Starting today, I am beginning a Throwback Thursday series. We'll progressively head back in the history of popular music, beginning with this day in 2006.
In the mid-2000s, Justin Timberlake was a shell of both his former and future selves, writing and singing music but to less acclaim than his days heading up every teenage girl's favorite band in the early '00s. His first solo album, Justified, is retrospectively one of my two favorite Timberlake albums; it earned the former *NSYNCer four Grammy nominations and went triple-platinum. By 2006, three years had passed since Justified and the world's most prominent recent memory of Timberlake was the infamous NippleGate incident with Janet Jackson.
Enter FutureSex/LoveSounds and the massive hit "SexyBack".
The message is quite clear: Justin Timberlake is still sexy, and he is back in the public spotlight. Timberlake has called the song a risk, but that risk paid off. SexyBack was the first - and longest-running - of two FS/LS singles to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100; the megahit spent seven weeks atop the charts in September and October.
For years, I've jokingly claimed that SexyBack is my theme song. Even eight years after its release, it's one of my go-to jams. Here's the video:
Next week: 2003
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