Sexyback

Hi there everybody. This is the first in a series of song reviews Nate and I wrote about a year ago, inspired perhaps by the "Flick Skinny" comics. I still think it would be a good idea for a continuing Flagpole feature, but somehow we never got motivated enough to stay on top of it. I'll gradually post the ones I have and then hopefully start posting new things.

Also, I realize this is quite a bit longer than most of the posts here. I'm new to Blogger, but on LiveJournal there is a tag that can make a "Read more..." link appear after a short excerpt. Please tell me if you know how to do this.

TOP OF THE POPS

INTRODUCTION/DISCLAIMER.

While some might argue that the pop of today is shallow, disposable, and inherently meaningless, we believe that there is indeed subtext worth examining here, especially taking the incredible popularity of these songs into consideration. We are not arguing that the value or worth of a song is determined by its popularity, but rather that if you are specifically concerned about what pop music might be "saying" about the world we share today, the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart might be a worthwhile place to start.



SEXYBACK. BY JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE FT. TIMBALAND. PR. TIMBALAND.
Billboard #1 September 9 - October 27 2006 (7 weeks, longest charting hit so far this year)

"Sexyback," a collaboration with producer Timbaland, is the first single off Timberlake's luridly titled new LP Futuresex/Lovesounds.

Since we're still relatively new to the pop charts, and the work of the well-known Timbaland in particular, we are unfortunately in no position to judge whether or not this track is a "typical" Timbaland production. "Sexyback"'s icy, minimalist synth line and steady disco thump, the track does seem similar to the work of his sales rivals, the frequently chart-topping production duo the Neptunes, who did production work for Timberlake's first LP Justified, notably its first hit single "Like I Love You."

This song seems destined to become a sort of pop culture touchstone, if only because of the unabashed mindlessness of the lyrical content. This would seem to be the brain-dead club banger to end them all, and yet...

SAM: The sound of the song itself conjures images of machines on an assembly line, although, being out of touch with contemporary trends in "pop music that is actually popular," I may be failing to perceive that this is simply the contemporary status-quo "sound" rather than a unique artistic touch or decision. Let me say that I don't think I've ever heard a song so bizarrely and explicitly structure-conscious as this one. A seeming tribute to the instructive vocal interjections of James Brown during his funk era, this song proudly and bafflingly announces its changes: "Take 'em to the chorus!", etc. This could be a device intended to highlight the songs artificiality, to never allow the listener to forget that this is a carefully constructed pop song, a product stamped out for a mass audience, and a carefully considered career move for Timberlake. Then again, it could simply be a song that is very excited about its choruses and bridges.

NATE: Some might say that all "club" music by its very nature is designed in the hopes of attracting sexual partners via the dancefloor, but "Sexyback" takes a more realistic (i.e. impersonal) perspective on this phenomena. The voices of rappers and pop stars/starlets have become the dialogue between clubgoers, any chances of conversation drowned out by the relentless output of the club's sound system. All you need to do is approach a potential partner with a thrusting groin and you are off to the races. "Dancing" as we know it in our current culture has become more of a dry-humping spectacle, which perhaps cuts to the chase of what "dancing" is really all about (i.e. demonstration of sexual prowess).

SAM: I find the parallels between the cold, impersonal, and robotic-sounding music and the cold, impersonal "meat market" environment described in the lyrics fascinating. There does seem to be a grim-faced recognition here that we are all cogs in the machine, grinding out further reproductions of ourselves, replacing ourselves with a new generation. We are a human factory, and perhaps this is reflective of contemporary dating trends, perhaps it is viewing mating rituals with a clear-eyed honesty, or perhaps this is the vision of a sci-fi future the LP title seems to promise.

NATE: What I find striking is that the song could be construed as an anthem of non-masculinity. If Timberlake's first solo outing was directly inspired by Michael Jackson, Timberlake's latest seems to more immediately recall mid-'80s Prince, at least in its blatant incorporation of "taboo" sexuality. With mentions of "shackles" and whips prominently featured in the lyrics, combined with Timberlake the vocal narrator taking the submissive role, perhaps this song marks a conscious paradigm shift away from the hyper-masculinity of hip-hop.

SAM: Timberlake's boast "I'm bringing sexy back -- those other boys don't know how to act" is a proud rejection of traditional "macho" masculinity and an embrace of a feminine or "sexy" masculinity more typically associated with stereotypes of homosexual males. Timberlake, in his ability to combine real or imagined decadence, possible distopian science fiction, and an alternative vision of masculinity reminds me of David Bowie's work of the 1970s and early 80s. "Sexyback" shares much of the dancable menace found on Scary Monsters. It just happens to be way more popular here in the USA.

