Justin Timberlake – 'The 20/20 Experience' album review

Justin Timberlake – 'The 20/20 Experience'

• Rated as: 4/5

Music has become smarter since JT last released an album, with the Frank Oceans and Weeknds of the world setting a higher standard for modern R&B soloists. Timberlake, and his producer Timbaland, recognise this, and while it’s not excessively minimal or modern, the album they’ve made together is both blissfully nostalgic and coolly new.

A collective ‘meh’ of indifference might have greeted the brassy single ‘Suit & Tie’, but the absence of a ubiquitous smash hit has allowed Timberlake to spread his magic across an album consistently, rather than in bursts. Featuring drugs (‘Pusher Love Girl’), Outkast-aping space sex serenades (‘Spaceship Coupe’) and melodies so pristine that Patrick Bateman would put them on in his living room (‘Don’t Hold the Wall’), almost all of Justin’s third solo glides by with escapist serenity. ‘The 20/20 Experience’ is pure pop for grown-ups.