Panic! and Justin Timberlake...so close, yet soooo far
This is for txtequilanights: that New York Times review of SexyBack:
“It’s kind of disappointing and disgusting in a way, how some people are focusing on how we look.” Another day at MTV, another new pop star fighting an old battle. You work hard on your album and on your live show, and what do you get? A bunch of fans who don’t even notice; they’re too busy “drooling” over you. It makes you feel cheap; even worse, “it taints the music.”
A heartfelt feminist critique of the music industry. Except that it was delivered by Ryan Ross, the guitarist of the all-male emo band Panic! at the Disco; it was posted on mtv.com early on Tuesday morning. And although his rant may have been a bit theatrical (like his music), his point was a familiar one. Male pop stars are generally expected to play down their own physical appeal, or at least pretend to.
And then, on the other end of the spectrum, there’s Justin Timberlake, who has evolved from Mouseketeer to boy-bander to pop star. (Only Dr. Moreau knows what comes next.) Last week, three and a half years after the release of his solo debut album, “Justified,” Mr. Timberlake returned with a new single, “SexyBack” (Jive). And while Mr. Ross says he is outraged by all the “drooling” his band inspires, Mr. Timberlake seems eager to inspire a little more. He is that rarest of creatures: a male pop star who is willing to sing about being sexy.
That doesn’t mean, of course, that male pop stars are obliged to avoid the subject. From Usher (who became the new Justin Timberlake in 2004, a year and a half after Mr. Timberlake became the new Usher) to Chris Brown, we have plenty of male heartthrobs who inspire female - and, whether they know it or not, male - screams with every falsetto note and piston-smooth dance move.
But stars like Usher and Mr. Brown acknowledge their own appeal only indirectly, by singing about the appealing women who just can’t resist them. And rappers take this strategy one step further, shrugging off sex appeal as a mere byproduct of fame or money. As 50 Cent put it, dismissively, “When you sell like Eminem, you get plenty of groupie love.” The message is clear: sex appeal matters only if you’re broke. Which means no self-respecting man - even one often seen shirtless - would brag about it.
In this context, Mr. Timberlake’s new song is a surprising act of defiance. “SexyBack” was produced by Timbaland, along with Mr. Timberlake and Timbaland’s protégé Nate Hills, and there’s a techno-derived dance beat so sharp and so emaciated that it can’t help sounding paranoid. The lyrics begin with Mr. Timberlake purring his manifesto: “I’m bringing sexy back/Them other boys don’t know how to act.” So he teaches them.
There is a woman in this story: a “dirty babe,” according to Mr. Timberlake. (Naturally, the epithet sounds more appealing when he sings it.) But she’s a minor character, upstaged by the “dirty babe” behind the microphone. And not just upstaged: the more he sings, the more Mr. Timberlake sounds as if he’s campaigning to replace her. “Girl, let me make up for the things you lack,” he moans. After all, she’s not the one “bringing sexy back”; she’s just watching him do it.
Surely it’s not a coincidence that this song borrows a line from Mr. Timberlake’s most famous ex-girlfriend. Britney Spears once sang, “I’m a slave for you”; now he is singing, “Baby, I’m your slave.” With its slightly sadistic beat and purposefully repetitive melody, “SexyBack” evokes the vague menace of Ms. Spears’s best dance tracks. It’s the clammy, claustrophobic sound of a pop star in “shackles,” putting on a show for us.
“SexyBack” brings to mind another pop hit: “Promiscuous,” the irresistible chart-topping collaboration between Timbaland and Nelly Furtado. In that song, Timbaland and Ms. Furtado trade playful, sexless pickup lines: “Promiscuous girl, you’re teasing me”; “Promiscuous boy, let’s get to the point.”
Oddly enough, Timbaland has slightly better chemistry with Mr. Timberlake. “Look at those hips,” Timbaland raps. Also: “You make me smile,” “Come here, child” and “Get your sexy on.” After each phrase, Mr. Timberlake croons back his flirty (and somewhat cryptic) response: “Go ’head, be gone with it.” With that, the “dirty babe” first introduced in the second stanza officially becomes a third wheel.
