The 333 Best Pop Songs of the 2000s: #169

#169: "What Goes Around...Comes Around" (2006) - Justin Timberlake

More than a little late with today's pick, for last night I spent about six hours trading blows with my computer. About 1:30 in the morning, I was still unable to successfully log onto the internet without the vicious and rabid faux-virus alerts attacking me left and right, so I finally conceded the match. This afternoon, after work, the computer and I held a re-match, and after several lengthy rounds in which both of us scored some vicious hits, I finally, about six o'clock, scored the knock-out punch, ridding myself of the malacious malware that had refused to go away, insistant as it was to lodge itself in my computer and my life without ever letting go.

Justin Timberlake's #1 single "What Goes Around...." jabs and parries with the same dogged stubborness as that of the malware I finally knocked out of my computer, the song's electrobeat (whose sythesized hi-hat sounds almost identical to the hi-hat sound in Salt N' Pepa's "Push It") pulsing and rolling, without any of those end-of-the-chorus halts that, for me, just ruined what was otherwise a great song in Timberlake's first solo hit "Cry Me a River." Those start-and-stop beats are also one of the reasons I hated having to hear 'N Sync, especially on "Bye, Bye, Bye."

Now, I know 'N Sync had its critical defenders, but I just couldn't stomach the product.* Timberlake's vocals in the group...well, from all the shinola the producers (yeah, I could probably find out who they were, but I'm not wasting any more time on that group than I have to), layered on top of their songs--which were all but unavoidable on radio or television--I couldn't tell one voice from another. When I heard he'd be launching a solo career at the beginning of the new millenium, I wondered how many fans this new David Cassidy would be able to carry with him into a new generation.

I heard "Cry Me a River," and--for reasons stated above--I didn't like it. It annoyed the stew out of me; however, this time around, I could discern what some of the fuss was about: Timberlake could sang. Now, he only needed Timbaland (who produced Timberlake's first record) to provide him with a genuine groove. On "What Goes Around...." he does so.

The song's opening lick--played on a oud, though at first I thought it was a sitar--the funky little blues squiggle, open things up exotically, and when the beat comes in, the exotic twists into the erotic, and the strings come in, and they perpetuate the erotica, giving the song a classy sound, without taking away any of the sensuality. Then, during the verses, the oud gives way to an electric guitar, played with some slight reverberation, and--even before Timberlake begins singing--his music has evolved from trendy juvenalia into classic mature R&B, without losing any edge, remaining fresh throughout.

Timberland does start singing though, and his vocals here are even better than they were on "Cry Me a River." He's both smoother and more instinctive, his interjective "uhh"s and "hey"s masterfully timed. His forays into falsetto are better here, too, as he injects them with more energy and more soul, his iambic rhythms more pronounced. He's utterly his own being on this song, as what he brings to the song this time is (at the very least) equal to what his producer brings, not the servant of the product. Or a product. Timberlake and Timbaland, here, have created a modern-day Philly Soul classic, one that'll last a thousand years, that'll be played in wedding receptions and class reunions for eons to come because, if for any one reason, Timberlake has struck a groove that just won't let go. I warn, though, that if you play the track on your computer, you may never be able to get it off. Just go ahead and throw in the towel.

NOTES

*Mind you, now, that this critique is not coming from a man who hates on boy bands. In fact, I loved at least one of The Backstreet Boys' songs, and I also think Hanson is criminally underrated. I don't hate the game; I just hate individual playas of the game.