Justin Timberlake: d0uchebag, Prince beef, lawsuits & longevity.

Justin Timberlake has a rocky public reputation. Although industry professionals love him, the public falls in and out of love with him every day. And it all started once he left one of the most famous boy bands in history. The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was Disney's version of SNL for kids that consisted of skits and live performances. Having a Disney connection, as we know, is a pipeline for career success. Whether in acting or singing, you have Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling, and Jay-Z Shazay were all able to launch their careers once they were done with Disney. Christina and Britney becoming pop sensations and Justin becoming a music heartthrob. To the point there were strong comparisons with the media comparing him to THE Michael Jackson. Both singers got their start in show business at a young age and were part of famous boy bands while being the standout star. But first, here's a word from today's sponsor. 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In NSYNC, it was always obvious who the lead singer of the group was, even though a lot of fans believe his ex-co-star and bandmate Jay-Z had the most vocal talent. Okay, and now I'm left with all this pain, I've only got myself to blame, no. Why didn't I know how much I love you, baby? Why couldn't I show it if I had the chance? Oh, crazy, crazy, crazy. They did share the lead vocals, but it was very apparent that the main focus of the group was strictly around Justin. As you can see from the Bye Bye Bye video, where all the bandmates are all dressed in black while Justin is rocking a bright red t-shirt. But musically, Justin played a heavy hand in how the band's songs were put together, especially for their second studio album, Celebrity. Justin stops being just the lead singer and starts stepping into the behind-the-scenes role. On Celebrity, Justin is credited as the co-writer on the majority of the album's tracks, which already separates this project from the group's first album, which had huge writers like Max Martin. Celebrity leans more into the R&B, funk, and urban influences, moving away from the bubble gum sound that defined early NSYNC. Songs Like Gone was written by Justin who actually wrote it for Michael Jackson, but he passed on it. If you look back, certain songs on the album felt less like traditional boy band records and more like prototypes for Justin's eventual solo career. During this period, Justin was actively studying songwriting and production and positioning himself as more than just a performer. He was also the reason the album had contributions from the Neptunes, who produced Girlfriend. This collaboration is significant because Pharrell and Chad Hugo are still to this day sound-defining producers, and Justin would later build his solo career with them. Justin shared the lead vocals with Jay-Z, but NSYNC's label felt like Justin was more marketable due to his cute boyish face, but it was really his relationship with Britney that helped him stand out from the group. Britney and Justin had dating rumors from as early as 1999, right when the group really started blowing up. She joined NSYNC as the opening act for the second leg of their NSYNC tour, and ahead of the release of her debut album Baby One More Time. It was a perfect timing for Justin and Britney. Britney, from her debut single Baby One More Time, was an instantaneous star, something that will never be duplicated again. From that moment, everything Britney touched became a chart-topper bestseller. She became the ideal teen pop sensation. As we know, they met on Mickey Mouse when they were just 11 and were actually each other's first kiss, so the fact that they had history, it made the younger fans feel like they were a match made in heaven, fueling the cult following they had. So from the fans' POV and the label's POV, Justin was the face of NSYNC because his personal life brought more attention to the group. He actually became more iconic without the group due to his red carpet appearances with Britney. These photos scream early 2000s, but you look at it and you think of Justin Timberlake as the artist, not the member of NSYNC. During the group's peak from 1999 through 2002, they were one of the highest selling groups in the world. In 2000, NSYNC released the album No Strings Attached, which sold approximately 2.4 million copies its first week, setting the first week's sell record at the time. The album went on to sell over 11 million copies in the U.S. and was certified Diamond. The group followed with Celebrity in 2001. NSYNC maintained heavy rotation on radio and music television throughout the early 2000s, including consistent appearances on MTV's TRL and their videos frequently debuted at number one and remained on the countdown. Their tours during this period was among the highest grossing tours globally, selling out arenas and