MAN OF THE WOODS.
| Justine Timberlake
MAN OF THE WOODS.
Man of the Woods is the fifth studio album by American actor and singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake. It was released on February 2, 2018. The production of the album was handled by Timberlake, The Neptunes, Timbaland, Danja, J-Roc, Eric Hudson, and Rob Knox. The record sees Timberlake experimenting with elements of R&B, funk, pop, soul, and Americana. The album is named after his son Silas, whose name means "Man of the forest". The album's first single "Filthy" was released on January 5, 2018, followed by "Supplies" and "Say Something" on January 19 and 26, respectively. The album track "Man of the Woods" was also accompanied by a music video.-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
Show All-
Rolling Stone
parts of Man of the Woods are his most exploratory music in years, whether it’s the skippy, juddering avant-funk or making meaningful modern countrypolitan without sounding like a disco ball in a Solo cup
-
Highsnobiety
What makes Timberlake’s latest so painful is that it is done with such bravado, as if it wouldn’t be challenged
-
Pitchfork
Justin Timberlake’s fifth album is a huge misstep for the pop star. It is warm, indulgent, inert, and vacuous.
-
Pop Matters
But a handful of decent songs do not a classic album make, much less a good one.
-
The Guardian
its country-soul proves a classy way for the Tennessee boy to enter the next phase of his pop career
-
NME
There’s definitely a nod to new Nashville here – however, we’re talking more Mumford & Sons if they started songwriting for Justin Bieber than the grit and guts of Waylon Jennings or the current king of classic country, Sturgill Simpson.
-
Consequence of Sound
A funky, country-laced experiment that’s not nearly as bad as its early reputation suggests
-
Esquire
Man of the Woods is a mess. It’s disappointing. It’s kind of embarrassing.
-
Drowned in Sound
Man of the Woods is not an outright disaster but it is a significant disappointment – a record too preoccupied with image, volte face and forced “REAL” to fully engage as a coherent piece of craftsmanship.
-
Entertainment Weekly
Timberlake now seems content to ride out his own scenic route, as blithe and unknowable as he’s ever been.
-
Inquire
Timberlake could easily remove ten and form a leaner and more cohesive album.
-
Independent
The 'Filthy' singer returns to what he knows, but perhaps it's not what you'd expect
-
Newsweek
The result is an eclectic but frustrating listen: Man of the Woods is a pastiche of rustic stylistic whims that too often stretch the limits of Timberlake's considerable talent.
-
AV Club
Unfortunately, Man Of The Woods’ thematic depth hasn’t quite caught up to the rest of his ambition. It’s not a fatal flaw, but it does make for a record that’s not quite as transcendent as it was built up to be.
-
Variety
there are plenty of reasons to like “Man of the Woods,” not least that it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it
-
DBK News
With 16 songs running for a rather risk-averse hour and five minutes, Man of the Woods' few bright spots are lost in a tracklist as dragging and congested as Los Angeles traffic.
-
Thrill List
At 16 tracks, Man of the Woods is exhausting, a cross-country road trip where you run out of jerky in the first leg and there's no rest stop in sight.
-
Southern Minn Scene
JT relies on years of professional show business experience to deliver a heartfelt glimpse into his personal life on a fun and joyously funky release.
-
Star 2
instead of rocking your body, you’ll want to cry yourself a river.
-
Watertown Daily Times
Now the woods man, all wrapped up in a comfy flannel blanket, is just too easy-listening.
-
The 405
Genuine or not, it simply doesn't work.
-
Slant Magazine
he further in one gets, the more the songs start to congeal together, loaded up with pop, country, and R&B signifiers until they’re just one indifferent mass.
-
Pretty Much Amazing
With production that is often nondescript, Man of the Woods doesn’t hold a candle to previous albums because the highlights aren’t as colorful or as tuneful as we’ve come to expect from Justin Timberlake.
-
US Magazine
Yes, these woods have been traveled before. That said, they’re still worth exploring.
-
The Mission
But even with all of the new sounds, most of the songs are just not that memorable and don’t give the album much replay value. “Man of The Woods” is definitely not the icon’s best work, but it does have it’s shining moments.
