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Pharrell Williams · S4 E3
Justified
Justin Timberlake leaves *NSYNC — Pharrell builds the bridge
2002 MTV Video Music Awards. Justin Timberlake performs a song no one has heard before, produced by two guys from Virginia Beach, and the boy-band era ends in real time.
Like I Love You (2002). The lead single from Justified. This is the song Justin Timberlake performed at the VMAs the night he went solo in public. The Neptunes gave pop's biggest face a beat that sounds nothing like *NSYNC.
Like I Love You -- Justin Timberlake (2002)
The Neptunes build Timberlake a beat that borrows from Michael Jackson's Off the Wall era: crispy hi-hats, a clipped guitar riff, and a groove that sits between funk and hip-hop. There are no lush pop arrangements, no layered harmonies, nothing that sounds like a boy band. Pharrell's ad-libs float through the mix, placing his fingerprint on the track without competing for attention.
The Reinvention
The *NSYNC hiatus begins in 2002, and everyone assumes Timberlake will make a solo album that sounds like *NSYNC minus four members. Instead, he calls The Neptunes. The same producers who just built the hardest street rap album of the year are now crafting the solo debut of pop's most famous face.
TAP TO REVEAL: Who else raps on the lead single of a Justin Timberlake album?
“Pharrell and Chad gave me permission to be something other than what people expected. They didn't hear a boy-band singer. They heard someone who could ride a beat.”
— Justin Timberlake, in interviews about making Justified (paraphrased)
Senorita -- Justin Timberlake
Another Neptunes-produced cut from Justified that shows the breadth of what Pharrell and Chad built for Timberlake. Where "Like I Love You" is spare and rhythmic, "Senorita" brings Latin guitar and a warmer, more melodic groove.
Justified: The Numbers
Which other major producer, also from Virginia, contributed heavily to Justified alongside The Neptunes?
Justin Timberlake has announced himself. But the song that will finish the job is still coming: when Pharrell plays him "Rock Your Body," both of them will know instantly that this is the one that changes everything.
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