The album sounds instantly familiar, though never stale, and frankly it’s a joy to hear Timberlake and Timbaland rediscover the giddy chemistry that made FutureSex/LoveSongs a contemporary pop milestone.
Timberlake reined in his musical vision just enough to make this album more focused and engaging—but didn’t lose sight of his desire to take chances.
The music is almost beside the point when you’ve got Timberlake’s charisma, and you can bet that he’ll be able to convince people not only that they love these songs, but that they have always loved them.
With seven years between projects, someone so wildly creative had more to say, play, explore. 2 of 2 takes grooves deeper, lyrics freakier, the format hotter.
The 20/20 Experience (2 of 2) is quite the step up from the first part. Even when it plunges into excess—which it does quite often—the basic pop structures underneath remain far more compelling than anything off of Part One.
With its insistence on aggressive polyrhythm and bumping bass, 2 of 2 is most certainly a funky record, but it's hardly a deeply soulful one.
This volume’s shady undertones are a better match for Timberlake’s inability to self-edit than the first half’s chipper gloss.
Had these 11 tracks been presented like they were B-sides or rarities, it may not have been as detrimental but they were offered up as a continuation to an album that didn’t need a part two in the first place.
Pared down and stripped to its primal rudiments, the latest Timberlake saga could have been something truly epic; instead, it just feels unnecessarily immense.
The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2 includes a few pop gems, but as an album, it pales in comparison to its older sibling.
His quality control has gone to pieces, and this sounds exactly like what it is: a rushed job that really could have done with some more work.
The indulgence that fit the designer Suits & Ties of Pt. 1 colors this record’s jungle sex openings and hidden “Hey There Delilah” endings, and it hamstrings an otherwise great singer into making a mediocre record.
Part 2 ... simply feels like an inessential cash grab, and it's strong evidence that everyone’s favorite pop star might be overstaying his welcome.
The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2 is not only superfluous, it actually erases some of the gains made by its predecessor as it plays into the worst trappings of self-indulgence.
With the average track length clocking in around six minutes, '…2 Of 2' drags on like a hostage saga.
The second half is a laborious crawl, a variety of glorified and slow bonus tracks.
2 of 2, then, is an incredibly frustrating experience. It shouldn't be. Timberlake is better than C and D-grade material.
This is really disappointing. The one overlong tracks don’t work as well as on the first half, the lyrics got worse and the production isn’t as intoxicating. “TKO” and “Amnesia” are mostly the only songs I come back to.
Hello AOTY!! I'm back! I wasn't gone for long, but I haven't reviewed in a week which is abnormal for me. There's a few reasons for this, and for the fact I haven't been as super active as I used to be.
-Time with family, I had my grandma whom I haven't seen in years visiting, and then after that I was staying over at my other grandmas house.
-I haven't been wanting to listen to many albums, I have a big fat list of albums that are my priorities to get to, but I have my music that I'm hooked ... read more
How does one go from making one of the slickest and most interesting pop albums I've heard in my life to a mind-numbing album such as this? This was a whiplash of quality.
While I still adore Justin's singing by a metricton, I feel like everything else doesn't back it up all too well, with the slight exceptions for songs like 'Take Back The Night' and 'Murder,' the former probably being the only song I'd come back to to be honest.
The instrumentation isn't all that polished, and I feel like a ... read more
Disappointing. The first "The 20/20 Experience" worked so well with the double length tracks because the production value, the writing, and the presentation were all near perfection, so much to the point where any issues or nitpicks I had with that album were nearly non-existent. Here, the production is a noticeable downgrade to what we had before, making it a much more tedious listen.
1 | Gimme What I Don't Know (I Want) 5:15 | 69 |
2 | True Blood 9:31 | 63 |
3 | Cabaret 4:32 feat. Drake | 72 |
4 | TKO 7:04 | 79 |
5 | Take Back the Night 5:53 | 79 |
6 | Murder 5:07 feat. JAY-Z | 78 |
7 | Drink You Away 5:31 | 65 |
8 | You Got It On 5:55 | 62 |
9 | Amnesia 7:04 | 75 |
10 | Only When I Walk Away 7:05 | 65 |
11 | Not a Bad Thing 11:31 | 66 |