stadiums across North America, Europe, and Asia. By the early 2000s, NSYNC had sold over 70 million records worldwide. Each member was widely recognizable, but because Justin was the most popular from the group, there were talks about him leaving NSYNC early. Did you ever go to a Diddy party? No, I never had time to go to a Diddy party. I forgot he had opened up in our last tour until all this kind of came about. But it's kind of horrible. But I never kind of liked him because the very last show, I'll say this, in Orlando, I overheard him talking to Justin being like, you need to drop these effers. You need to go solo. You need to drop these. And I was like, I don't like you anymore, Diddy. I'm like, at my own show? What the hell? There were a lot of people in Justin's ear talking about his star power and boosting his ego. There was a period where he created a sense of arrogance for Justin. In December 2000, Justin was named in a civil lawsuit filed by a then 15-year-old girl in St. Louis. According to the complaint, the alleged incident took place on November 19, 2000. Following a concert, the fan along with other fans were waiting in the lobby of the Chase Park Plaza Hotel, where the band was staying. The suit claimed that while the other members of NSYNC briefly interacted with the fans, Justin did not. The fan allegedly shouted, I like JC better anyways, he's cuter. According to the report, a security guard then approached her, identified her as the person who made the comment, and instructed her to come up with him, where she was taken upstairs without being allowed to notify her mother. Once she was upstairs, Justin confronted her, backing her against a wall, and verbally berated her over the comment. Justin continued yelling at the minor until interrupted by a family friend, who had been allowed upstairs after the fan's mother was denied access by security. The lawsuit charged Justin with false imprisonment of a minor and intentional infliction of emotional distress. A security guard was separately charged with assault and battery. The lawsuit didn't result in criminal charges and the case was later dismissed. This story was buried because if you google it, there's only a few articles written about it, which is surprising considering how popular they were, but their PR team was working extra hard to make sure this gets buried. It didn't hinder Justin's career at all, his momentum was strong. There were also comparisons to Michael Jackson, fame from the relationship with Britney, he was networking with industry hit makers, and everyone already foreseeing what was about to take place with Justin's career. In Britney Spears' memoir, The Woman in Me, Britney describes herself as deeply infatuated with Justin. His family became her family, so she fell madly in love with him thinking that they were meant to be together. They shared a home in Orlando and saw each other two weeks at a time due to their busy schedules. In her book, she writes that during the relationship, she was fully aware of the instances in which Justin cheated on her. She states that she chose not to confront him, explaining that her feelings for him were strong and she did not want to jeopardize the relationship. She was so frustrated that the tabloids repeatedly reminded her of his infidelities, including paparazzi photos showing Justin in a car with a member of the group of All Saints. She did admit that she strayed once herself, with her choreographer Wade Robinson, who had worked with her and Justin. It happened one night when they went out, danced together, and kissed. She admitted this situation to Justin, and his reaction was pretty unfazed, as she said that they talked about it and stayed together. But considering he was already cheating, I'm sure he probably understood or just didn't really care. Eventually, Britney became pregnant during this relationship. Justin was adamant about not wanting to be a father so young, and Britney agreed. She underwent an abortion at home and describes the moment as the most traumatizing experience of her life. One of the main issues people have with Justin today is his treatment of Britney in the media. Even back in the early 2000s, before the media went full force in scrutinizing Britney later in her career, her virginity, like many young girls in Hollywood, was a huge topic, which she openly discussed but later admitted that it was one of her biggest regrets. You hope that you'll remain a virgin until you get married. Yeah, my mom always told me once you have sex with a guy that, you know, you're with or whatever, it's like so many more emotions are involved and everything gets, like, you know, crazy and twisted. That's what Britney told me last August. Nine months later, Us Weekly's Todd Gold posed the same question, and she said, quote, I want to wait to have sex until I'm married. I do. I want to wait. I'm just wondering how you feel about all the constant speculation about your