Lanre Bakare 

Justin Timberlake: The 20/20 Experience Part 2 – review

The second half of Timberlake's double album is as ambitious as the first, but shines most when it sticks to proudly poppy R&B, writes Lanre Bakare
  
  

Justin Timberlake
Welcoming the autumn … Justin Timberlake Photograph: PR

Daft Punk may have ushered in the summer, but it's the second half of Justin Timberlake's 20/20 Experience that welcomes autumn. Part one gave us a pair of bona fide pop gems – Mirrors, and Suit and Tie – in one of 2013's most experimental pop albums. Part two is similarly ambitious. There's room for blues riffs and reggae (Only When I Walk Away), a predictably self-indulgent verse from Drake (Cabaret) and a vampire-referencing soca tune (True Blood), which isn't half as bad as that sounds. The middle three tracks (TKO, Take Back the Night and Murder) see Timberlake return to his staples: pop and Timbaland-crafted R&B. The fact that they are the strongest efforts here suggests that, despite his admirable ambition, perhaps he should focus on what he does best.

 

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