It’s possible to hear “SexyBack” as a reaction to the same state of affairs that inspired Mr. Ross’s amusing - and probably, by now, infamous - interview. To be sure, male pop stars don’t face as much pressure to look good as their female counterparts do. And that may be why they complain about it more. Certainly if a female pop star complained about “drooling” male fans, she would be called naïve, old-fashioned, a spoilsport. But Mr. Ross sounded alarmed to hear that his concerts drew some fans who were “just there because they heard we were hot.” What, they didn’t care about his personality?
Plenty of male pop stars through the ages have flaunted their own appeal. But it’s been nearly two decades since Prince posed naked on the cover of “Lovesexy” (perhaps that coinage helped inspire “SexyBack”), and the taboo against male preening is stronger than ever. For example, “Sexy Love,” a hit by the R&B singer Ne-Yo, conforms to the current status quo: unlike Mr. Timberlake, Ne-Yo goes out of his way to let listeners know he’s describing a woman (“I’m so addicted to how she’s the sweetest drug”), not himself.
Mr. Timberlake isn’t the new Prince, not by a long shot. Unlike Prince, Mr. Timberlake hasn’t made a career of acting as his own object of desire. And there’s no particular reason to think that on his forthcoming album, “FutureSex/LoveSounds,” due Sept. 12, he will continue the fight on behalf of “sexy” boys everywhere. (Though it seems his assault on the lowly space bar WillNotEnd/AnytimeSoon.)
Still, “SexyBack” feels, in its own small way, like a bold move, an unexpected twist on the thug-love duet. It’s not the kind of song likely to change the way the other boys sing. But it’s a song that makes you think about the things the other boys don’t - can’t - sing about.
*
All emphasis obviously mine.
I think RyRo was probably taken out of context in this review and it's also highly doubtful that RyRo's statement came BEFORE SexyBack was recorded, but it's an interesting take on the song. Or maybe I just love the idea that Justin is trying to teach all those other motherfucking male pop stars how to be sexy. So. Who's going to write that fic? Justin Timberlake's School of Sexy or something. YES. It would go something like this:
"No, you have to grab your crotch like SO, while sticking out your bottom lip and smirking a bit at the same time. No, not like that, you just look like you have parkinson's or something. God, you people don't know how to act sexy!"
“It’s kind of disappointing and disgusting in a way, how some people are focusing on how we look.” Another day at MTV, another new pop star fighting an old battle. You work hard on your album and on your live show, and what do you get? A bunch of fans who don’t even notice; they’re too busy “drooling” over you. It makes you feel cheap; even worse, “it taints the music.”
A heartfelt feminist critique of the music industry. Except that it was delivered by Ryan Ross, the guitarist of the all-male emo band Panic! at the Disco; it was posted on mtv.com early on Tuesday morning. And although his rant may have been a bit theatrical (like his music), his point was a familiar one. Male pop stars are generally expected to play down their own physical appeal, or at least pretend to.
And then, on the other end of the spectrum, there’s Justin Timberlake, who has evolved from Mouseketeer to boy-bander to pop star. (Only Dr. Moreau knows what comes next.) Last week, three and a half years after the release of his solo debut album, “Justified,” Mr. Timberlake returned with a new single, “SexyBack” (Jive). And while Mr. Ross says he is outraged by all the “drooling” his band inspires, Mr. Timberlake seems eager to inspire a little more. He is that rarest of creatures: a male pop star who is willing to sing about being sexy.
That doesn’t mean, of course, that male pop stars are obliged to avoid the subject. From Usher (who became the new Justin Timberlake in 2004, a year and a half after Mr. Timberlake became the new Usher) to Chris Brown, we have plenty of male heartthrobs who inspire female - and, whether they know it or not, male - screams with every falsetto note and piston-smooth dance move.
But stars like Usher and Mr. Brown acknowledge their own appeal only indirectly, by singing about the appealing women who just can’t resist them. And rappers take this strategy one step further, shrugging off sex appeal as a mere byproduct of fame or money. As 50 Cent put it, dismissively, “When you sell like Eminem, you get plenty of groupie love.” The message is clear: sex appeal matters only if you’re broke. Which means no self-respecting man - even one often seen shirtless - would brag about it.