virginity and whether you are a virgin. I really wish I would have never said anything to begin with, because I'm kind of stuck in this little place where people are always asking me, but, um, you know, that's just something that's part of growing up, and that's just something that we all have to deal with, so. Have there been any changes on that point? That's a personal question. Obviously, no one was really pressed about Justin being a virgin, or they were just curious on whether he was the one that took a virginity, but the problem is that he played into it often in the media. Justin Timberlake is in the house, and I just want to ask you one question. Did you f*** Britney Spears? Yes or no? Oh, man. Come on, man. Okay, I did it. This was a big deal, because once Justin decided that he was going to go solo and began working on his album, Justified, Britney said that that's when Justin started acting cold towards her. Eventually, not long after, he broke up with her when she was filming her Overprotected video via text. She said she knew he was going to start using their relationship to boost his debut album. What Justin did was insinuate that Britney was the one cheating on him, and that's why they broke up, even though it was really the other way around. Britney never denied it in the media, and basically let Justin have his moment, making Justified a successful debut album with the hit song Cry Me a River. The video dealt with themes of infidelity, featuring a Britney lookalike. In her memoir, Britney said that in the news, the media, she was described as a harlot who'd broken the heart of America's Golden Boy. The truth was that I was comatose in Louisiana, and he was happily running around Hollywood. She recalls being booed everywhere she went, from clubs to Lakers games, where the whole arena booed her. She dealt with the public shaming, feeling overwhelmed because Justin was the one who continuously cheated on her. And honestly, she should've fought back. Britney should've spoken up. She should've defended herself instead of taking the backlash. Justified, with the help of the Neptunes, had strong MJ influences, considering the majority of the songs and the beats were created for MJ himself. While Justin's album did great, it left the rest of the band in the dark. After NSYNC wrapped its 2002 tour, the group agreed to take a break so Justin could focus on the album. At the time, the pause was presented as temporary. The rest of the group was supportive of Justin exploring a solo project. The plan was to come back together after 6 months to begin working on new music. However, once Justin released Justified, the album's commercial success was just too big to ignore. Given the level of success Justified was experiencing, Justin did not realistically have the option to step away from that momentum. Leaving the group frustrated with how the transition was handled, particularly the lack of clear communication and closure. While the group was at a standstill, Justin was still getting more opportunities. He was offered a chance to perform with his idol, Janet Jackson. What was supposed to be a family-friendly, sexy performance turned into one of the most memorable moments in pop history. This was a highly anticipated performance. Around the time, Janet was considered a trend-setting pop star. Like her brother, she was an amazing performer with revolutionary albums. So her performance was a huge deal. There was a lot of whispers about what was in store for that night. The rumors were that Jessica Simpson, Diddy, Nelly, Kid Rock would appear as guest performers. But a dancer unexpectedly led the charge to the backlash after. A quote from one of Janet's choreographers teased that there are some shocking moments to come from the performance. What that meant at the time, nobody knew. Until the performance where the world was indeed shocked. At first, the halftime show was supposed to be a cheeky little gimmick. A tearaway skirt moment. But the NFL, MTV, and CBS all voted against it. Wanting to play it safe, fast forward to game day, things changed. A different reveal was added in. Janet herself later explained that the moment just went wrong. Where things truly went wrong was the stage design was supposed to protect her. The moment Justin ripped the top, the lights were meant to cut to black, and Janet was supposed to clutch her chest, fireworks were supposed to go off, and we were going to have a moment. A positive moment, not the negativity that came after. Instead, MTV left the lights on and the camera caught it. There's also a lot of speculation that Justin wanted to have his own little pop culture moment that was bigger than the moment that Britney had with Madonna. Well, you could say it sure was a huge moment, just for all the wrong reasons. And is one of the reasons that people kind of have a bad taste in their mouths about Justin. The executives at MTV were congratulating each other. The show