Fans were expecting a country album when Justin Timberlake announced that the title of his new LP was “Man of the Woods” and teaser trailer for the album promised a sound that would invoke images of “mountains, trees, campfires — like wild west, like now.” “Filthy,”the first single from the upcoming album, debuted at midnight and it is anything but country.
In the music video for “Filthy,” Timberlake channels his inner Steve Jobs and gives a tech presentation at a Pan-Asian Deep Learning Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in the year 2028 with dancing robots. The music video was directed by Mark Romanek, who worked with Timberlake on 2016’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling!”
The funky, electronic, Prince-esque new song is full of grimy synths. Timberlake co-wrote the song with Timbaland, Danja, James Fauntleroy and Lawrence Dopson. Timberlake, Timbaland and Danja co-produced the track. Many fans weren’t feeling the new sound of “Filthy.”
https://twitter.com/YetAnotherSJW/status/949151037260144646
https://twitter.com/truejonsanz/status/949167152187215873
https://twitter.com/jtylerconway/status/949138859220025344
just listened to justin timberlake new song #filthy. pic.twitter.com/sfi5cqkV3a
— your fav papi 👅 (@heyits_erik) January 5, 2018
https://twitter.com/opinionFromME/status/949144813219192832
https://twitter.com/brantbum/status/949149683645005826
Justin Timberlake: "This album is inspired by my wife, my son but mostly where I'm from. It's called MAN OF THE WOODS."…
World: Ahhh amazing! 1st single?
JT: I'm glad you asked! It's called FILTHY, a synthetic growl about a futuristic sex robot simulating an orgy.
World: pic.twitter.com/FCes1abYuZ
— Eoghan McDermott (@eoghanmcdermo) January 5, 2018
Everyone expected Justin Timberlake to drop a country record based on the album artwork.
Rest easy, friends, #Filthy isn't country.
Sadly, it's also not very good.
— DJBooth (@DJBooth) January 5, 2018
This new JT single sounds like it was a bad song written by Prince and stored in his vault, presumably forever…. then, Timbaland somehow got hold of it, f’d with it a little, added robot noises to give it more of a 2018 vibe and It became a JT song. #Filthy #ManOfTheWoods
— Ben Kampa (@BenKampa) January 5, 2018
I couldn’t even finish Justin Timberlake’s new song. It’s so bad . Maybe I’ll give it another listen in the morning but it’s a no for now #Filthy pic.twitter.com/3HoENBx9uy
— Stephanie. (@qsteph) January 5, 2018
https://twitter.com/pier707/status/949168253682814976
Justin Timberlake will release three more videos created by three different directors before the release of “Man of the Woods,” which comes out on February 2nd. Then two days later, Timberlake will headline the Super Bowl LII Halftime Show in Minneapolis.