The 20/20 Experience

Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience
Critic Score
Based on 38 reviews
2013 Ratings: #345 / 1115
User Score
2013 Rank: #217
Liked by 83 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
The Arts Desk
This indulgence is one that's really, really worth sharing. A great record.
94
Sputnikmusic
It is immaculately and exuberantly crafted, with a real respect for those who have come before; it is music as tribute, music as love.
90
Billboard
One of the year’s most anticipated pop releases is also one of the genre’s weirdest — and most fully realized — efforts in ages. There will be many people longing for the immediacy of songs like “My Love” and “Rock Your Body,” but Timberlake has offered us something more complicated, although no less accessible.
90
The Young Folks
They made a concoction of different sounds and it exploded with Justin Timberlake re-claming his spot in the music scene.
85
Beats Per Minute

Frank Ocean might have a gutsier pen game–and Usher more moves and Miguel more sex appeal–but 20/20 is easier to fall into a groove with than any of the best contemporary pop/R&B albums out right now.

85
Paste

Just like FutureSex before it, this innovative, sonically dazzling album sounds like it was beamed in from several years in the future—2020 sounds about right.

85
Spectrum Culture

If it has a fault, it’s that it may not be the most original or groundbreaking R&B out there; the singer’s not going for anything that hasn’t been done before. But he’s doing with amazing charisma, consistency and strength, and that’s what makes a star.

84
Pitchfork

Like Beyoncé, Timberlake is looking to put himself above the fray of those pushing boom-boom beats to quick, repetitive, and oftentimes-numbing hits.

80
Prefix
There’s a cornucopia of sounds that definitely needs some time to be digested, but when it finally is – it’s an absolutely satisfying experience.
80
Rolling Stone

Timberlake is back – and he’s sounding woollier than ever. The 20/20 Experience is the biggest pop event of 2013 so far, but it’s not quite a pop album.

80
Time Out London
‘The 20/20 Experience’ is pure pop for grown-ups.
80
The Independent
The results offer an elegant updating of various Seventies modes.
80
The Telegraph

If FutureSex/LoveSounds was Timberlake’s date with the dance floor, then this is his honeymoon album.

80
Evening Standard
There’s nothing as immediately striking as the time he brought “sexy back” in 2006 but his sweet falsetto and Timbaland’s crisp production make this an album built to last.
80
HipHopDX

There is enough oomph for the youngins, yet a defined maturity that proves Timberlake’s overstanding of eventually aging out of the capricious sect of R&B.

80
The 405

It's probably going to end up as the defining pop album of 2013. In many ways, it's bold and experimental, but at its core, it's pure Timberlake.

80
Consequence of Sound

20/20 succeeds because it’s groove-based, which is to say, it’s neither pop-based nor logic-based.

80
The Observer
With songs averaging around the seven-minute mark, this Timberlake record may not boast as many rocket-propelled singles as before. But it finds the two Tims going back to the future without so much as a sideways glance at the rave-pop fashion.
80
musicOMH

For some 20/20 may be difficult to digest, but Timberlake’s aspiration and vision really can’t be faulted. He is this generation’s crossover artist, no doubt.

80
SPIN

Much has been made of the album's length, but Timberlake and Timbaland prove to have more than enough ingenuity to make it worth our while.

75
Under the Radar

While it may be a little overlong at nearly an hour and a half, there are influences from 40-odd years of pop music expertly melted together by a master craftsman to create an album of consistently brilliant songs. 

75
Pretty Much Amazing

The 20/20 Experience is confused, sloppy, frustrating, too safe, a let-down. Timberlake’s lyrics are laughable. The album begs to be edited. While these observations hold true – at least part of the time – there remains another, incontrovertible, truth: 20/20 is a total blast.

75
A.V. Club

20/20 is a statement album, one that succeeds more often than it fails, but occasionally buckles under the weight of its ambition, which is grander that its flimsy thematic contents are capable of sustaining over the long haul.

