Justin Timberlake: Justified (2LP) [JIVE RECORDS]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set gives Justified room to breathe across four sides. The album won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album, topped the UK chart and has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.

This edition

• 2LP set

About the album

Boy band hiatuses usually produce a cookbook or a reality show. Justin Timberlake's produced Justified, written and recorded in about six weeks while NSYNC took a break, and it swapped bubblegum for the slinky R&B and funk he'd grown up loving.

He went to the best in the business. The Neptunes handle most of the record, giving "Like I Love You" (with Clipse), "Señorita" and "Rock Your Body" their crisp, rubbery grooves, while Timbaland brings the brooding drama of "Cry Me a River," with its rainstorm beatbox and choir, and the swagger of "(Oh No) What You Got." Janet Jackson drops in on "(And She Said) Take Me Now," Bubba Sparxxx turns up on the same track, and "Last Night" and "Still on My Brain" lean into old-school soul balladry.

"Cry Me a River" and "Rock Your Body" both went top five in the US, and the album earned four Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year. He took it on the road with Christina Aguilera on the Justified & Stripped Tour. Not bad for six weeks' work, which is roughly how long it takes us to alphabetize the T section.

Also at Kops: more Justin Timberlake on vinyl · browse Pop

Tracklist

Listen

On Jive, a reissue of the 2002 album.