Jay-Z has taken branding to a whole new level, announcing his new album in a cell phone commercial.
Magna Carta Holy Grail, Jay’s first album since teaming up with Kanye West for Watch the Throne, arrives July 4, according to a three-minute Samsung spot that aired during Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night. As a tie-in to the album’s release, the first million Samsung Galaxy users to download a special mobile app will unlock the disc 72 hours early.
Check out the ad — featuring basically every relevant hip-hop producer there is (Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, Rick Rubin and Swizz Beatz) in the studio with Jay — below: READ FULL STORY »
It’s Justin Timberlake Week! Right on the heels of his record-making, ratings-boosting SNL-hosting gig, JT has decided to get his new album, The 20/20 Experience, out to fans early. It’s not due to hit stores until Tuesday, March 19, but it’s currently streaming on iTunes in its entirety.
The official EW review of Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience is below, and a version of it will appear in the magazine on newsstands next Friday, March 15. READ FULL STORY »
After making a big splash at the Grammys last night, Justin Timberlake made another one online when he dropped “Mirrors,” the latest Timbaland-produced jam from The 20/20 Experience. If you’ve got a bit of time to spare, brace yourself for eight minutes of luscious synths, tricky hooks, and JT soulfully crooning about someone shiny enough to be a mirror.
Justin Timberlake doesn’t have much of a track record with album titles. His solo debut was a pun on his name, and the follow-up was a surreal word collage. His new record is called The 20/20 Experience, but what does it mean? Is he particularly driven by ABC news magazines? Deeply concerned about marksman-quality vision? Establishing a bar that is exactly half as awesome as Jay-Z’s 40/40? Is it a reference to the fact that the whole experience of creating the album consisted of 20 songs in 20 days?
Timberlake revealed the science behind the name this morning on Ryan Seacrest’s radio show. “It more or less came out of I was playing some of the stuff for my friends and they would come in and out of the studio and I’d say, ‘What do you think of this?’” Timberlake explained. “And my best friend said, ‘This is music that you can see,’ and for some reason that stuck with me.”
So there you have it: Justin Timberlake’s new album is a concept record about synesthesia.
Seacrest also got a few other details out of Timberlake. READ FULL STORY »
Just in case anyone was wondering, Justin Timberlake is still a bona fide pop star.
Timberlake’s new single, “Suit & Tie,” was released with a maximum amount of drama (countdown clocks! YouTube manifestos!) and, as it turns out, a maximum amount of sales: it notched the highest first-week total radio plays in the 20-year history of Billboard’s Pop Songs chart.
“Suit & Tie” places Timberlake’s falsetto front and center, next to a decent-if-sappy verse from Jay-Z, all backed by spangly Timbaland production. (Can a song shimmer and honk at the same time?)
It racked up 6,045 plays between Jan. 14 and 20, landing at No. 14 on the chart and breaking two records: it’s the highest debut for a male artist (beating out Jon Secada’s “If You Go” from 1994, if you can believe it) and it tops Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” in first-week plays by almost 2,000 spins.
And all of this for a track that very few people even knew Timberlake was recording.
JT’s movie career thus far has been fairly hit and miss, so this musical detour seems as much strategic as spontaneous. Meanwhile, FutureSex/Love Sounds fans — out in the cold since 2006 — have just months to go until the release of The 20/20 Experience.
Other good news for Timberfans? He will be performing at DirecTV’s Super Saturday Night during Super Bowl weekend — his first concert in almost five years.
The low-key track, titled “Enough Said” and produced by Drizzy pal Noah “40″ Shebib, features never-before-heard vocals from Aaliyah, 11 years after her death. Take a listen below:
Jack Frost is starting to blow his chill on most of us as we get deeper into fall. But in the video for his new single “Pass At Me,” Timbaland, along with Pitbull, jets to a place where the sun still beams, ladies dance in bikinis, and outdoor swimming is still an option.
The two live it up on boats and beaches before hitting up a David Guetta concert. (No coincidence, since he produced the cut). Check out the video after the jump
Dreams do come true! After a bit of a Youtube campaign, hit-making producer Timbaland can now say he’s worked with pop stars as varied as Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, and now… Demi Lovato.
Featuring hip-hop femme-C Missy Elliott, “All Night Long” is a lustful upbeat banger. In true Timbaland fashion, it’s a busy track with knocking bass, bouncing keys and synths stepping all over the hook.
“Don’t make plans/ Come on with me/ Let’s stay up all night long,” Lovato orders over it. You can listen to the track here.
What do you think of the Lovato-Missy-Timbo collab? Looking forward to her album, Unbroken (out Sept. 20)? Let us know.
Image Credit: Janet Mayer/PR PhotosTimbaland called in to Ryan Seacrest’s KIIS-FM radio show today to counter rumors of a possible suicide attempt. “I don’t even know what happened, to be honest. I don’t know what people are talking about,” the superproducer said, adding, “Why would I commit suicide?”
Online reports earlier in the day claimed that Timbaland had fled his house in an agitated state after discovering the theft of a watch worth $2 million, leading his family to call the police, who found him unharmed and brought him home. In the KIIS interview, Timbaland told Seacrest that he had indeed been robbed, but not of a watch, and firmly denied that he had ever intended to hurt himself.
“The only thing I did was take a drive to figure out how I’m going to handle [the theft],” Timbaland said. He added that he planned to return to the studio this afternoon to work with Keri Hilson on her next album. Reps for Timbaland have not responded to EW’s request for further comment.
Image Credit: Theo Wargo/WireImage.comLast night (June 3) at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom VH1 paid its annual homage to hip-hop, VH1 Hip Hop Honors: The Dirty South. The “Dirty South” part is new. For the first time, VH1 chose to pay its respects to a specific region—an effort that a few Southern legends found disrespectful. Wondering why VH1 couldn’t simply incorporate more Southern acts into their regular Hip Hop Honors celebrations, Suave House Records founder Tony Draper and veteran Houston rapper Scarface both declined on opportunities to be involved. But the show went on. And aside from a couple of technical difficulties Uncle Luke and his 2 Live Crew experienced, it went off without a hitch.
Missy Elliott, Fabolous, and Keri Hilson came out to honor hitmaker and Virginia native, Timbaland.J Prince of Rap-A-Lot Records sat back and enjoyed performances from fellow Texas homeboys Paul Wall and Chamillionaire. But there were a few moments that stood out above the rest, making its premiere this Monday (June 7) must see TV. One was nasty. Another was backwards. Read what they are after the jump.
