Justin Timberlake convinced men refuse to share emotions that leave ‘vulnerable’

25 January 2024

Justin Timberlake thinks men don’t express emotions that leave them feeling vulnerable.

Justin Timberlake thinks men don’t express emotions that leave them feeling vulnerable

The ‘SexyBack’ singer, 42, made the admission while discussing his new single ‘Selfish’, which he says was inspired by the late Beatle John Lennon’s ‘Jealous Guy’, which was about his envious streak that would often result in turmoil between him and his wife Yoko Ono.

Justin, who has been married to actress Jessica Biel, 41, since 2012, told Zane Lowe on the DJ’s Apple Music 1 show about the inspiration for the track, from his upcoming sixth studio album ‘Everything I Thought It Was’: “That's the beauty about music... it’s such a vessel within itself to help us, as humans, express ourselves.

“Even if you didn’t write it, you find that relation to that emotion, which led me to the first single.

“And in writing that song, the moment that it happened was two in the morning, but I had just... a friend of mine, who's also my music director, who’s probably a friend of the whole family over there, Adam Blackstone, he was doing these small jazz nights at a place in LA.

“And he invited me to come down and he said, ‘Hey, man.’

“He was like, ‘You want to come up and sing something?’ And I randomly threw out, ‘Oh, yeah, let’s do Donny Hathaway’s cover of ‘Jealous Guy’ by Lennon.

“And by the way, if you're a Gen-Zer right now, you have no idea who I'm talking about.”

Justin went on about the meaning behind ‘Imagine’ songwriter John’s track: “So we were talking about the song itself and just breaking down the idea that you just don’t hear that from men often, that they would express an emotion that makes them vulnerable.

“And then growing up the way I grew up, you’re taught not to do that. But I don’t know, it just felt like a really honest song.

“The lyrics just started to come out honestly. And when I listened to the whole album, I felt like it’s probably, of all the songs on the album, production-wise, probably the most straightforward, and I don’t want to say simple because it’s complex within its simplicity to me.”

Justin also told Zane, 50, how he had to curate his forthcoming record, which is out in March, down to 18 from the 100 songs he had recorded for the album.