Everything I Thought It Was (2024)

"In the immediate decade following his boy band peak with *NSYNC, Justin Timberlake was on top of the pop world with the post-Y2K classic Justified and the globe-conquering FutureSex/LoveSounds. His big 2024 comeback, "Everything I Thought It Was", mostly avoids that downward trend, offering a decent attempt at recapturing his former glory, but lacking enough excitement to be truly memorable. That's not to say it's a complete miss: for every disappointing moment (like the sleepy "Selfish" and the overly long slow jam "Technicolor"), there's a whiff of the emotion and charisma that propelled his solo ascendance, like the yearning "Drown" and "Flame," which sound like "Cry Me a River"/"What Goes Around…" in the best ways. "Everything I Thought It Was" is at least better executed than the uneven "Man Of The Woods" and on par with "The 20/20 Experience". Some focus and editing would have really helped because there's a great album buried somewhere in here." (All Music; 3 uit 5 sterren)