had gone off without a hitch. Or so they thought. That moment was so quick, it was just actually easy to miss. But when the phones started buzzing, first call, then another, and then a flood of calls asking, did you see it? Did you see that? And then reporters were demanding answers, and the mood shifted instantly. Over at CBS, executives were livid. Not only had millions of viewers just witnessed something that was not supposed to happen, but CBS was also suspicious. After all, MTV had teased in its press release that the halftime show would include shocking moments. So to them, this did not look like a mistake. What started off as a celebration turned into a full-blown crisis mode. Within minutes, the infamous moment had gone from a wardrobe malfunction to the center of one of the biggest broadcasting controversies of all time. The FCC slapped Viacom with a record fine up to $500,000, the highest ever for a single broadcast at that time. Every one of Viacom's 20 TV stations that aired the halftime show was forced to pay the maximum penalty. Which does seem excessive, considering the nipple wasn't even actually shown. What was shown was a titty. Yes, but the nipple was covered by pasty. If Lil' Kim did it with no backlash or fines on a national syndicated stage, then Janet shouldn't have gotten so much heat. Years later, Janet's stylist, Wayne, did an interview where he called Janet's outfit the most functioning wardrobe in history when asked if it was really a malfunction. Janet was the one to tell Justin to stay low and stay quiet. In a 2018 conversation with brother Randy, featured in Janet's four-hour Lifetime at A&E documentary, she revealed she had advised Justin to stay silent at the time because she was already bearing the brunt of the backlash. We talked once. And he said, you know, I don't know if I should come out and make a statement and this and that or say something. I'd say, have something to say. And I said, listen, I don't want any drama for you. They're aiming all of this at me. So I said, just I said, if I were you, I wouldn't say anything. So when Justin did speak out, a lot of people didn't like his response because they felt like it was self-serving. Inside the Janet Jackson Super Bowl controversy, Janet's partner, Justin Timberlake, has been silent about the embarrassing stunt until now. Tonight, for the first time, Justin speaks out with a candid account of how he was surprised and betrayed. It didn't fly in to Houston until the day of the Super Bowl. Got a call prior to the show from Janet, her choreographer, saying that they wanted to do a costume reveal. Now, I was under the impression that what was going to be revealed in the costume reveal was a red brassiere, a bustier. Forgive me. And, you know, got in, didn't really have time to rehearse it, got to the field, went on stage, was in the moment. And when what happened happened, I mean, I was completely shocked and appalled. And all I could say was, oh, my God, oh, my God. You know, I immediately, I looked at her. They brought a towel up onto the stage. I immediately covered her up. I mean, I was completely embarrassed and just walked off the stage as quick as I could. And later that night, you know, it was informed that they wanted me to make a statement about it. And so I did. At the time, I explained what I knew. And now it's turned into an unfortunate, incredibly huge situation. Justin was emphatic the idea was not his. Especially coming off such a great year. I mean, 2003 was remarkable for me. And I felt like I made a lot of steps with my music and I did a lot of good things. And like I said, I don't want to be involved in a stunt. That's not my style. You know, I don't have any reason to do this. I'm frustrated. I'm frustrated at the whole situation. I'm frustrated that my character is being questioned. I don't feel like I need publicity like this. And I wouldn't want to be involved with a stunt, especially something of this magnitude. And let me just get something off my chest. You know, I've been on tour for the past three months. I got a call from my manager to do the Super Bowl. That they were interested in me doing the Super Bowl. And initially turned it down. Got a call from Janet and decided to do it. Found out a way to work the performance into one musically. I.e. her song going into mine. Now I wasn't able to be at a lot of the rehearsals. I flew in from Spain the last day. Justin was so steamed he came back after the interview was finished to say this. The only other thing that I can say is that I do understand. I do understand how unfortunate this is. I do understand that there were a lot of people that were completely offended by what happened. Including my own family. And I think that's probably the part that's frustrating the most for me. And it's completely, completely, completely regrettable. Justin's career only climbed higher. He agreed to issue an on-air apology. Then not only showed up to the