Lovin' it Large... with fries!

There was a time when I could be found shoulder to shoulder with my bum-flapped brethren manning the punk barricades. Now I’m willing to sell my soul to the music industry man for a Bon Jovi tour jacket. Actually, I’m being a bit hard on myself but it has been a bit of a corporate rock year. First there was the Clarkian bottom almost being violated by a security guard at a Linkin Park album playback who feared I had a bootlegger’s microphone stuck up my jacksey. Now I’m on hold with 25 fellow journalists – at £4 a bleedin’ minute! – to a conferencing company in New York who are facilitating the “Jive Records Justin Timberlake Tele-print Press Conference.” Not that old Trousersnake is in The Big Apple. No, he’s across the water in Edinburgh where he’s about to thank his mother, father, manager, record company and God for his three MTV Europe Music Awards.
It all underlines just how intercontinentalballistically huge the former Micky Mouskateer and N’Sync man has become since taking the plunge in 2002 and going solo. While his ex Britney has to resort to snogging Madonna to drum up trade for her new album – which stinks like a big pile of doggy-do by the way – Justin can’t leave the house without somebody presenting him with a platinum disc. If not quite the work of urban pop genius that some people have made it out to be, his Justified album confirms that he has a great voice and U2-like genius for picking the right collaborators. With The Neptunes and Timbaland on board, the 22-year-old has not only managed to keep the girlies happy, but make serious inroads into the R’n’B market. Where, it has to be noted, few fresh faced Memphis kids have gone before.
Business being as brisk as it is, it’s actually amazing that he’s taken time out from rehearsing his new dance routine to spend 90 minutes bantering with a bunch of scurvy hacks. Who, chuckle fans, include three journos from Belgium, Holland and Italy. One doesn’t like to be snobby or indeed borderline racist, but you can always depend on our Belgian, Dutch and Italian friends for questions of the “Do you have a message for your fans in Antwerp/Den Haag/Bologna?” variety.
The hotpress Financial Controller is about to go into cardiac arrest when, after a 35 minute wait, we’re cheerily welcomed to today’s tele-print jobby and reminded in super-positively fashion that, “Justin’s album Justified has sold over six million copies worldwide. Justin is nominated for five European MTV Awards this evening and is already the recipient of three U.S. MTV Awards. McDonald’s presents the Justin Timberlake Justified World Tour Lovin’ It Live. Justin has signed on to be the worldwide musical spokesman for McDonald’s I’m Lovin’ It campaign. The European tour begins on November 16th in Ghent, Belgium and will continue with sold-out shows in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, England and Ireland. On Tuesday, November 25th, NBC will spotlight Justin in a one-hour special, Justin Timberlake: Down Home In Memphis, during which he will take audiences on a tour of his hometown.
“Now we’re hoping to begin our tele-print conference call. Each writer will have the opportunity to ask one question. Please keep your questions focused on Justified, Justin’s tour and his NBC special.”
For the benefit of non-media types, this last line translates as, “Ask him about popping Britney’s cherry and you’re fucking disconnected, mate!” Obviously, with just one chance for glory, Jean Phillipe Darque from top Flemish pop publication, Flair, must have a humdinger of a question up his sleeve.
JEAN PHILLIPE: “Hi, Justin. I would like to know what words come to mind when you think about Belgium?”
JUSTIN: “(Pause that’s not so much pregnant as feet up in the stirrups and ready to give birth) I haven’t got to spend a lot of time there. But I remember...I think it was Brussels. And it’s cool.”
“Do you watch our female tennis champions from Belgium?”
“I don’t get a chance to watch a lot of TV. Who are we speaking of?”
“Tennis players”
“Yes, but who?”
“From Belgium. Do you know them?”
“Who specifically are you speaking of?”
“Kim Cliesters”
“I’ve never...I’ve never seen her play...so...”
“In her openings of the Williams sisters.”
“Oh...”
“OK.”
Mmm, I’m afriaid it’ll be next year now before Jean Phillipe gets that Pulitzer Prize. Let’s see what curveball Jill Waas from Dutch rock ‘n’ roll bible Hitkrant is going to throw at him?
JILL: “Which famous person would you like to give dancing lessons. And why?”
JUSTIN: “Er, maybe Michael Jordan.”
“Why?”
“Er, because I saw him dance one time in a Michael Jackson video...er, he’s an awesome basketball player, but he needs a couple of dance lessons.”
“Thank you.”
Passionate nation that they are, I’m sure that Sonia Anselmo from Top Girl in Italy has mined the depths of her soul to come up with her teaser.
SONIA: “I know something about you writing your biography. It’s true?”
JUSTIN: “I’m not. I don’t even keep a diary.”
“Thank you very much.”
So, the next time you’re tempted to write to Shooting Gallery to tell us how pants hotpress is, remember it could be a lot worse.
Naming and shaming completed, let’s see what can be gleaned from asking yer man some questions that wouldn’t insult the intelligence of an amoeba. Unlike Britney – the name keeps cropping up, doesn’t it? – Justin doesn’t do his interviews with a media minder waiting to pounce. Which means that instead of the terse “No politics!” that was barked out when the subject was raised recently at a Spears press conference, Timberlake will talk about The Dixie Chicks, Iraq and whether or not he’d go there to entertain the troops.
