There are many similarities in the musical style and
presentation of Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke. Grantland wrote a brilliant piece about how Thicke has filled the niche that Timberlake left void by
plunging into the 20/20 Experience.
It’s a great read and I won’t steal any of its points. Rather, I’d like to
present a comparison of the pair’s 2013 albums: The 20/20 Experience and Blurred
Lines.
It’s worth noting that the background for these two artists
is extremely different. Timberlake, of N*SYNC and the Mickey Mouse Club, has
always been successful, at least commercially. You won’t find many music
bloggers who wrote about the artistic merits of N*SYNC (partially because bloggers didn’t
really exist in 1998 and boy bands have never been revered by
the artistic community). Robin Thicke never had a mega-hit before Blurred Lines although he was making
some very good music. 2006’s The
Evolution of Robin Thicke is an underrated album featuring production from
the brilliant Pharrell. Thicke was making quality music while flying somewhat
under the radar. All he needed was a dozen women dancing naked around him to launch
his career as a superstar (interestingly, this had the opposite effect on Tiger
Woods’ career).
[I must add that I find Robin Thicke comical. His hair style
is illogical and Alan Thicke is his father. But his infatuation with sex makes
him seem almost a caricature, like the horny friend in a high school/college
comedy (Stiffler). As a judge on the show “Duets,” his criticisms were
consistently that the performances needed more sexuality. It could have been a
father and daughter singing “Unforgettable,” Robin Thicke thought it needed
more sexual chemistry.]
Blurred Lines
The naked women dancing around Robin Thicke are featured in his Blurred Lines music video.
If you haven’t seen the uncensored video, here it is courtesy of YouTube’s ugly
stepchild, Vevo. It is devoid of any subtlety from the nude women, the
“#THICKE” hashtag blasted in your face every ten seconds, to the highlight of
the video: balloons that spell out “Robin Thicke Has a Big Dick.” It’s brash,
it’s provocative, it's fun, and it’s a feminist’s worst nightmare. It can be argued that the song is
about rape, or at least nonconsensual sex, which most lawyers would argue is
rape. “I know you want it,” “you’re a good girl,” “I hate those blurred lines”…
“Blurred lines” may represent the blurred line of sexual consent. (This theory
has gotten mixed reactions from people. They may not be “Baby it’s Cold
Outside,” but the lyrics have a Dennis Reynolds “implication” feel to them.) 
However, musically, there is nothing offensive about Blurred Lines. It’s a two chord tune
with a feel that emulates Marvin Gaye’s Got
to Give It Up. It’s simple, it’s catchy, and it’s four minutes long. The
same can be said of the rest of the Blurred
Lines album. The lyrics are adventurous and consistently sexual, but there
is nothing adventurous about the music. Blurred
Lines is 13 tracks long, none of which are longer than four minutes. The
whole album is very listenable, particularly the disco-esque Ooo La La, Ain’t No Hat 4 That (though I have no idea what it means), and the
contemporary sounding Give it 2 U. Blurred Lines is as digestible to pop
music listeners as Activia is to Jamie Lee Curtis.
The 20/20 Experience
Let’s contrast this with Justin Timberlake’s 20/20 Experience. Musically, it’s
daunting. The album consists of 10 tracks, none of which are shorter than 4:48
(That Girl). Six of the ten tracks
are longer than seven minutes. This is not a format that the casual listener is
accustomed to. It’s unorthodox, it’s experimental. When making the album,
Timberlake aspired to create long tracks like classic rock bands used to. Each
track explores its groove in several different ways. Musically, it’s as
digestible as Indian food. It’s spicy and flavorful, but your digestive system
probably isn’t going to be happy.
Timberlake went this route because he can. At this point in
his career, he didn’t need to turn heads. He strives to be musically innovative
and that’s just what he did here. Mirrors is
eight minutes long and it still gets played on the radio. There’s no way that
an eight minute jam by Robin Thicke, or anyone else without JT’s pedigree, gets
radio play.
Lyrically, you would have to be an extreme prude to find anything
offensive about most of The 20/20 Experience, except for Pusher Love Girl (which compares love to
heroin). There’s nothing edgy about eating truffles in tuxedos, even if it is
said by Jay-Z. Most of the songs focus on love in its traditional sense,
dancing, and having fun. Timberlake is done bringing sexy back, now he's bringing classy back.
Combining the Conventional and the Unconventional
Blurred Lines and The 20/20 Experience have a similar
retro 70’s sound and are both very successful albums, yet their goals are very
different. Thicke aspires to turn heads with unorthodox lyrics and brash
sexuality, on top of fairly conservative music. Timberlake aspires to innovate
musically, challenging pop music conventions, while appeasing the listener with
generally wholesome lyrics, fortifying his classy persona. Both albums mix the conventional and the unconventional in a
way both casual pop fans and music lovers can appreciate.