Grammys, but performed and walked away with two awards. Where he apologized again for the performance. I know it's been a rough week on everybody. And what occurred was unintentional. Completely regrettable. And I apologize if you guys are offended. The contrast was clear. Janet faced blacklisting while Justin walked away untouched. What left a bad taste in Janet's fanbase and the black community's mouths about the type of person Justin is. He has spoken out about the situation more than once. That the Super Bowl incident was one of the bigger mistakes, I think was the word you used. The Super Bowl incident. You kind of have to have a sense of humor about all of this. Because like you said, everybody takes this so seriously. It's not that serious. The Middle East is your situation. That's serious. And each time people have felt like he could have just said more. He could have taken up for Janet more. He could have used his privilege to really take some heat off of Janet. After the fiasco died down, Justin was able to pivot into the big screen taking acting and voiceover roles. Justin released his second studio album, Future Sex Love Sounds in 2006. Which debuted at number one. And quite as kept, this album was a huge jump from his first album. Even considered better than his first. The album is insane. In the making of this video, I've actually been listening to Justin for a few months. And I was unfamiliar with his game. With the help of Timbaland and Justin being influenced with the sound of black music, he was able to create an amazing album. Sexy Back was an instant hit on the charts and was completely different than what Justin fans were used to. But not without issues and a little bit of tension. Justin and Prince had some issues following an offhand comment Prince made at the Emmy Awards. Prince said, For whoever is claiming that they're bringing Sexy Back, Sexy never left. The comment was widely interpreted as shade, of course. Justin took the bait. While presenting the award for best original song at the Golden Globes, Justin accepted the award on Prince's behalf for the song of the heart from Happy Feet. During the acceptance speech, Justin crouched below the microphone and delivered the remarks in a manner that many viewers interpreted as mocking Prince's height and persona. The situation escalated later that year with the release of Give It To Me, a track by Timbaland featuring Justin and Nelly Furtado. The song was described as one of pop's music's first diss tracks, each artist using their verse to address separate industry disputes. When you're sitting on the top, it's hard to hear you from way up here. I saw you trying to act cute on TV, just let me clear the air. We missed you from the charts last week, damn, that's right, you wasn't there. If Sexy never left, then why is everybody on my dick? Don't hate on me just because you didn't come up with it. Which Justin did by talking about Prince. Regardless of the drama, this album is fire. Specifically Summer Love and What Goes Around Comes Around. What makes Justin's music amazing is his ability to switch up flows and with the help of Timbaland, they made some magic in that studio. Plus, Justin likes to make long songs, like 6, 7, 8 minutes. Always a blessing to my ears, I will take a long song over a 2 minute song any day. At the 2007 Grammy Awards, Ludacris won his first solo Grammy for Best Rap Album. After the win, he was celebrating backstage with excitement. During the celebration, a voice from the other side of the curtain shouted, shut the F up. Ludacris was just like, hold on, pulled the curtain back and discovered that it was Justin. Cause I was so passionate, after I got that award, I went backstage and at this time, they had all the artists separated by curtains, so my fuckers weren't in specific rooms. I say that to say, I get back and I'm like, yeah, **** yeah, I made it, I did it, I won, I literally set out this album to get a Grammy and I got it. And all of a sudden I hear this voice from the other room on the other side of the curtain and the ************'s like, shut the **** up man, some of us didn't win any goddamn Grammy's today. I'm like, who the **** is that? I pulled the curtain back, this nigga Justin Timberlake is on the other side of that ************. That nigga said, shut the **** up, some of us didn't win any goddamn Grammy's this year. What the ****? Despite the comment, Justin won two awards that night for Sexy Back and My Love. Justin is known for taking long hiatuses in music. He likes to take his time with albums and likes to enjoy his life and dabble in other hobbies, specifically acting, featuring in huge Hollywood movies like The Social Network, Friends with Benefits, and Bad Teacher with his ex Cameron Diaz. After six years, he dropped the 2020 Experience. One of the biggest songs on that album was Suit and Tie. As long as I got my suit and tie, I'ma leave it all on the floor tonight. Before that