“With an instance like The Dixie Chicks, I don’t think it’s a matter of right and wrong,” he avers. “Natalie (Maines) just stated an opinion and then it got blown way out of proportion. She got crucified for it. Half of the population of the United States probably felt the same way. The Dixie Chicks kind of became the poster child for the liberal attitude that we might be going to war for other reasons, and that’s not wrong. I think everybody was kind of shaking their heads at what happened because there was information, but there wasn’t really evidence. I respect the fact that she was honest about the way she felt.
“As for going to Iraq, yes, I would. I’d go over and offer support to the troops, even if it wasn’t just performing. Whether it be as a recruit or whatever, I would definitely support the nation.”
It becomes apparent as the afternoon continues that not only does Justin Timberlake have strong opinions, but he’s willing to express them with a frankness you get from few of his pop peers. Mainly because they don’t want to be saying things in the papers that could upset any part of their precious fanbase.
“I have my own perspective on the press and how they start rumours,” he reflects. “To me, it’s like high school but on a bigger scale. You’d go to a party at the weekend and then everybody would come back to school on Monday and they’d say, ‘Did you hear what so and so did?’ Instead of a school talking about you, you have US Weekly and Star and OK magazine. You have to laugh it off. It’s one of those things you can’t control, so don’t try to control it.”
There have to be times, though, when being public property pisses him off.
“I’ve had people as I was eating a meal come up and take pictures and that, to me, is out of order. I’ve gotten comments like, ‘Well, that’s the price you pay’. Or you glance over and you see a telephoto lens pointed at you. You feel a little violated, but it’s not like anybody’s physically harming me or trying to do anything bad.”
So he’s not getting married and having triplets this week?
“That’s news to me.”
Has he been able to hang on to any vestiges of normality in his life?
“You’d be amazed what you can do with a baseball cap or a hoodie or something,” he laughs. “When I’m not working I don’t travel with security. I kind of go by myself or with my friends. The more you travel normally the less attention you get. I try to keep things very normal and sane because in my environment they can easily get out of control.”
Besides the two hours he spends on stage, what’s his daily routine when he’s out on tour?
“I sleep a lot! And I’ll probably train for about an hour, I like to work out on the road, do a little cardio. I go to the venue, do the sound-check and then the meet and greet. I usually end up doing a couple of interviews as well. And then it’s time for dinner and the show.
“My day-to-day team is not that big,” he continues. “I have a minder who travels with me and an assistant and that’s really it. I grew up in humble surroundings in Tennessee, so for that comfortability I try to keep it small. My immediate crew are people I’ve known all my life. That’s how you know they’re genuine because they were there before everything took off.”
Talking of Tennessee, what’s going to be in the NBC special he’s doing? Will we get a gander at the Timberlake crib or, more specifically, the bed where a certain somebody was deflowered?
“I didn’t take ‘em inside my house. That’s a little personal! But, yes, outside my house and around. I grew up right behind the state park, so it’s literally in the forest. It’s my old school and the small town I’m from – it’s actually Millington outside of Memphis. When you’re on the road all the time and then you’re able to go home and everything’s so slow…it feels comfortable.”
Along with The Neptunes and Timbaland collaborations on Justified, our boy was an uncredited guest vocalist on The Black-Eyed Peas’ awesomely funky ‘Where Is The Love?’ single. How did the transformation from peddler of boy band muck to credible R’n’B artist come about?
“I grew up listening to old soul music – it wasn’t labeled as R’n’B, it was just considered soul,” he responds. “And I also grew up listening to hip-hop and classic rock. I love The Eagles, Steve Miller Band and Bob Seeger. What any artist does, you know, is throw all those influences in together. I come from a generation where many different types of people listen to many different styles of music. It’s great that styles of music like hip-hop have become more mainstream and making its way to more and more ears. It’s created a melting pot of culture.”
What about the oft-repeated suggestion that it was his producer pals that did all the hard work on Justified, with Timberlake’s creative input at best minimal?
“I really don’t pay much attention to stuff like that,” he says a tad wearily. “When the album came out initially, a lot of the press liked to pin all the efforts on the producers. But, you know, I wrote those songs too. I’m not worried about what anybody had to say about who I worked with. I just worked with people who made me comfortable. With Timbaland, he supplied the beats and I did all the melodies and lyrics. After people experienced the album, they read the track-listing and realised that.”
Has he had time amidst all the madness to consider “where to next?”
“I haven’t,” he admits. “I think it’ll be like the first album I did, it’ll kind of happen when it happens. I don’t put a lot of personal pressure on myself. Why Justified did well is that it’s so genuine, I didn’t feel like I had anybody to please except myself. I went into the studio and it just happened that we got on a roll immediately. And the stuff we collaborated on, it just worked immediately. I can’t say that the next time will be the same. I hope it will. I hope that every album goes that way.