And maybe that popularity itself is part of this song's appeal: It presents something "naughty" from a formerly unbearbly clean-cut boyband star. I admit that I experience a not entirely wholesome thrill hearing pop idol Timberlake saying "motherfuckers," and then an additional thrill when I consider that this song was the most popular song in the country for seven weeks. It makes me feel as if I am far from alone in my private perversions -- as if our culture as a whole has now embraced what was formerly closeted and taboo. Like Prince in the 1980s (an obvious source of inspiration), Timberlake brings our shameful secrets out onto the national stage, and the audience celebrates not just the perversion in the song, but the fact that this is now no longer perversion -- Our notion of what is "normal" and "acceptable" has been expanded to include feminine men and kinky sex. The shocking and obscene S/M sexuality of "Venus In Furs" by the Velvet Underground in 1967 is now #1 on the Billboard Pop chart in 2006, an impressive feat in our supposedly overwhelmingly conservative political climate.

NATE: When played at deafening club volume, I think this song is great...a stark, steadfast number that generates a weird tension and some subtle rhythmic hooks. Everything in the song is focused on rhythm rather than melody, although Timberlake's voice does take some interesting turns during the verses. When listened to at a more reasonable volume, though, the song seems more boring in its repetition. Without the production, there really isn't a song at all.

VIDEO.

SAM: This music video hurts my brain. It is totally different than anything I would have imagined for this song. It is incredibly difficult to follow, moreso than your average Hollywood spy thriller. Is this density and difficulty intentional? Is this an attempt to replicate the complex, mysterious, and treacherous terrain of today's "dating scene," where one might very easily end up dying, if not in a hotel explosion, then perhaps in a hospital bed.

NATE:
I'm trying to understand this as well...the plot seems to involve a duplicitous Justin Timberlake, two separate characters played by the same actor, in this case some sort of "Mission Impossible"-type espionage agent or hired murderer. What does all of this mean, in the terms of subtext? Well, perhaps Justin is trying to illustrate the two sides of his public persona, the "good/pure" side of his former Backstreet career and his new "dark/sexual" persona, perfectly illustrated by his use of the word "motherfucker". Is "bad" Justin killing off "good" Justin with a hotel bomb explosion? Or is this all just a shitty Michael Bay action movie ripoff that really means nothing? I say this song has too much sub-text going on in it to ignore.

The video itself moves at a hyper-edited pace and I feel like every time I look at modern MTV I lose a few more seconds of my attention span. I was surprised to find the video relies less on T&A than I had imagined and there IS something of a "plot" to be had, however convoluted it may be. That said, I think the eerie atmosphere of the song is definitely invoked within the video....as an illustration of the song, it works, and I would say the song does stand quite separate from the video. This song would still be a club hit, even without a video.

SAM: Thanks for bringing up the editing. I haven't checked out MTV's offerings in many years and I was worried while watching this that I had somehow lost my ability to keep up pace with our culture. I guess I took a more dim or self-hating view than you did, seeing this inability to process the rapid-fire images and form them into some kind of plot in my mind. The only similiar piece of film I've seen is the perplexing but ultimately (upon repeated review) coherent opening of Takashi Miike's Dead Or Alive, although it's quite possible to me that this editing style has become "the usual" at this point on MTV and in cultural products aimed at younger people. Rather than viewing this as a shortcoming on their part (that is, the inability to concentrate, attention deficit disorder), I tend to think of this as the younger generation (or indeed probably members of my own generation who've kept in better touch with the cultural mainstream) being able to better process a slew of information encountered more or less at once, as a sort of cultural adaptation to our media saturated times.

Maybe this video was so densely packed with information so that it could be a sort of "gift that keeps on giving" as it is aired in heavy rotation on MTV or whatever other video outlet might be popular with the youth of today. Upon many subsequent viewings, I have determined that there is indeed a more-or-less coherent narrative present here. Part of the confusion I initially experienced was due to the fact that one of the two narrative strands is actually a flashback, which at the video's end reaches the point where the other narrative strand begins at the video's outset. The "spy games" of the video may at first glance seem to have little to do with the content of the song, but the themes of distrust and justified paranoia present in the video are an important (if often unspoken) element of today's (and let's "keep it one hundred," probably yesterday's) battles of the sexes, in which those entering into the dating process often have very different goals and are often hesitant to reveal just exactly what it is they are seeking because it would hinder their individual cause, never allowing their partners to glimpse too far beneath whatever mask or disguise they deem to be useful.