Justin Timberlake surprised fans on Friday night in his hometown of Memphis by performing his new single, "Selfish."
At the Orpheum Theater on January 19, the pop star unveiled the new song to fans, which he also shared on YouTube.
In the YouTube clip, Timberlake, who is married to Jessica Biel, seemingly sings about what it's like to be jealous in a relationship.
In the chorus, he sings, "Uh, so if I get jealous, I can’t help it / I want every bit of you, I guess I’m selfish / It’s bad for my mental but I can’t fight it / When you’rе out, lookin’ like you do / But you can’t hide it, no."
Not long after he dropped the song, Timberlake shared a trailer for what appears to be his sixth studio album, titled "Everything I Thought It Was.”
In the clip, takes a page from Wes Anderson's 2023 film "Asteroid City," you can see a model car pulling up to a desert gas station before the camera cuts to Timberlake staring off into the distance.
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“What do we have here?” says Benicio Del Toro, who narrates the video. “Ooh, that’s a nice car! Wait, it’s a model. Did that say JT? OK, that sunset is definitely not real. Oh, there’s Justin! Why won’t he turn around? What the f--- is he staring at?”
Soon after, a black screen with yellow words appears on the screen that says, “Justin Timberlake Presents: Everything I Thought It Was.”
Timberlake’s new music was quickly met with excitement from fans.
“This man’s voice is heaven!! Never disappoints!” one person commented.
Another said, “So smooth. Can’t wait to hear all of it.”
Timberlake’s upcoming album will be his first in five years. In 2018, he released “Man of the Woods,” his fifth studio album, which debuted at the top of the US Billboard 200 chart. The album featured breakout tracks “Filthy,” “Say Something,” and “Supplies."
The sixth album comes four months following the release of his partner Britney Spear’s memoir. Revelations from the memoir earned Timberlake both fresh and extended backlash for his behavior around her after their relationship.
The two pop stars met as children while appearing on Disney’s “The Mickey Mouse Club,” and years later, in 1999, they entered a three-year relationship that began when Timberlake was 18 and Spears was 17.
In her memoir, Spears disclosed that the two terminated a pregnancy. She also reflected on the feelings of exploitation and shame she experienced after their relationship ended. Soon after their breakup, Timberlake released the music video for his 2002 single “Cry Me a River” for his debut album “Justified.”
In her memoir, Spears claimed that Timberlake had hired her acting double to play a woman who appeared to be unfaithful in the “Cry Me a River” music video.
“May I just say that on his explosive album and in all the press that surrounded it, Justin neglected to mention the several times he’d cheated on me?” her memoir reads. “There’s always been more leeway in Hollywood for men than for women. And I see how men are encouraged to talk trash about women in order to become famous and powerful. But I was shattered. The thought of my betraying him gave the album more angst, gave it a purpose: s----talking an unfaithful woman.”
Two years prior to the release of Spears’s memoir, Timberlake issued an apology to her for behavior that he admitted impacted her career. The apology came in response to criticism he received when the documentary, “Framing Britney Spears" highlighted his public reaction to his breakup with Spears.
“I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right,” he said in a statement at the time. “I understand that I fell short in these moments and in many others and benefited from a system that condones misogyny...”
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