In the immediate decade following his boy band peak with *NSYNC, Justin Timberlake was on top of the pop world with the post-Y2K classic Justified and the globe-conquering FutureSex/LoveSounds. The 2010s was a period of diminishing returns, capped by the confusing pivot to rustic themes on Man of the Woods. His big 2024 comeback, Everything I Thought It Was, mostly avoids that downward trend, offering a decent attempt at recapturing his former glory, but lacking enough excitement to be truly memorable. That's not to say it's a complete miss: for every disappointing moment (like the sleepy "Selfish" and the overly long slow jam "Technicolor"), there's a whiff of the emotion and charisma that propelled his solo ascendance, like the yearning "Drown" and "Flame," which sound like "Cry Me a River"/"What Goes Around…" in the best ways. Plus his voice is still in fine form. Of the highlights, the team of Angel Lopez, Federico Vindver, and Calvin Harris delivers a pair of immediately catchy jams that help remind listeners of how expertly Timberlake can groove: "No Angels" is smooth, funky, and begging for the dancefloor, while "F*ckin' Up the Disco" soars with Timberlake's recognizable falsetto and an effortlessly breezy disco sheen. The slinky bass of "Play" is a flashback to the FutureSex/LoveSounds loverman era, when Timberlake delivered some of his best Prince tributes; meanwhile "Infinity Sex" and the wild "My Favorite Drug" are rocket ships of swirling disco-space-funk, with the former so catchy it could possibly convince listeners that JT is still burning up the bedroom, as the lyrics stress over and over again. That kind of melodic, dance-friendly fare keeps the album from drifting too far into the ether, but it also makes the stumbles more disappointing. Of the album's missteps, his contemporary hip-hop cadence on the reflective opener "Memphis" is a misguided appropriation that sounds a little forced at this stage of his career, especially considering the defensive, unapologetic bars about past mistakes. "Liar" with Fireboy DML, "Love & War," and "Technicolor" and "Selfish" are just a sampling of the filler that draws out the album, distracting from the best parts by bloating the runtime with same-sounding material that doesn't say much. Most egregiously, Everything I Thought It Was is home to the second *NSYNC reunion single (the first landing on 2023's Trolls Band Together soundtrack). Like that song, "Paradise" is a head-scratching bore from the once-mighty quintet, slowly building to nowhere atop a midtempo beat, generic handclap effects, and lyrics that sounds like they could be from a Coldplay song (but devoid of that band's earnestness and sincerity). Even though it's natural to pine for the quality of his first two solo efforts, it's still unfair to expect Timberlake to come close to those heights. In the end, Everything I Thought It Was is at least better executed than the uneven Man of the Woods and on par with The 20/20 Experience. Some focus and editing would have really helped because there's a great album buried somewhere in here.
- Neil Z. Yeung. allmusic.com