-
Irish times
He's paying someone else to chop the logs
-
The Creed
Timberlake is confused. He’s caught between his home state, his career, and his future.
-
Stereogum
Man Of The Woods plays as an hour-long contented sigh, a born-entertainer cheeseball doing his very best to make his transition into rural-dad middle age.
-
Wall Street Journal
On his first album since 2013, the star surrounds himself with superior talent, coming off as part of a creative collective instead of the disc’s lone shining star.
-
UHCL The Signal
Timberlake’s fifth album is a mature effort that shows his current feelings, thoughts and state of mind now as a father and husband, as well as an artist wishing to return to his hometown roots like so many artists eventually do
-
Herald-Standard
The party may have moved outdoors, but it’s still the place to be and be seen as long as Timberlake is in attendance.
-
Spectrum Culture
Combined with the lack of energy in the music and the vexing style mash-ups contained within, Man of the Woods is such a colossal misfire that it undoes years of work to establish its maker’s artistic clout.
-
The Spinoff
This is a bad album from someone who will probably never make a good one again.
-
Pajiba
On 'Man of the Woods', Justin Timberlake Can't Decide Whether He Wants To Be a Lumbersexual or a F*ck Robot ... Mostly, it’s too dull to be a train-wreck.
-
Clash Music
A directionless and at times unfinished return...
-
Music OMH
When Man Of The Woods works, though, it’s exhilarating.
-
Refinery 29
an album that wants to be about real, adult life but can't leave the beats alone
-
All Music
Man of the Woods resembles the soundtrack to a late-evening variety program that moves across departments of a high-end outdoor recreation outfitter.
-
University Observer
At 16 tracks and 65 minutes long, this thing is a slog. At times the production is so limp that you would scarcely believe Timbaland and the Neptunes are its architects.
-
AXS
Timberlake covers new ground on Man on the Woods and emerges from the experience as an artist striving to push pop boundaries.
-
cleveland.com
it really does work
-
The Sentry
Man of the Woods tries to create its own new genre of techno country, but the failure of this album shows how nobody has been asking for it.
-
RTE
The all-embracing genre hopping is admirable but Man of The Woods is more pine needles in your smalls than life-affirming mountain ramble.
-
Daily Journal
Timberlake takes to 16 tracks to combine country, pop and R&B, and it's sure to keep listeners on their toes.
-
UPROXX
Timberlake is a dad himself now, and Man Of The Woods is an unabashed dad-pop record. And it’s totally fine!
-
Brooklyn Vegan
I don’t think it’s a failure — more a misstep with a few jams — But if most end up disagreeing, at least he struck out swinging.
-
The Pitt News
As a whole, “Man of the Woods” is a complete misstep for Timberlake. His attempt at a country-electronic genre fusion is disingenuous and a major departure from his prowess as a pop hit maker.
-
Minnesota Daily
What starts out here as a clear trail toward unbridled debauchery takes a weird turn to become a tangle of cringey genre criss-cross.
-
Vulture
On his last album, Justin Timberlake dared to stop chasing the trappings of youthfulness, but just four years later, he sounds bored and washed before his time.
-
The Ithacan
new album takes him a step back with the lack of original, captivating tracks
-
The Musical Hype
It’s enjoyable and generally inoffensive.
-
I Was Just Thinking
The strong compositions are a warm Southern welcome; a friendly hand on the shoulder, even a most agreeable massage.
-
Erie Reader
for better or worse, it's the farthest thing from boring
-
Treblezine
Man of the Woods feels genuine throughout, portraying Timberlake as masculine but tender
-
The Skinny
16-track jumble of songs that swing between batshit and bland, and romance comes in two forms: soppy odes, or sloppy humblebrags about shagging
-
Soul in Stereo
The album’s concept is admirable but it’s padded with a lot of filler. Still, you certainly have to give JT credit for his spirit of reinvention.
-
New Zealand herald
Man of the Woods has great production and great vocals, there's just nothing holding those things together.
-
Her Campus at VCU
Timberlake does feature some good tunes in this album .. The poor mixing, cheesy lyrics, basic beats and inappropriate experimenting lowered the quality of this collection.
