sound, it wasn't a single. It was an intro to his album. What he's doing is introducing his album, Man of the Woods. Now I know what you're thinking. Man of the Woods? He's talking about in his teaser how it's gonna be about his wife. And his son and where he's from. And he's dressed like a rugged, sweet ruffian with a little bit of stubble and a shaved head, and he looks glorious. What do you— I mean, he looks glorious. I mean, he looks glorious. So I know what you're expecting. You're expecting grassroots, maybe some funky, maybe some funky twang, maybe a little, a little I don't know if that's how it would go, but maybe that's what you're expecting. That's not what we got with Filthy. We got a dirty, we got a grimy track. Put your filthy hands all over me. You know this ain't the clean version, which is crazy because it's actually a clean version. There's no swearing in the song.
He's messing you up! He's in your head! He's making you think one thing and it's not the other.
It's a lot of sexual content. He's talking about meat, he's talking about cooking it up. He's talking about being a beast all while singing over these crazy wobble wobble wobble. That's famous Timbaland, that's famous JT using these like speaking basses, these wobbles, these wobble wobble wobble. And it's just such a future 2018 version of what they have done in the past. If you listen to the album version, the first track, it kind of goes into this sort of ominous transition interlude, if you will, about "Can you see me? Can you see me past the trees?" And so what I'm thinking is it's kind of this transition of like this sexy, grimy, what used to be Justin Timberlake with the "Future Sex Love" sound and "My Love" and "Sexy" back. And he's had such a musical evolution. I'm loving every second of it. Also, you gotta remember, he's performing at the Super Bowl.
What do you expect?
Him to not give you something dancey and sexy?
The last time he was at the Super Bowl, he whipped out Janet Jackson's titty. He's gotta do something epic.
Let the song marinate, okay? I love it. It doesn't mean you have to love it, but I think you need to give it some time because it's different. It's something you haven't heard of yet, and that is what people like Justin Timberlake are here on this planet to do. They're here to make you experience something new, something you're maybe not comfortable with and you could potentially love, but you can't love it until it exists because you didn't know that you could love something like that. That's my review on Justin Timberlake's new song Filthy. He's releasing a new song every single week up until his performance at the Super Bowl February 4th, new album February 2nd. You know he's going to be announcing a tour after the Super Bowl because that's just the way it goes. Let me know what you think in the comments, good or bad or however you feel. I'm Adam Greenberg. Have an amazing day. Good or bad? Gotta tell you, definitely the comfiest piece of content I've ever done. Just stay here a little bit longer.
