1981-present
Justin Timberlake Now: Singer Releases New Album, Everything I Thought It Was
A recent Billboard poll shows fans have embraced Justin Timberlake’s newly released album—his first in six years. According to the music publication, fans voted Everything I Thought It Was, available as of March 15, their favorite new music release by a wide margin. Timberlake received 61 percent of votes, far ahead of Kacey Musgraves and her new album Deeper Well, as well as Cardi B, Zayn, and other artists with new songs out last week.
Check out Everything I Thought It Was on Amazon Music, Apple Music, and Spotify.
Everything I Thought It Was features 18 tracks, including the already-released single “Selfish” and “Paradise.” The latter song is an *NSYNC collaboration, marking the group’s first since their 2023 track “Better Place.” *NSYNC celebrated with a live performance at Timberlake’s free Los Angeles concert on March 13.
In correlation with his new album, 42-year-old Timberlake will perform at more than 70 shows across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe on The Forget Tomorrow World Tour. It kicks off April 29 in Vancouver.
Who Is Justin Timberlake?
Justin Timberlake found fame as a member of *NSYNC and has since become a Grammy-winning solo musician and actor. The Tennessee native was a child star on The All New Mickey Mouse Club, alongside Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. In 1995, he became a teen heartthrob with the boy band *NSYNC. After the pop group’s immensely successful run, Timberlake went solo in 2002. He proved he could stand alone with his Grammy-winning solo debut album, Justified, and has continued that success with four more albums and hit songs such as “SexyBack” and “Can’t Stop The Feeling!” Also an actor, Timberlake has starred in the movies The Social Network, In Time, and the Trolls franchise. He is married to actor Jessica Biel. His latest album, titled Everything I Thought I Was and featuring the song “Selfish,” released in March 2024.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Justin Randall Timberlake
BORN: January 31, 1981
BIRTHPLACE: Memphis, Tennessee
SPOUSE: Jessica Biel (2012-present)
CHILDREN: Silas and Phineas
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Aquarius
Early Life
Justin Randall Timberlake was born on January 31, 1981, in Memphis, Tennessee, to parents Randall “Randy” Timberlake and Lynn Bomer.
Four years later, Timberlake’s parents divorced. Both have remarried, and the extended family remains close. Justin has two half-brothers on his father’s side. His half-sister died shortly after birth, and Timberlake eventually paid tribute to her in the *NSYNC song “My Angel in Heaven.”
Raised a Baptist, Justin grew up singing in a church choir. His family circle also included a number of musicians who nurtured his talent, including an uncle who played in a bluegrass band. One of his grandfathers, who had jammed with Elvis Presley, first taught the young Timberlake to play. His grandfather also introduced him to the songs of Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. At the same time, his father played him songs by bands like the Eagles and Queen. Growing up in Memphis, home of the blues, Timberlake also got turned on to the likes of B.B. King and others.
His professional career began on the Disney-backed kids variety show The All New Mickey Mouse Club. The young teenager performed as a Mouseketeer from 1993 to 1995, alongside fellow future pop stars Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and JC Chasez. A young Ryan Gosling was also on the show and roomed with Timberlake and his mom for a period. After leaving the show, Timberlake had a high-profile relationship with Spears, but his friendship with Chasez ultimately became a life-changing connection.
*NSYNC
After The All New Mickey Mouse Club, Timberlake and JC Chasez were recruited by fellow musician Chris Kirkpatrick to form a boy band in 1995. Rounding out the five-person group were Joey Fatone and Lance Bass. *NSYNC became an overnight sensation in Europe with the song “I Want You Back” before signing a record deal with RCA in 1997. Timberlake’s fate as a teen heartthrob was sealed.
*NSYNC soon became one of the hottest pop groups of the 1990s in the United States, too. The U.S. version of their self-titled debut album released in March 1998 and included another early hit “Tearin’ Up My Heart.”
After dealing with a very public legal battle with their former manager Lou Pearlman, the band released its sophomore album, No Strings Attached, in 2000. The Grammy-nominated record became the top-selling album of the year and the best-selling album of the decade. Its first single, “Bye Bye Bye,” became *NSYNC’s signature song and earned two Grammy nominations. More hits like “It’s Gonna Be Me”—the group’s only No. 1 song on the Billboard 100—and “This I Promise You” helped solidify them as one of the most popular boy bands in music history.