-
The Daily Beast
The fifth studio album by the pop superstar is being billed as an introspective journey inspired by the outdoors, but it’s mostly a snooze.
-
Immortal Reviews
There's no meat to the thinly veiled skins of these songs, and it certainly doesn't feel like it hits upon the message he was going for. It's a swing and a miss - a first for Timberlake.
-
Edinboro Now
Referencing mountains and seduction doesn’t make him anymore woodsy than Kanye West.
-
Beat
JT found his sound with this album, incorporating new and old music into a well-rounded album.
-
Iowa State Daily
Instead of standing front and center on the world's largest stages, "Man of the Woods" is better off hiding out in the wilderness.
-
Penn State Commmedia
Man of the Woods is a huge disappointment, plain and simple.
-
Time Out
But the album's lofty aim – of musically uniting town and country – is its own worse enemy.
-
The Young Folks
It’s a typically ambitious idea, yet over the course of 65 minutes it becomes labored to the point of exhaustion, and the end result feels erratic and wildly uneven.
-
The Kirkwood Call
This album does have a few gems but overall it isn’t anything outstanding.
-
Northern Transmissions
a serious misstep for an artist who had, up until this point, made remarkably solid pop music. It’s a big swing and a miss, a belly flop of an album.
-
Pop Magazine
a solid addition to his catalogue. Even with its country theme and southern sensibilities, you’ll find yourself enjoying an artist that’s still giving his all to his sound.
-
Media Hype
A solid but convoluted album from JT that offers fans something different while not completely deviating from what is familiar..
-
VSB
It’s cringeworthy in parts and feels almost like the first performative whiteness album in history.
-
Maroon Weekly
J.T. is obviously moving in a new direction in terms of lyrical content and production.
-
Young Post
Man of the Woods is one only fans would appreciate
-
Salute Magazine
But growth is not a perfect process and Timberlake should be given credit for shaking up the bottle.
-
The Galleon
Timberlake struggles to truly return to the woods of Tennessee, instead swamping himself in the beats and rhythms that dominated his early career, and overshadow some memorable country and solemn tracks on this otherwise underwhelming album.
-
Knox news
Yet nothing really sticks (least of all the mind-numbingly terrible single “Supplies”), and “Man of the Woods” generally fades into unobtrusive background music suitable for a low-key gathering.
-
Z 90.7 FM
There are tracks that feel out of place, but it always feels good to listen to some new music from Justin Timberlake.
-
The Inquirer
As long as you don't listen to the lyrics closely, Man of the Woods is pretty much pleasurable all the way through. The confusion stems from the mixed signals.
-
ACRN
Unfortunately, there are so many vapid musical choices that, no matter how much he tries, Timberlake is just missing the point. He lacks thematic elements that could have propelled this album to something worthwhile.
-
First Coast News
'Man of the Woods' can't pull off its Americana-pop fusion
-
Hand Me the Aux
All in all, Man of the Woods falls flat.
-
Matt Pais
an undeniably talented person is now a mediocre self-parody who has lost the ability to distinguish a good idea from a horrible one
-
hmv.com
The result is an album with all the radio-friendly mass appeal you'd expect from a Justin Timberlake album, but it's somehow more genuine here than ever before.
-
Puremzine
Man of the Woods, is fun, upbeat and fresh.
-
Pop Goed the Weasel
He lacks the style, subtlety and sophistication of his old guise but the back to nature aesthetic is equally unconvincing.
-
On the Scene
The good outperforms the bad, making it easy to overlook the more lackluster songs. In simplest terms: Man of the Woods is a sweet love-letter to Timberlake’s wife & son and will surely make you tap your feet and smile at least once.
-
Renowned for Sound
Modified vocals and cheesy lyrics are problems that affect other tracks of the album too.
-
WGMU
Man of the Woods hits almost all of the right notes.
-
Read Music
Overall Justin Timberlake’s experiment with the Neptunes paid off, releasing a very enjoyable and fun album which gets listeners in a groove.
-
A Bit of Pop Music
Man of the Woods constantly evokes the reaction: “I see what you tried to do there, but it didn’t quite work.”
Rate This Album and Leave Your Comments