Timbaland Says ‘Fun’ Justin Timberlake Is Back on Upcoming ‘Bob-Your-Head’ Album

After flying his flannel and dipping into some country funk vibes on 2018’s Man of the Woods, Justin Timberlake is ready to dance, dance, dance on his next album. Longtime pal and producer Timbaland recently spoke to Variety about the just-wrapped sessions for JT’s sixth solo album.

Last week, Tim said he’d just left the studio where he and Timberlake were finishing things up and he said “everything sounds great. Now it’s really on him how he plans to wrap it up and how and when he envisions it to come out. With an artist of his caliber, everything has to be aligned, but it’s done and it’s coming.”

At press time a spokesperson for Timberlake had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on the status of his next album.

The great news according to Timbaland is that the as-yet-untitled collection is a definitive return to “fun Justin.” The producer who has worked on some of JT’s most iconic tracks said the collection hearkens back to Justin’s beloved 2006 FutureSex/LoveSounds album, which featured the hits “SexyBack,” “My Love,” “What Goes Around… Comes Around” and “Summer Love.”

“But nothing too heavy, just giving you what you’d expect from us: not overthought, the lyrics are not so deep, it’s bob-your-head, dance-to-it music,” Timbaland said. “Music is a young sport, and you have to keep it fun — fun and young. We’ve both seen a lot of life, but you can’t overthink it because of that, you have to bring out the 13-year-old, 18-year-old again, you know? If not, you can get into the old-fogey stage real quick.[Laughs] That’s just the world we live in.”

He said the pair took them time on this one in order to make sure they were being “authentic and true to the art,” so when songs came up that were “too complicated” they picked tracks that were more along the lines of “‘FutureSex’ part two.”

As for the mixed response to Man of the Woods — which folded in folksy Americana vibes on songs such as the rural funk “Supplies” and country pop “Say Something” with country singer Chris Stapleton — Timbaland said the LP was part of a “statement” that JT wanted to make at the time. “When artists have a personal things that they want to do, I kind of back myself away. Because if I have a personal thing that I’m trying to get across, I have to at least try to get it out and deal with whatever happens from that point,” he said.

So as Justin’s friend, Tim said he tried to help make the best album they could together, teaming with another frequent sonic associate, Pharrell, to help execute the singer’s vision for the project. “I guess it’s kind of an autobiography album, ‘I’m from Memphis, I came from nothing, this is how I used to live my life in the South,'” he said of the album’s theme.

Understanding that without risk there is no reward, Tim said after Justin got what he needed to off his chest, “now were’ back to the essence.” At press time a title and release date for Timberlake’s sixth album have not been announced.