In class we were each given one random artist or band to research their musical styles and campaigns (specifically their website, most recent album and one of their most recent music videos). I was given Justin Timberlake, referred to by contemporary critics as the “Prince of Pop”.
Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actor and record producer. Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, he appeared on the television shows Star Search and The All-New Mickey Mouse Club as a child. In the late 1990s, Timberlake rose to prominence as one of the two lead vocalists and youngest member of NSYNC, which eventually became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time. During the group's hiatus, Timberlake released his debut solo album, the R&B-focused Justified (2002), which included the successful singles "Cry Me a River" and "Rock Your Body", earning his first two Grammy Awards.
From there on, he went on to release FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006) which produced the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "SexyBack", "My Love", and "What Goes Around... Comes Around”. After taking a small hiatus to focus on his acting career, Timberlake resumed his music career in 2013 with his third and fourth albums The 20/20 Experience and The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2, exploring neo soul styles with the song structures of 1960s and 1970s rock. Justin has recently released "Can't Stop the Feeling!", which is his fifth chart-topping single in the US.
First and foremost, Justin Timberlake is a pop singer (although with aspects of R&B and Neo Soul). His target audience is more specified to younger women. According to Keith Negus’ theory, Justin Timberlake can be categorised as a synthetic artist who has since become organic since achieving success. As a younger artist, Timberlake definitely conformed to Dyer’s Star theory given how he had very little creative control and was moulded to become an archetypal boy band member. Since going solo, he has become far less of a constructed image. His unique selling point is his recognisable dancing style, as well as the fact that he has become far more prominent in the film industry.
Justin's website has a page in which his latest music video, Can't Stop the Feeling, plays on loop before one can enter the site. On this page, numerous websites where one can purchase or view the song for themselves are clearly listed, thus denoting that he is quite interested in selling his song.
Upon entering the site, the homepage is clear to use with links to his store, online media platforms, news page, music archive, tour information, sponsors, and film and tv archive. There is also an advertisement to sign up to his newsletter, as well as to join his group 'the Tennessee Kids' and below, there are an assortment of pictures of him on tour. Ultimately, the emphasis of the webpage is all about Justin's image rather than his music.
Justin's latest (and fourth studio) album is The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2. It was released on September 27th 2013 by RCA Records, and was nominated for both the Billboard Music Award for Top R&B Album and World Music Award for World's Best Album. The album is made up of 11 tracks (on the standard edition), and as of June 18th 2014, sold over a million copies in the US alone. However, heralded by the release of his latest song, Justin plans to release his fifth studio album in early 2017, although little is known at this point.
In terms of his latest song, Can't Stop the Feeling, which was made for his new animated movie, 'Trolls', it achieved over 50 million views on youtube in less than a month and debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. At the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest final, Justin performed the track live.
Given how Justin's new music video is very white and 'sunny', his latest website rebrand fits accordingly with the latest theme of his music, and as such I would say his music campaign is very successful and professionally achieved. His latest image is evident, and certainly circulated all about the feel-good factor.
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