Outpoll | Justin Timberlake Credits D'Angelo for Defining His Musical Voice

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Justin Timberlake Credits D'Angelo for Defining His Musical Voice

Justin Timberlake Credits D'Angelo for Defining His Musical Voice

2 days ago7 min read5 comments

In a revelation that feels like finding the hidden track on a classic album, Justin Timberlake recently pulled back the curtain on his musical genesis, offering a raw and resonant testament to the album that fundamentally shaped his artistic identity. The year was 1995, and while the pop landscape was still reverberating with the aftershocks of grunge and the burgeoning bubblegum revival, a quiet storm was brewing with the release of D'Angelo's seminal debut, *Brown Sugar*.For Timberlake, then a young performer navigating the transition from boy-band phenom in *NSYNC to a solo artist in search of a soul, this record wasn't just a collection of songs; it was a spiritual awakening, a masterclass in authenticity that gave him the permission and the blueprint to find his own voice. He describes the experience as nothing short of 'pivotal,' a word that barely scratches the surface of its profound impact.Imagine the scene: the mid-90s, a time of musical cross-pollination where hip-hop's golden age was colliding with a renewed interest in live instrumentation and raw, unfiltered R&B. Into this space stepped D'Angelo, a virtuoso who channeled the ghost of Marvin Gaye and the fire of Prince into a sound that was both timeless and utterly fresh.*Brown Sugar* was a slow-burn revolution, an album that prioritized feel over flash, where the spaces between the notes were as important as the notes themselves. Its grooves were languid and intoxicating, a world away from the high-gloss, heavily produced pop that dominated the airwaves.For Timberlake, listening to tracks like the title cut or 'Lady' was like receiving a key to a locked room within his own creative psyche. It was the confidence in D'Angelo's rasp, the sheer audacity to be both vulnerable and virtuosic, that showed him a path forward—a path where slick production could coexist with genuine soul, where a pop star could also be a serious musician.This wasn't about imitation; it was about internalization. The lessons of *Brown Sugar* would simmer for years before fully manifesting in Timberlake's own career-defining work.You can hear its DNA—the warm, layered harmonies, the emphasis on rhythm as a narrative device, the seamless blend of pop melody with R&B grit—woven throughout the fabric of his 2002 solo debut, *Justified*. Tracks like 'Like I Love You' and 'Take It From Here' aren't just homages; they are direct descendants of that D'Angelo ethos, applying a similar philosophy of cool, understated confidence to a more mainstream palette.Even later, on the future-funk opus *FutureSex/LoveSounds*, the ghost of *Brown Sugar* is present in the ambitious, suite-like structures and the willingness to let a groove breathe and evolve. This acknowledgment from Timberlake is more than just a tip of the hat; it's a crucial piece of modern musicology, highlighting how influence operates not as a straight line of copying, but as a complex dialogue across genres and generations.It speaks to the power of an album to act as a mentor, a north star for other artists lost in the wilderness of commercial expectation. In an industry often obsessed with the new and the next, Timberlake’s confession is a powerful reminder of the debts even the biggest stars owe to the architects who came before them, the ones who provided the 'brown sugar' that sweetened their entire artistic journey.