Justin Timberlake, one of the absolute kings of music, has released a new track titled “Drown.” This track follows the release of his previous single “Selfish” and is set to be part of his upcoming album “Thought It Was.” This whole album is set to be released on March 15, 2024, which, to a lot of people's happiness, is very soon. The mood of the track is an absolute pre-bedroom banger. It has a lot of dark sounds with modern R&B/Pop elements and Justin Timberlake’s ever so catchy vocal lines. Reaching for a certain sound, his latest single “Selfish” did not do as well on the billboards as one would expect. However, does this really matter? For the artist it might, but as the audience it is better to just listen to the tracks for what they are. Something that is interesting is that if you remember some of the absolute great hits from Justin like “Mirror,” for example, you still hear a very similar choice of melody in his song. He has found his way to greatness and managed to stay in that zone for so very long.

The producers on this track are Cirkut and Louis Bell. They worked on his latest track “Selfish” as well and are most famously known for working with The Weeknd and Justin Bieber respectively. The song is catering a little bit to the previous heartbreak hits of Justin like “Cry Me a River.” The lyrics talk about heartbreak and betrayed trust which might entail from a relationship going downhill. The beat and music on this track are very much in line with the current state of pop. Doing a track like this where you don’t experiment a lot can either play out as a big advantage or big disadvantage for the artist. For now, it is hard to say exactly how it will play out. I do think the result is a perfectly listenable pop song that sounds like it could be a hit. If we listen to other huge tracks that have come out recently such as “yes, and?” by Arianna Grande and “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan, we can certainly say that the current state of popular music has had a little bit of a shift where listeners want things that sound just a bit different from what they are used to.

A lot of people will see this release as an attempt to come back. But I see it as proof of Justin’s incredible resilience. I would even argue that for an artist that still gets 46 million listeners every month on Spotify, talking about a comeback seems redundant. Was there ever even a fall from grace? Either way, anticipation for Justin’s new album is high. The album will be huge by industry standards, apparently containing 18 tracks in total. I hope to hear a lot of interesting and diverse songs, presenting in many different ways where Justin is at musically at the moment. He also announced a global 2024 tour, the “Forget Tomorrow World Tour.” This tour starts on April 29, 2024, in Vancouver, Canada. I think that going to his concert would be a good way to get the biggest portion of nostalgia possible. On this tour, he is sure to include songs from his new album. So you have the album on March 15 and the tour April 29. What are we waiting for? The album of course. I am very excited to see how this plays out for Justin and encourage you to form your own opinion on the latest release “Drown.”

Author: Peter Källman

Peter Källman is a writer from Sweden who loves playing in bands, writing reviews and going to live shows!