collaboration with Jay, Justin had some ill feelings for Jay because Jay wasn't able to do a feature for his album Future Sex Love Sounds. Jay apparently told Justin he'll do a feature for him next year. But Justin isn't the type to release an album every year, so he felt offended that Jay put him on the back burner. These feelings didn't last and who would really turn down a Jay feature? Suit and Tie became a top three hit, but it wasn't bigger than Mirrors, which debuted at number two and number one in the UK. The 2020 Experience became the best-selling album of 2013 and sold over 2.4 million copies. Justin was having an amazing year. He had collaborated with Beyonce and Jay-Z and continued to win Grammys for 2020 Experience and his feature with Jay. During this time, he got married to his on-and-off girlfriend, fellow actress Jessica Biel. But the pairing was short of fabulous. Before they got married, there were a lot of rumors that Justin was cheating on Jessica like he did his past girlfriends, Brittany and Cameron. In New Orleans, during a break from filming the football drama Palmer, Justin was photographed late at night at a bar with his co-star, Alicia Wainwright. Justin had been drinking and was supposedly unsteady on his feet. They were photographed holding hands with Alicia resting Justin's hand on her leg and interacting really closely, all while Jessica was at home pregnant with their second child. Earlier that week, Justin had also been photographed wearing his wedding ring, but took it off during the outing with Alicia. So Justin had to issue a public statement apologizing, describing his actions as a strong lapse in judgment. As of today, his marriage with Jessica is on the rocks, especially after Justin's DWI arrest in New York. Justin was arrested in Long Island after police pulled him over for swerving and failing to obey a stop sign. According to the arrest report, the officer noted that Justin had bloodshot, He told authorities that he had consumed only one drink. He refused a breathalyzer test, which under New York law results in an automatic license suspension. Many of you have probably been covering me for a lot of my life. And as you may know, I try to hold myself to a very high standard for myself. And this was not that. This was not that. I found myself in a position where I could have made a different decision. But I've had some time to reflect on that. And I also understand by the fact that all of you are here that I have a platform, you have a platform, we share that platform. And so what I'd like to say to everyone watching and listening, even if you've had one drink, don't get behind the wheel of a car. He also had a performance where he looked coked out, like his eyes were bulging out of his head and his fans were speculating that Justin was under the influence. But if you watch the video, he was under the influence. When Man of the Woods was released in 2018, the reception was mixed. Some tracks such as Montana and Higher Higher were great, but the album as a whole struggled to establish a clear sonic direction. Songs like Supplies, Flannel, and Hard Stuff had a different genre influence that we're used to from Justin. This time he had more country, pop, and hip-hop influences that many listeners found inconsistent rather than cohesive. The album was criticized for lacking the polished, urban pop sound that defined Justin's earlier releases. But we as fans have to realize that Justin is in a different stage in his career. His 2000s influence in his 20s is not going to be the same in his 40s. For his latest release, Everything I Thought It Was, faced a different set of challenges. Justin dealt with issues from Britney's memoir where she exposed their relationship struggles, including how he broke up with her, her abortion, and his influences in hip-hop, meaning him adopting black sense with certain artists, which caused fans to go back and look at Justin's early career to see what Britney was really talking about. He had to do damage control because at this point, Justin to the media looks like an ain't ---- partner, a terrible boyfriend and husband due to his past scandals. Justin had one of the best three album runs in history. It is insane and it's undeniable. Justin, quite as kept, had a great career because it wasn't until now that he's feeling the repercussions for how things went on in his career from decades ago. But it's not enough to really derail his career. Just a few negative opinions about him. His last two albums may not have been everything we wanted from him as an artist, but his ear for music is amazing. It may not be justified amazing or future sex love sounds amazing, but it damn sure is not bad. And his public perception is just him being a douchebag. Other than that, he is still loved and very much respected in music. But y'all let me know what you think about Justin's career down below and make sure you comment, like, and subscribe. Toodles.