Celebrity, the band’s third and final album, quickly followed. The 2001 release produced three more hit singles—“Pop,” “Gone,” and “Girlfriend”—as well as two more Grammy nods. Their ensuing PopOdyssey tour became one of the biggest tours of the year, earning $90 million.
As big as *NSYNC was, the group went on indefinite hiatus in 2002 when Timberlake decided to pursue a solo career. However, the group hasn’t fallen into obscurity. *NSYNC performed at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2018. Then, in September 2023, Timberlake and his former bandmates surprised fans by reuniting again at the VMAs to present the Best Pop Award to Taylor Swift and, in the process, stoking speculation they might collaborate again.
Those suspicions were proven true, as the group performed the song “Better Place” for the soundtrack of the 2023 animated movie Trolls Band Together. It marked their first project together in two decades. Bass hinted in a November 2023 interview that *NSYNC could work again. “I don’t see this as our last thing,” he said.
Solo Career: Songs, Albums, and Super Bowl Performances
In 2002, Timberlake embarked on his solo career, debuting with the hit song “Like I Love You.” Later that year, he released his first solo album, Justified, which also featured the hits “Cry Me a River” and “Rock Your Body.” The album sold more than 7 million copies worldwide and earned Timberlake his first two Grammy Awards in 2004. Justified won Best Pop Vocal Album, and “Cry Me a River” bested the competition for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
The wins came on the heels of a controversial Super Bowl performance in February 2004 with Janet Jackson, in which Timberlake accidentally tore off a portion of Jackson’s costume, revealing her bare breast. The wardrobe malfunction remains one of the most infamous pop culture moments of the 21st century and even spawned a 2021 New York Times documentary.
But the controversy didn’t tarnish Timberlake’s reputation as an in-demand pop and R&B artist. He frequently collaborated with Timbaland and the Black Eyed Peas, receiving a Grammy nomination with the band for “Where Is The Love?” He also worked with Nelly, Snoop Dogg, and Nelly Furtado.
A year after he started the record company JayTee Records in 2005, Timberlake released his second album. FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006) debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and was later nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammy Awards. The album’s lead single, “SexyBack,” spent consecutive weeks as the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Some of the album’s other hit tracks included “My Love,” “What Goes Around Comes Around,” and “LoveStoned/I Think She Knows.” Timberlake collected four more Grammys for each of the songs.
In 2008, Timberlake helped make Madonna’s single “4 Minutes” a Top 10 hit. Not only did he provide complementary vocals, but he was also a co-writer of the song. Timberlake additionally contributed to several other tracks on Madonna’s Hard Candy album.
His next big song was also a collaboration. Timberlake returned to the music scene in January 2013 with the hit single “Suit & Tie” featuring Jay-Z. The duo performed the song at the 2013 Grammy Awards ceremony, plus Timberlake sang another new song “Pusher Love Girl.” Both won the pop star more Grammy trophies before appearing on his long-awaited third album The 20/20 Experience, released that March. Like FutureSex/LoveSounds, the record reached the top of the Billboard 200 in its first week.
Timberlake continued to enjoy this wave of success in August 2013 when he picked up the VMA Vanguard Award at the MTV Video Music Awards. That October, Timberlake released a companion album: The 20/20 Experience Part 2 of 2. The follow-up album didn’t achieve the same critical acclaim as its predecessor, though it still debuted at No. 1 and produced the popular songs “Take Back the Night” and “TKO.”
In the spring of 2016, Timberlake released “Can’t Stop the Feeling,” the lead single from the Trolls movie soundtrack. The song went straight to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as in 16 other countries. It also earned Timberlake his 10th Grammy Award, this time for Best Song Written For Visual Media, and an Academy Award nomination.
In January 2018, Timberlake dropped the first single from his upcoming studio album, a slow bedroom number titled “Filthy.” He followed later in the month with the Top 10 hit “Say Something,” featuring Chris Stapleton. The album titled Man of the Woods, an uneven effort that included collaborations with Timbaland and Pharrell Williams, was released shortly before the Timberlake’s performance at the Super Bowl LII halftime show in early February.
