If you did the math, the name of Justin Timberlake's comeback album, The 20/20 Experience kind of made no sense. After all, the collection only has 10 songs on it.
But following a jam session with JT at SXSW on Saturday night, Roots drummer ?uestlove confirmed a rumor that has been floating around lately: JT is prepping a second album for release in the fall. "Spoiler alert," he wrote on the Okayplayer.com message boards. "20/20 Vol. 2 comes out in Nov. 10 songs now ... 10 songs later = 20 vision." How does Quest know so much?
He jammed with Timberlake on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" on Friday, which ended a week's worth of memorable shows for the singer/actor, during which he participated in skits, sat on the couch twice and performed four nights of new songs and a blazing greatest hits set during his final appearance. Quest also DJ'd before Timberlake's not-so-secret show in Austin at SXSW on Saturday and again at the star's first proper concert in five years in New Orleans before the Super Bowl.
A spokesperson for Timberlake's label could not be reached for confirmation on a potential second album at press time. If the report is true, however, it would mean that Timberlake would double his solo catalog within eight months after waiting six years between his second and third efforts.
Though 20/20 is another album-length collaboration with producer Timbaland, it's unclear if the second volume is also a Tim joint, or if it features the work of other producers. Timberlake has said in several interviews that the album's name is a reference to a friend's comment that listening to the music made him feel like he was watching a movie, hence the optical allusion in the title. 20/20 hits stores on Tuesday and is expected to sell 500,000 or more in its first week.
According to Billboard, the post from Quest about the sequel album came in response to a tepid-verging-on-negative review of 20/20 in Sunday's New York Times, in which writer Jon Caramanica said JT's latest lacks risk and innovation and is, at best, an "amiable" album that "doesn't alienate anyone but also doesn't offer new reasons to commit."
For his taste, Quest said he likes the "throwback" beats Timbaland cooked up for 20/20 and admires the "balls" it took for Timberlake to make the new album. "Cause he coulda easily Urshurd his work in and made Diplo his Teddy Riley to 20/20, dangerous instead of sticking with Timb.'s Quincy," comparing Timbaland's relationship with JT to the legendary Quincy Jones' to Michael Jackson.