Justin Timberlake is bringing nostalgia back: The Grammy winner released his newest single Thursday along with the announcement of his sixth studio album.
With “Selfish,” an introspective (if not possessive) love song about jealousy and appreciation, the former ‘NSync frontman and “Trolls” star debuts his first solo music release since his 2018 “Man of the Woods” album. He co-wrote the song with Louis Bell, Cirkut, Theron Thomas and Amy Allen. The video, which also dropped Thursday, was directed by SZA collaborator Bradley J. Calder and provides a sneak peek at Timberlake’s music-video production process.
“So if I get jealous, I can’t help it / I want every bit of you, I guess I’m selfish / It’s bad for my mental, but I can’t fight it, when / You’re out lookin’ like you do, but you can’t hide it, no,” he sings in the chorus.
“Selfish” will be the lead single on Timberlake’s upcoming “Everything I Thought It Was” album, which RCA Records will release March 15. The musician has described his latest foray as “incredibly honest” and “a lot of f— fun.”
“I worked for a long time on this album and I ended up with 100 songs,” he said in a new interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe. “So narrowing them down to 18 was a thing, and then, yeah, I’m really excited about this album. I think every artist probably says this, but it is my best work.”
With a full-fledged promotional launch, the 10-time Grammy Award winner also announced Wednesday that he’ll be performing for one night only at Irving Plaza in New York City on Jan. 31. The “Can’t Stop the Feeling” and “Suit & Tie” hitmaker kept a relatively low profile last year, particularly amid bombshell revelations about his relationship with Britney Spears in the singer’s memoir, “The Woman in Me.” However, Timberlake notably stepped out twice since the book’s October release: for the premiere of animated movie “Trolls Band Together” in November and to headline the splashy opening of Fontainebleau Las Vegas last month. (He, along with his ‘NSync brethren, also got millennial hearts aflutter with rumors of a reunion after their joint appearance at the September MTV VMAs.)
He’ll also return to the “Saturday Night Live” stage this weekend — a forum that enabled him to win four Emmy Awards. The pop and R&B singer has hosted the sketch series five times and has frequently guest-starred, but this weekend he’ll return to Studio 8H as a musical guest. The episode will be hosted by actor Dakota Johnson.
“I flirted with the idea of, should I host or ask to host? And then I just thought, ‘No, this album is really special to me in a different, different way,’” Timberlake told Lowe. “And, yeah, you read that perfectly, but I also cannot imagine that I won’t get pulled into a sketch or two. It’s only natural. And I’m here for it. That’s always fun. ‘SNL,’ for me, in any capacity. I’ve hosted five, but I don’t even know how many times I’ve been on the show.”