75
Entertainment Weekly
The songs are a little too slow, too long, too lacking in the flashy tap-dance energy that made him a giant solo success when he was 23. Maybe he wants to be the young Frank Sinatra. But for now, he’ll have to settle for being a slightly older JT.
70
Drowned in Sound

It’s a little too self-indulgent – the 'serious' work of a man who’s starred in an Oscar-winning film, rather than the energetic pop of a successful boyband escapee, but there’s no doubt he’s still got it.

70
No Ripcord

With the exception of the single Mirrors, which seems best suited for a supermarket checkout line, The 20/20 Experience is an absolutely delicious guilty pleasure.

65
The Line of Best Fit

While titling your record The 20/20 Experience signifies a clarity of vision and perception from an artist who definitely has grand aspirations firmly in his sights, the album itself doesn’t quite reach the sharp, perfect coherence that Timberlake was clearly aiming for.

60
The Guardian

Despite its flaws, The 20/20 Experience is a genuinely adventurous pop album in a world of will-this-do?

60
FACT Magazine

The 20/20 Experience is an album that will only grow with repeated listens, and is an apt if slightly underwhelming addition to his story so far.

60
NME

In 2013 JT’s on that marriage and luxury bath shit and while it’s a good listen, every song drags.

60
The Irish Times
There is so much promise here, but the pointless, patience-trying extension of most of these songs is ultimately what holds this album back.
50
Slant Magazine

The 20/20 Experience’s either chameleonic or unfocused tracks speak poorly of an icon now constantly on the lookout for his next great cross-promotional opportunity.

50
The Needle Drop
Justin Timberlake continues to show more ambition than the average pop artist with song lengths and structures, but longer tracks hardly make up for thin production and even thinner lyrics.
50
AllMusic

A pleasant and grown but tedious release from a charismatic entertainer and exceptional vocal arranger who is not a great recording artist.

50
Tiny Mix Tapes

On 20/20, the Timberlake/Timbaland team seems content to set up a basic (and more often than not, bland) hook, repeat it ad infinitum, and tack on some superfluous bits until the desired, bloated end product comes into being. 

40
NOW Magazine

It sounds like FutureSex, so you’ll desperately listen over and over hoping to replicate how that album made you feel and end up surrendering to its pleasant, sanitized soundscape. But you’ll feel nothing.

40
PopMatters

Even with his boundary-pushing songs and numerous (and often fascinating) interludes, he is still only a somewhat decent songwriter, and it’s Timbaland who winds up picking a lot of JT’s slack

exception
83

after 7 years, JT finally releases new music... and it was great. as always, the vocals supplied were outstanding, but the production was on another level. Timbaland outdid himself with this one. although not all of the songs were great, they all had perfect production. there were some awesome radio hits (mirrors, suit and tie) along with cutesy love ballads (strawberry bubblegum, blue ocean floor). almost all of the songs could have been cut by 2-3 minutes, but i'm not gonna complain ... read more

Host
90

Why in the actual hell am I giving a JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE album a 90?

bl0nded
77

So. The 20/20 Experience by Justin Timberlake. One of the most hyped up projects up of 2013, but was it worth the hype? Well, yes, but let me give you a background. 7 years. No music since FS/LS, and he's just acting now. People are begging for new music. So JT gets with Timbaland and makes an album in 20 days. A bit later, 2013 just began, and JT announces this album. People freak out. He drops a single. "Suit & Tie". Everyone likes it. Then he does "Mirrors". Even ... read more

70

cut: Suit & Tie, Tunnel Vision, Let the Groove Get In

tiesd504
80

It's not as streamlined as LoveSex, as some songs do drag, but the ambition and production cannot be denied. Also Mirrors might be his best song.

dt_chun
100

confused screaming

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Track List

1Pusher Love Girl
8:02
86
2Suit & Tie
5:26
feat. JAY-Z
94
3Don't Hold the Wall
7:10
83
4Strawberry Bubblegum
7:59
82
5Tunnel Vision
6:46
88
6Spaceship Coupe
7:17
81
7That Girl
4:47
76
8Let the Groove Get In
7:11
86
9Mirrors
8:05
95
10Blue Ocean Floor
7:22
85
Total Length: 1 hour, 10 minutes
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Added on: January 24, 2013