Timberlake’s style of music, fashion sets new standards for pop artists

Although most of us remember him as the bleach-blond, curly-haired teenage star, within the past year, Justin Timberlake stopped crying a river, picked up his suit and tie, and faced the music realm with an image based on something new: suave sex appeal. In his latest album, The 20/20 Experience, Timberlake broke away from his mid-career bad-boy phase and brought sexy back with chic style and smooth grooves, thereby transforming pop-music culture as a whole. But what, you ask, is so different about his visual appearance that is suddenly making girls and boys, men and women and even my 85-year-old grandma stick human-sized posters of Timberlake above their beds?

Obviously, Timberlake’s sexy style did not happen overnight. If that were the case, he would have been sporting the embarrassing bleach-blond, ramen-noodle hair in 2012. Thankfully, before his solo career started in 2002, Timberlake bought a pair of clippers, said, “Bye, bye, bye,” to those gelled-up locks and did his hair some justice with a new buzz-cut, bad-boy look. Ten years later, he decided to dust off his old gel bottles, slick back his hair and create a sexy, revamped 1950s hairdo, making all genders go gaga. This clean-cut look opens the door for a potential change in the realm of pop-artist style. Instead of the typical bearded, pierced-up face which the majority of male pop stars embellish, Timberlake portrays a respectable, classy image that may, in turn, influence the way viewers and idolizers represent themselves.

Along with his clean-cut hairstyle, he took another classy turn with his new retrograde wardrobe — suits, ties, suspenders and more. Timberlake’s tasteful, nostalgic clothing makes him sexier than ever, appealing to young and old alike. To adults, he no longer looks like an awkward, baggy-clothed teen, as he did during his ’N Sync days. 

Even though body-hugging clothes — or lack thereof — are still popular among some, Timberlake no longer flaunts his pectorals, but rather covers them up. His new business attire may seem like a turn off for viewers, but quite the contrary — his covered elbows and buttoned-up neck turn on all the lights in his viewers’ bodies. With this as a huge example, male sex appeal is now turning tables — from wearing nothing at all to bundling up bodies. All in all, Timberlake’s fashion sense fell back to the 1950s, left no one complaining and perhaps changed the perception of male, pop sex appeal. Muscles are out. Suits are in.

In the same way that Timberlake’s fashion drifted back a couple of decades, so did his music. Throughout his solo career, Timberlake always threw in touches of the disco era, especially with his mid-2000s hit “Rock Your Body.” For his latest album, The 20/20 Experience, he rocked pop culture’s dubstep beat phase and uncovered a retro mix of the ’50s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s mashed up with a 2013 style. Timberlake throws down the beats, raps with Jay-Z, feels the funk, dances the salsa and more. Although his music may seem retrogressive, these old music styles mixed with current beats might be the progressive future of pop music. After all, present-day electronic music was originally inspired by older artists such as John Cage and Arnold Schoenberg.

Looking past the terrible mediocrity of the song “Mirrors,” The 20/20 Experience embraces decades of music that feature inspiration from Michael Jackson and even ’N Sync. The best song to exemplify these multi-decade influences would be the album’s opening track, “Pusher Love Girl.” Why this song is not more popular than “Suit & Tie” and “Mirrors” is beyond me — it is written and performed with impeccable taste that will hopefully steer the future of pop music. Right from the start, the piece embellishes a 1950s jazz craze of strings with big band brass, creating a smooth yet pulsing sound from beginning to end. Once Timberlake comes in with the first verse, the song adds a groove to the mix reminiscent of the ’70s and ’80s. Leading into the chorus moments before Timberlake wows the listener with fabulous falsetto, the brass section descends into a 16th-note pattern extremely similar to ’N Sync’s chorus line in “It’s Gonna Be Me.” After the four-minute marker, the four-decade-inspired piece seems to finish, until suddenly the strings revamp it into a modern pop jam with bumping beats followed by a two-verse rap. 

“Pusher Love Girl” — as with most of the songs on the album — is lengthy, and it plays for two seconds more than eight minutes. Despite the length, the listener only wants more of this grooving tune. Thankfully, the rest of the album continues the caliber of “Pusher Love Girl,” leaving the listener happy, content and fantasizing about Timberlake — until “Mirrors” comes on, of course. 

Timberlake’s new style and creative music opens the gateway for future pop-culture style and music. If his success rates continue to rise, male singers — and hopefully Miley Cyrus — will stop using indecent exposure and “thug” style as sex appeal and authority and instead portray their sexiness with a classy tone. This change will create a different desire in the viewers’ eyes and inspire them to dress in a respectable manner, like their idols. As for the music realm, Timberlake’s retro-progressive pop style will more than likely influence other artists’ music to come.

 Chloe Wieczorek is the host of “The Best Show,” which can be heard every Friday from 2-4 p.m.