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Pharrell Williams · S4 E4
Rock Your Body
The beat that turned a boy-band singer into a superstar
Early 2003. "Rock Your Body" hits radio and does something no Neptunes beat has done before: it makes every club in America and every pop station on the dial play the same song at the same time.
Rock Your Body (2003). The second Neptunes single from Justified. Where "Like I Love You" announced Justin Timberlake, this one finished the job. Pop and clubs claimed it simultaneously.
Rock Your Body -- Justin Timberlake (2003)
The beat opens with a synthetic string hit and a four-on-the-floor kick drum that would be at home on a European dance floor. Then The Neptunes layer in a chopped falsetto vocal sample that gives the track its hypnotic identity. The chorus is built for arenas and the groove is built for clubs, which is why both claimed it. It peaked at #5 on the Hot 100 and confirmed Timberlake was not just credible, but a genuine pop star.
The Completion
With "Rock Your Body," The Neptunes complete the transformation they started with "Like I Love You." Justin Timberlake is no longer an ex-boy-band singer trying to prove himself. He is the biggest male pop star in the world, and the production team that got him there built Grindin' for The Clipse twelve months earlier.
TAP TO REVEAL: What moment made "Rock Your Body" the most talked-about song on the planet?
“I remember Pharrell playing the beat and I started moving immediately. I didn't need to hear it twice. That was the record.”
— Justin Timberlake, in interviews about Rock Your Body (paraphrased)
Rock Your Body: The File
Frontin' -- Pharrell ft. Jay-Z
While Justin Timberlake becomes a superstar with Neptunes beats, Pharrell steps in front of the microphone himself. Released in summer 2003, "Frontin'" is smooth, romantic, and completely unlike anything The Neptunes had produced for anyone else. It peaked at #5 on the Hot 100.
Which other Neptunes-produced single from Justified preceded "Rock Your Body" as JT's debut solo release?
The Neptunes are reshaping pop, rap, and everything in between, all at once. Meanwhile, a beat they gave to a rapper from St. Louis has already spent seven weeks at number one, and its name is "Hot in Herre."
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