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Page 1
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Justin goes through changes and serves himself up on a platter ...
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Page 2
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Justin gets 'eaten alive' by heartbreak and decides P. Diddy is 'too friendly' ...
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Page 3
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Honoring sex, workin' it with Janet Jackson and all those romance rumors ...
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Page 4
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Justin's not-so-personal life and the Britney incident that inspired 'Gone' ...
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Page 5
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The future of 'NSYNC and the answer to the riddle ...
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Photo Gallery
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Justin Timberlake: Photos From The Interview
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-- Jon Wiederhorn, with additional reporting by Jeff Cornell and SuChin Pak
As he bounded into the skyscraper studio to talk about his first solo album, Justified, Justin Timberlake looked to be in high spirits when he warmed up the room with a brainteaser.
"A man lives on the 45th floor of a building," he began. "Every day when he goes to work, he gets in the elevator and hits 'lobby.' But when he comes home, he hits '15' and walks the rest of the way up. Why?" Smiling devilishly, Timberlake said the answer would be revealed after the interview was over.
Clean-shaven and bubbling with boyish charm, Timberlake looked as eager and excited as he was during his first American interviews with 'NSYNC over four years ago. He wore a black T-shirt under a red Pony warm-up jacket with the sleeves pulled up to his elbows, revealing a round black watch surrounded by diamonds on his left wrist and a blue and white wristband and diamond bracelet on his right. He joked with the producers and camera crew, repeatedly impersonating Dustin Hoffman's autistic character from "Rain Man" and smiled warmly as he greeted everyone on the location. Yet this is a newer, more experienced and more adventurous Justin, and his look and attitude belie the frustration, sexual discovery and personal growth he's experienced over the past year.
Not only did he end a three-year romance with Britney Spears, but he also stepped out from his multiplatinum pop group to record a racy, experimental dance album influenced by rap and '70s
R&B. In the process, he demonstrated a new taste for authority by hiring P. Diddy to produce a track for the disc, then axing it — much to Puffy's dismay.
Judging from the pulsing beats, sensual vocals and suggestive lyrics of songs like "(And She Said) Take Me Now" and "Rock Your Body," it would be easy to assume the babyfaced singer had outgrown his squeaky-clean finery and wanted to slip into something more revealing. But while Timberlake agreed that the musical changes on Justified stemmed from personal experiences, he stressed that he wasn't consciously trying to conjure a new image.
"This record was probably the most organic experience I ever had in making music or being creative," he said, hands clasped in his lap. "It's definitely honest. This album is completely me. The lyrics are just the way I say things when I get into those moods that are described in the songs. It's just me on a platter, which is kind of scary."
So, what's in the Justin du jour? It's a tantalizing medley of palpable emotions, flavorful sensations and delectable sounds that chronicle Timberlake's mindframe from the time he and Britney split to the point where he started hitting the clubs and dating again.
"I went through some real changes while I was making this record," Justin explained, crossing his right leg over his left. "There's definitely a continuity there. To hear the person who started off and the person who finished, I hear two different people."
In simple terms, the person who started off was frustrated and angry, devastated from an ugly breakup with a girl he thought he'd be with for the rest of his life.
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Photo: Jive
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