In this context, Mr. Timberlake’s new song is a surprising act of defiance. “SexyBack” was produced by Timbaland, along with Mr. Timberlake and Timbaland’s protégé Nate Hills, and there’s a techno-derived dance beat so sharp and so emaciated that it can’t help sounding paranoid. The lyrics begin with Mr. Timberlake purring his manifesto: “I’m bringing sexy back/Them other boys don’t know how to act.” So he teaches them.
There is a woman in this story: a “dirty babe,” according to Mr. Timberlake. (Naturally, the epithet sounds more appealing when he sings it.) But she’s a minor character, upstaged by the “dirty babe” behind the microphone. And not just upstaged: the more he sings, the more Mr. Timberlake sounds as if he’s campaigning to replace her. “Girl, let me make up for the things you lack,” he moans. After all, she’s not the one “bringing sexy back”; she’s just watching him do it.
Surely it’s not a coincidence that this song borrows a line from Mr. Timberlake’s most famous ex-girlfriend. Britney Spears once sang, “I’m a slave for you”; now he is singing, “Baby, I’m your slave.” With its slightly sadistic beat and purposefully repetitive melody, “SexyBack” evokes the vague menace of Ms. Spears’s best dance tracks. It’s the clammy, claustrophobic sound of a pop star in “shackles,” putting on a show for us.
“SexyBack” brings to mind another pop hit: “Promiscuous,” the irresistible chart-topping collaboration between Timbaland and Nelly Furtado. In that song, Timbaland and Ms. Furtado trade playful, sexless pickup lines: “Promiscuous girl, you’re teasing me”; “Promiscuous boy, let’s get to the point.”
Oddly enough, Timbaland has slightly better chemistry with Mr. Timberlake. “Look at those hips,” Timbaland raps. Also: “You make me smile,” “Come here, child” and “Get your sexy on.” After each phrase, Mr. Timberlake croons back his flirty (and somewhat cryptic) response: “Go ’head, be gone with it.” With that, the “dirty babe” first introduced in the second stanza officially becomes a third wheel.
It’s possible to hear “SexyBack” as a reaction to the same state of affairs that inspired Mr. Ross’s amusing - and probably, by now, infamous - interview. To be sure, male pop stars don’t face as much pressure to look good as their female counterparts do. And that may be why they complain about it more. Certainly if a female pop star complained about “drooling” male fans, she would be called naïve, old-fashioned, a spoilsport. But Mr. Ross sounded alarmed to hear that his concerts drew some fans who were “just there because they heard we were hot.” What, they didn’t care about his personality?
Plenty of male pop stars through the ages have flaunted their own appeal. But it’s been nearly two decades since Prince posed naked on the cover of “Lovesexy” (perhaps that coinage helped inspire “SexyBack”), and the taboo against male preening is stronger than ever. For example, “Sexy Love,” a hit by the R&B singer Ne-Yo, conforms to the current status quo: unlike Mr. Timberlake, Ne-Yo goes out of his way to let listeners know he’s describing a woman (“I’m so addicted to how she’s the sweetest drug”), not himself.
Mr. Timberlake isn’t the new Prince, not by a long shot. Unlike Prince, Mr. Timberlake hasn’t made a career of acting as his own object of desire. And there’s no particular reason to think that on his forthcoming album, “FutureSex/LoveSounds,” due Sept. 12, he will continue the fight on behalf of “sexy” boys everywhere. (Though it seems his assault on the lowly space bar WillNotEnd/AnytimeSoon.)
Still, “SexyBack” feels, in its own small way, like a bold move, an unexpected twist on the thug-love duet. It’s not the kind of song likely to change the way the other boys sing. But it’s a song that makes you think about the things the other boys don’t - can’t - sing about.
*
All emphasis obviously mine.
I think RyRo was probably taken out of context in this review and it's also highly doubtful that RyRo's statement came BEFORE SexyBack was recorded, but it's an interesting take on the song. Or maybe I just love the idea that Justin is trying to teach all those other motherfucking male pop stars how to be sexy. So. Who's going to write that fic? Justin Timberlake's School of Sexy or something. YES. It would go something like this:
"No, you have to grab your crotch like SO, while sticking out your bottom lip and smirking a bit at the same time. No, not like that, you just look like you have parkinson's or something. God, you people don't know how to act sexy!"