Justin Timberlake…Gone Country?!?
The rumors are swirling that Justin Timberlake is making the leap to country, and will be dropping a country song…possibly as early as tomorrow.
A LOT of people are really excited about this. And in the interests of full disclosure, I’m a HUGE Justin Timberlake fan. My wife might even tell you I have a man crush on him. In my mind and the minds of many, JT is the very definition of talent.
Not only can he sing, but he’s handsome, he can dance, he can act, and he’s funny as can be. The world has never seen Timberlake fail at anything (except maybe MySpace?), so there’s really a lot of reasons to be excited about him joining the Country music world. If his performance with Chris Stapleton from the CMA Awards a couple years back is any indication, he has the chops for it.
In fact, there is really no reason to believe that he will FAIL to set the country world on fire…well …except for the countless other artists who have tried to “go country” before him.
One guy has truly pulled it off. One. That’s Darius Rucker. Everybody else who has tried to break in could not find the sound to be accepted by Nashville and it’s loyal fans.
Jessica Simpson couldn’t do it…
Neither could Steven Tyler
Jewel tried…
And there are plenty more who aren’t even notable. Now to be fair, Justin Timberlake is from Tennessee, and I think he’s more talented than most who have tried before, BUT…Let’s not hype this thing too much.
If you’re a Timberlake fan, like I am, the BEST thing we can do is keep our expectations low, and wait for the music to be released. If it’s great, AWESOME! Maybe the song will become an instant hit and be universally praised…BUT let’s at least give it a listen first. And when you listen, try and forget that it’s Justin Timberlake, and just listen to the song. Because I think with his name attached it will be really easy for people to both LOVE or HATE it just because it’s JT.