“Next year’s going to be an interesting one because I really have no idea what I want to do. When the tour is over, then I’ll stop and say, ‘I wonder what I want to do now?’”
Predictably, there have been mutterings about Hollywood.
“I don’t want to do movies just to do movies. To jump in…it’d be an area where I’d feel like I was a rookie. It’s one of those things I’d want to study and make it the best that it could possibly be. I get a little apprehensive, but if the project was right I’d probably be inspired to sign on and do it.”
As Shane Lynch, Jason Orange and The Carter Twins will testify, one of the hardest things to do in music is escape a teenybop past. How difficult was it for Timberlake to distance himself from N’Sync who were squeaky clean even by boy band standards?
“It’s tough to remember there was an image involved. We got a record deal when I was 14, you know? I couldn’t really appreciate the concept of all that. At the end of the day, image to me is not so important. So many times you see an artist get too involved with their image and they kind of become bigger than the song. I think that’s the biggest mistake they can make. To me it’s about the song. It’s about music and portraying the image that you see fit for the song. And artists who’ve become legendary like Madonna have understood that concept.”
Talking of Madge, what did Justin make of her snogging Britney?
“What did I think of it?”
Yup.
“I think nothing of it. I hope it was good for both of them.”
What does he look for in a woman?
“What do I like in girls? Honesty (bursts into laughter). No, if you’re genuine and you’ve got a nice booty then you’re a winner. As far as women are concerned.”
As you may already have gleaned from our Music News section, the hot goss – as they say in J-17 – is that Justin Timberlake will be augmenting his two Point Theatre shows on December 19 and 20 with a late night performance in an unspecified Dublin club. While not willing to go into specifics, he reveals that, “Yes, in select locations I’ll be doing some after-shows. The club shows are a lit more freestyle and go on their own. They kind of write themselves.”
The chances of Timberlake playing a Dublin club gig are bolstered by the fact that he had such a blast here on his 2002 World Tour.
“Dublin was, I think, my favourite show in the UK,” he says demonstrating a lack of both geographical knowledge and political sensitivity. “I had an instance where I was doing a song, ‘Nothing Else’, that wasn’t available on the radio and the whole crowd joined in. I looked around at my band and we were all kind of like, ‘Do you hear that?’ It was pretty amazing to hear them sing a song that hadn’t been released (as a single). It let me know they’d really listened to the whole album.”
Although the follow-up to Justified is unlikely to be in the shops before early 2005, fans desperate for new product will be pleased to hear that Justin is collaborating with Missy Elliot and Timbaland on an AIDS benefit song that’s mooted for pre-Christmas release.
“It’s a situation where Timbaland just called me – we talk every other week. He asked me to write the song with him, to give it life, and clued me in on what it was for, which is Youth AIDS. I’m much obliged to help out in any way, shape or form, even if it’s just making a donation. To help them come up with something that hopefully people will want to sing themselves, it’s an honour.”
Any truth in the rumour that he’s also doing something with Duran Duran?
“As of right now I’m not, but it’s a great idea. Because, I mean, they’re legendary.”
Who else would he like to share a studio with?
“The list goes on and on. One of my favourite things about music is the opportunity to collaborate with so many different types of people. I enjoy stretching what I feel my limits are in the studio. I’d probably off the top of my head pick somebody that you probably wouldn’t think I’d collaborate with like Kid Rock or Sheryl Crow or Lenny Kravitz. You want to put salt and pepper together and see if it works out.”
With apologies to Peter Murphy and Olaf Tyaransen who are both blokes of the highest calibre, I’ve always questioned the character of men who don’t like sport. (I do like sport, Clarkey, I just don’t think soccer qualifies as one – PM.) Which is why my opinion of Justin Timberlake skyrockets when I heard that he’s been made an “official” face of the NBA and an ABC special basketball correspondent.
“I’m a huge, huge NBA fan,” he confirms. “I went to the All Star weekend in Atlanta this year and met somebody from the NBA and they presented me with the idea. And I came up with my own little spin on it. I created an original composition for the NBA to kind of have a new theme song. And also I shot some ads and promos. I’ll probably be doing special correspondent work coming into the New Year after the tour is over when I have a little more availability.”
Forgive me if I get the parlance wrong, but does he ever get to ‘shoot hoops’ himself?
“I did a promo for the NBA when I first wanted to do the project and I played one-on-one with Magic Johnson,” he enthuses, “and he took it easy on me. I actually genuinely ran some games with (Orlando Magic star) Tracy McGrady at like a rec centre.
“The only other dream I had as a kid was to play in the NBA, but I don’t think it’s going to work out. I’m not tall enough.”
What height is he in his stockinged feet? If he wears stockings that is.
“I like to say I’m 6ft 2, but I’m probably only 6ft 1.”
And that, dear reader, is where we have to leave Justin, Jean Phillipe, Jill, Sonia and all our other new Tele-Print Press Conference chums. I’m off now to suck a record company MD’s tummy banana and see if I can’t get on the guest-list for the next Texas gig.

Justin Timberlake plays the Belfast Odyssey (December 17 & 18) and the Dublin Point (December 20 & 21)