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"All Grown Up And Out of Things to Say"
Justin Timberlake's New Autobiography Leaves A Lot to Be Desired

by June Wellinscott

I sat down with Justin Timberlake to discuss his newly published autobiography last week. I feel as though I should admit as a writer that I've interviewed Justin Timberlake before. In 2000, I was a junior string writer for YM magazine, a fact I have long since erased from my resume. Then, I asked Timberlake if he was dating Britney Spears and he grinned and said, "You can't believe everything you read, Brit's like my best friend, you know what I'm sayin'?" Not all that much older or more experienced than his teenage fan base, I think I wanted to believe that he was telling me the truth.

This time around, Timberlake sits down for our interview and asks me not to describe him as NSYNC's former front man. "You can't be the former front man to a band that hasn't broken up yet, you know what I'm sayin'?" he says. All grown up, Timberlake is not as easy to take at his word. Especially with rumors swirling around the music world that he has made obvious his lack of interest in uniting with his former band members for another album or tour, but also refuses to allow the group to be publicly dissolved for fear that it would negatively impact his solo career.

The only other mention of his former band comes toward the end of our conversation: Timberlake's phone goes off and he gets up to take the call. "From Chris," he says by way of explanation, "sorry." His assistant makes a crack about them still being in sync after all these years, and Timberlake shrugs, diplomatically not answering.

As for the book itself, it seems that somebody forgot to tell Timberlake that when you go through puberty on national television, you have to give away a few more secrets to make a bio topic worth the reader's time. His book, instead, seems to read like a fluff teen mag interview of days gone by. Timberlake asks himself a softball question, Timberlake answers a soft ball question. The only thing more painful is when Timberlake asks himself a softball question and then deflects it.

Timberlake did not allow his manuscript even to be copy-edited, and this coupled with the blandness of his chosen subject matter itself makes a mediocre final product.

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from the single, Like I Love You, Justin Timberlake

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