Justin Timberlake has been in the limelight ever since appearing as a child actor in Mickey Mouse Club. Of course, the singer is also known for his illustrious career in music as a member of the iconic boyband NSYNC before going on to have a successful solo career after the band’s dissolution. He continues creating music today, with the singer writing and producing the soundtrack to the upcoming Trolls World Tour movie. He’s made a lot of music, and in a recent interview, Timberlake ranked his solo albums from most to least favorite, which is more candid than a lot of artists tend to get about their work.
On Complex’s spicy series Hot Ones, Justin Timberlake chatted with host Sean Evans about his favorite Memphis dining spots, the first time he ever heard the instrumentals to “Cry Me A River,” his iconic “D*ck In A Box” SNL sketch, and, of course, his own music. Wincing through the pain of his spicy chicken wings, Timberlake was asked to rank his albums, and although he said doing is difficult for a number of reasons, but did it after summarizing each album:
“That’s hard to do for a lot of different reasons. […] You try to do something different every time you put a record out, explore a different sound… a different sauce, if you will. Justified was my debut coming out of a boy group, [and I wanted to] to explore my own sound. […] FutureSex/LoveSounds, that album happened because I wanted so badly to make an R&B album. With Justified, I was young and naive and got all up in my feelings because it was under the pop album category. […] And then [The 20/20 Experience and The 20/20 Experience — 2 Of 2] was really an exploration of how expansive can we make the music, and then Man Of The Woods [is] my most familial album. A lot of people don’t know this, but my son’s name, Silas, means ‘of the forest” or ‘of the woods,’ so it more or less was a dedication to him.”
Ultimately, he ranked FutureSex/LoveSounds as his favorite, then Justified second, The 20/20 Experience third, Man Of The Woods fourth, and The 20/20 Experience — 2 Of 2 last.
Watch the full interview here.