Justin Timberlake was always one of those guys written off for his early work, but that changed around the period FutureSex/LoveSounds came out — nearly 7 years ago. The scope that he carried not just within singles but within the overarching flow of a pop album turned him into one of those artists worth dedicating full and serious attention to. It’s fair to say, however, that enough can change in seven years to dissolve those integral, lingering qualities that really mattered on his beloved 2006 record. While the sampling we’re provided of JT’s new record, The 20/20 Experience, is a single and can’t necessarily hit the stages that FutureSex/LoveSounds explored, “Suit & Tie” seems to point to the notion that JT still knows what he’s doing.
The track starts with a sluggish, dreamy beat from Timberland — not far off from something you’d hear off FutureSex/LoveSounds. About forty-five seconds in, “Suit & Tie” ascends to more upbeat territory that immediately sounds like a no-brainer wedding checklist track with harps surrounding its quick-paced, tidy melody and cute quips (“burned myself, I just had to touch it”). The likability in the body of the track is simple enough to latch onto within the first listen, but the prelude, Jay Z verse, and ending of “Suit & Tie” reveal a denser motive that is just as sneaky as any of the movements on his last record. The change in tempo is a subtle mood-switcher for the dance floor to encompass a rejoice, a hypnotization, and euphoria, eventually smashing them together by the end of it all.
