Michael Jackson said no. The Neptunes, the production duo of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, had written a batch of tracks with the King of Pop in mind, and Jackson walked away from them. The songs instead landed with Justin Timberlake, the NSYNC singer who used them to launch a solo career. On November 5, 2002, Jive Records released Justified, the debut solo album by Justin Timberlake.
Six weeks to build a solo sound
Timberlake had a problem that felt more like an opportunity. NSYNC were on a break, and he had six weeks to write and record an album. He did not want to sound like a boy-band pop star taking a side trip. He wanted to be heard as a mature R&B artist, and the music he got from The Neptunes and producer Timbaland gave him that chance. The album's core sound was R&B, with dance-pop, funk and soul folded in.
The Neptunes took the assignment personally. Hugo said the goal was to recreate the feel of classic songs without the flashy, money-obsessed sound of new R&B. To find that feeling, Hugo, Williams and Timberlake sat in a car and listened to Earth, Wind & Fire albums, along with Michael Jackson's Off the Wall from 1979 and Thriller from 1982. The tracks Jackson had rejected were reshaped around Timberlake's voice, and the result sounded less like a hand-me-down than a declaration.
The tracks Jackson had rejected were reshaped around Timberlake's voice, and the result sounded less like a hand-me-down than a declaration.
Singles and chart performance
The first single, 'Like I Love You' with the rap duo Clipse, arrived on September 17, 2002. It reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and climbed to number 2 in the UK, a strong start for a singer stepping away from his group. Then came 'Cry Me a River' on November 25, 2002, a song built from beatboxing, synthesizers, Arabic riffs and Gregorian chants. It hit number 3 on the Hot 100 and number 2 in the UK and Australia. The album kept moving after that. 'Rock Your Body' arrived as the third single on March 17, 2003, and spent one week at the top of the Australian chart while reaching number 2 in the UK. Timberlake also promoted the record in person: on release day he performed songs on TRL and played a live set on Times Square.
'Cry Me a River' won the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 2004 and later landed on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. The album itself pulled in four Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year, and won Best Pop Vocal Album in 2003. By 2012, worldwide sales had passed 10 million copies.
Timberlake had spent years as one-fifth of a group, and Justified arrived as a chance to build a different reputation. Rolling Stone called him 'the new king of pop'. The six-week recording sprint had produced something NSYNC never could: a solo identity. The live show matched the album's ambition. On the Justified & Stripped tour, Timberlake performed with eight dancers and a band of fourteen musicians, including four backing vocalists, three trumpeters and a DJ. The tour ran from June 4 to September 2, 2003, with Christina Aguilera joining him, and grossed about 45 million dollars. The live show matched the album's ambition. On the Justified & Stripped tour, Timberlake performed with eight dancers and a band of fourteen musicians, including four backing vocalists, three trumpeters and a DJ.
What Jackson rejected became Timberlake's foundation. The Neptunes gave him songs that carried a classic R&B warmth, and he used them to separate himself from the boy-band past without losing the pop instincts that made him famous. Justified did not just launch a solo career; it reset what a former boy-band member could become, and it started with a pile of songs the biggest star in the world did not want.