Justin Timberlake, Selfish | Song Review 🎵

Blue-eyed pop superstar Justin Timberlake returns with “Selfish,” the promo single from his long-awaited, sixth studio album, Everything I Thought It Was.

When Grammy-winning pop musician Justin Timberlake takes hiatuses, the hiatuses are lengthy – an understatement.  Prior to the announcement of his sixth studio album, Everything I Thought It Was (arriving March 15, 2024), the last brand-new JT album arrived in 2018: Man of the Woods.  In advance of the project, Timberlake unveiled the 15^th track as the promo single, “Selfish”. “Selfish,” a nearly four-minute track, was written by Timberlake, Amy Allen, Theron Thomas, Louis Bell, and Cirkut.  He produced the record alongside Bell and Cirkut as well.

All in all, “Selfish” features warm production work. The song never comes close to being overproduced – it never too much, always tasteful.  A fabulous groove anchors.  Regarding form, “Selfish” is straightforward – easily accessible with a pattern of verse / pre-chorus / chorus / post-chorus, and a contrasting bridge section (“Owner of my heart, tattooed your mark / There for the whole world to see / You’re the owner of my heart and all my scars…”). Love drives the narrative – being selfish for that person you utterly adore. The melodies are tuneful, especially the chorus:

“So if I get jealous, I can’t help it

I want every bit of you, I guess I’m selfish

It’s bad for my mental, but I can’t fight it, when

You’re out lookin’ like you do, but you can’t hid it, no…”

As to be expected, Justin Timberlake sings with a beautiful tone, delivering marvelous vocals at the ripe young age of 43. All in all, “Selfish” is an enjoyable and respectable single, but nothing brand-new or innovative.  Sort of hard to believe Justin is middle aged, isn’t it?

Justin Timberlake • Everything I Thought It Was • RCA • 2024

[📷: Brent Faulkner/The Musical Hype; RCA; Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Królestwo Nauki, OpenClipart-Vectors, Pete Linforth, Tumisu from Pixabay]