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No. 256: Man of the Woods
DNVB / Media / eCommerce: (1) Justin Timberlake is one of the most talented musicians on earth and he wants to perform well into his 40’s. (2) The music industry continues to evolve and only the savviest artists are appropriately navigating streaming’s economic limitations.
Consider these two assessments when framing what Man of The Woods is all about.
Timberlake is a savvy businessman. So when the initial imagery for his Man of The Woods album released, it was easy to joke a bit about how blatant the merchandising promotion appeared to be. The irony of my earlier tweet was that Timberlake’s evolution is unquestioned. He’s also capable of playing a longer game than most other artists because of his previous, outsized successes.
Web Smith on Twitter
Timberlake and Bruno Mars have identical skill sets. One figured out how to evolve and the other one is making native ads for Filson.
Here’s the Timberlake career arc in a nutshell. Mr. Biel has been that rare and consistent success over three decades of changing music, his outlandish pop-fashion, and mostly-poor haircare decisions. He’s traversed the impossible terrain of American musical evolution:
- Mickey Mouse Club Member (Ages 12-15)
- N’SYNC lead (Ages 15-22)
- Hip hop-infused pop star (Ages 22-33)
- Jay-Z approved R&B artist (Ages 33-36)
- The beginning of his latest phase (Ages 37-on)
To better understand Timberlake’s newfound interest in American heritage brands, consider that he is proudly from Tennessee and he was always inspired by the music of the region. Continue reading “No. 256: Man of the Woods”