The Super Bowl gig generated controversy well before Timberlake took the stage, with the hashtag #JusticeForJanet circulating on social media among Jackson fans who felt she took the brunt of the fallout from the 2004 Super Bowl show. Furthermore, the rumor that Timberlake planned to perform with a hologram of Prince incited additional backlash, as fans referenced an interview in which the deceased music icon specifically stated his opposition to that sort of special effect.
After a relatively quiet period, Timberland briefly resurfaced in 2020 to share new songs from another Trolls movie, with the more successful single being a SZA collaboration called “The Other Side.”
New Album and 2024 Tour
In late January 2024, Timberlake released his song “Selfish” and announced a new album called Everything I Thought It Was. His first record in six years, the project released on March 15, 2024. During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the singer said he and his collaborators wrote almost 100 songs before narrowing it down to 18 tracks for Everything I Thought It Was.
His accompanying tour, titled The Forget Tomorrow World Tour, starts April 29 in Vancouver, Canada. Timberlake has announced more than 70 dates across North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe.
Movies
Not content as a major musician, Timberlake has used his performance skills onscreen as an actor. His early parts in the 2006 movies Alpha Dog and Black Snake Moan garnered little notice, but he started to find traction that year as a host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live. His routines and comedic timing made him a fan-favorite host and earned him two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, in 2009 and 2011. (His SNL performances have also won him two Emmy trophies for Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics.)
On the silver screen, Timberlake first hit it big as the voice of a young King Arthur in the 2007 smash-hit animated movie Shrek the Third, which featured Mike Myers as the title character. Other work soon followed as Timberlake teamed up with Myers once again for the 2008 comedy The Love Guru. The certified triple threat next had a role in the drama The Open Road (2009), with Jeff Bridges and Mary Steenburgen.
One of Timberlake’s most notable performances was in 2010’s The Social Network, the Oscar-winning drama about the creation of Facebook. Timberlake played real-life internet tycoon Sean Parker, opposite Jesse Eisenberg’s leading role as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. In 2011, Timberlake starred in the comedy Bad Teacher with Cameron Diaz, the rom-com Friends with Benefits with Mila Kunis, and the futuristic thriller In Time with Amanda Seyfried.
He went on to appear in Clint Eastwood’s 2012 baseball drama Trouble with the Curve and also enjoyed a leading role in the 2013 thriller Runner Runner with Ben Affleck. Keeping in stride with his string of more serious roles, Timberlake took on the part of Neil Bogart in Inside Llewyn Davis (2013).
Next, he turned to voice work as the character of Branch in the animated movie Trolls (2016). He served as an executive music producer for the film, which has since spawned the sequels Trolls World Tour (2020) and Trolls Band Together (2023). Timberlake has contributed original music to all three movies in the franchise.
Elsewhere, Timberlake had the titular role in the 2021 Apple original film Palmer and appeared in the 2022 Netflix film Reptile.
Wife Jessica Biel and Kids
Timberlake is married to actor Jessica Biel. They began dating in 2007 and, after navigating an on-and-off relationship over the course of several years, tied the knot in October 2012. Their wedding was in Puglia, Italy. The couple later issued the following statement to People magazine: “It’s great to be married, the ceremony was beautiful and it was so special to be surrounded by our family and friends.”
Timberlake and Biel have two sons. They welcomed Silas in April 2015, followed by Phineas in summer 2020.
Prior to his relationship with Biel, Timberlake once dated pop singer Britney Spears and actor Cameron Diaz. Spears and Timberlake made headlines once more in October 2023 with the release of her memoir The Woman in Me. In the book, the pop star said she had an abortion after becoming pregnant with Timberlake’s child. “He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young,” she wrote. Timberlake hasn’t said anything publicly about Spears’ book, but a source told Elle that “Justin and Jessica [Biel] just want everyone to grow and evolve instead of continuing to bring up the past.”
Net Worth
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Timberlake has an estimated net worth at around $250 million.
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Tyler Piccotti first joined the Biography.com staff as an Associate News Editor in February 2023, and before that worked almost eight years as a newspaper reporter and copy editor. He is a graduate of Syracuse University. When he's not writing and researching his next story, you can find him at the nearest amusement park, catching the latest movie, or cheering on his favorite sports teams.
