Justin Timberlake Previews New Album

Justin Timberlake Previews New Album, Talks Why He Didn’t Work With The Neptunes Since 2002 

Justin Timberlake has shared a new behind-the-scenes video about the making of his forthcoming album Man Of The Woods. The clip features appearances from Pharrell, Chad, Timbaland, Jessica Biel and Chris Stapleton, as well as previews of new music. Man Of The Woods is out February 2 (via RCA). It’s led by the single “Filthy,” his next single is called ‘Supplies’ produced by The Neptunes

It’s the first time The Neptunes worked on a Timberlake album since the singer’s 2002 solo debut Justified. In a new interview with Zane Lowe, Timberlake has now revealed the reason behind the decade-plus gap in collaboration, and it had to do with Clipse and their troubles with Jive Records. “Everyone remembers Clipse,” Timberlake began. “Clipsewas signed to Jive Records, which I was signed to. I don’t know what went on with their deal, but I do remember that Pharrell was very adamant about getting them out of the deal. So it became—from my understanding, you know—it became challenging for him to work with any Jive artist at that point.”

In the early ‘00s, Clipse, childhood friends of Pharrell and Chad—were signed to The Neptunes’ Star Trak Entertainment, an imprint of Arista. But label restructuring in 2004 left Clipse on Jive Records, separated from Star Trak, which became part of Interscope. Clipse sued Jive to get out of their contract and join Star Trak at Interscope, and though the suit was eventually settled with Jive agreeing to distribute Clipse’s Re-Up Gang Records, the bad blood persisted until 2007, when Clipse finally left Jive for Columbia Records.