-Welcome back to the show.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Thank you. -They love you!
-Obviously, we love you.
Buddy, "Everything I Thought It --"
-I'm exhausted.
-"Everything I Thought It Was" is here.
-It's here. -March 15th.
This is -- -It's here in a minute.
-Yeah, in a minute. No, it's here, but in a minute.
But "Selfish" came out today.
-It did. -Congratulations.
[ Cheers and applause ]
It's finally out. -It's out.
-How long have you been working on this?
-Uh...four years.
-Yeah. -Yeah, four years.
-I've never seen anyone work harder on anything in my life
than you on this album.
-The only thing I work harder on is our relationship.
-We have to make it work. Thank you.
I appreciate you saying that, yeah.
It's not hard for me at all, by the way, yeah.
-Jimmy, family, career.
-But, dude, it's been four years.
Every time we talk, every time we hang out, and you go,
"Oh, dude, check this one out.
I think you'll like this one." And I go, "Okay."
Then you're like, "I'm changing this."
There's no one I can think of that
writes their own music, performs their own thing.
You'll hum something and you're like, "No."
And then you'll go over to the keyboard and start playing it.
Then you'll play the bass guitar.
Then you start harmonizing with yourself.
And then I'm like -- then you get out --
Then you pick a director for your single.
-It's not at the same time. -No, it isn't.
Then you dance. No one else dances.
There's no one like you. You're one in a zillion, buddy.
Just want to say that. [ Cheers and applause ]
And this album -- get ready for this thing.
I love it so much. This thing is a masterpiece.
Tell me about "Everything I Thought It Was," the title.
When did you think of that title?
And it was when we vacationed together?
[ Laughter ]
-It was... [ Laughter ]
-It was everything you thought it was.
-You and I were sitting on the beach.
-Yes, that's right. -And you reached your hand over.
-Yeah, we were looking at the -- We were in a bathtub.
We were in two separate bathtubs.
-Yeah, two separate bathtubs, and I went to grab soap
at the same time.
-Yes, we -- Yeah. And we just -- And we touched, and I go...
And then sparks, and I go,
"That's where you got the title."
-Everything I thought it was. -Yeah.
-You can't see it. If you zoom out, I'm over here.
-Yeah. -I'm right here.
-No, you're -- -Where am I?
-You're -- -Oh, I'm in that? Yeah.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
You put me up in a hotel room there.
It's just blurry.
What is "Everything I Thought It Was"?
-You know, so -- Yeah, so, four years,
that pandemic happened.
-Yeah. Yeah, it was crazy.
-But making this record -- this album -- was --
is different from any other one.
And it's so -- You know what's so funny
is you interviewing me.
-Is it weird?
-Because I feel like we've already had this conversation,
but we have to have it so you guys can hear the story.
I'm sorry.
-Is it odd? Is it odd that -- Yeah.
It's because people are listening.
But, yeah, we have had this conversation, but --
-No, so, but I'll tell it. -Thank you.
-Okay. -And we want to know.
-Yeah, so, four years and different from
making albums before,
because I would just go in for a block of time
and say, "This is what we made, and this is what it is."
And during the pandemic, you know, having our second son,
which was unbelievable --
-Oh, shout-out to -- -Thank you.
-Shout-out to Phin. We love you, bud.
And -- -He's so cute.
-Oh, he's so cute. They're both so cute.
-They're both so cute. You lucked out.
Yeah, you got a good kid. -They run our house. It's crazy.
-Yeah.
-But I was going back and forth,
you know, two weeks writing, coming back for a month,
and just doing what we call writer camps,
where I would work with different songwriters,
work with different producers, people that I've worked with
before, people that I've never worked with before.
-But how many songs did you write? Because --
-We ended up with like almost 100 songs.
-Seriously. I remember -- I've heard probably --
-That's not an exaggeration.
I'm not saying that because it's a nice number
to say on television.
We ended up with almost 100 songs.
-But you cut it down. -Narrowed it down to 18 songs.
-Wow. See, if I ever wrote 100 songs,
I would release all 100 songs.
I'd be so proud I did 100 songs. I go, "That's it, man.
That's every song I wrote in four years.
There you go. Take it."
But this is perfectly done.
Everything you've done, the layers upon layers,
the different tempos, it's fun, it's dancy, it's ballad.
There's surprises on there. It's good.
It's a "whop, whop, whop, whop, whop."
There's that in there. There's all sorts of fun stuff.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
-There you go.
-It's "whop, whop, whop, whop."
-Dude, I mean, we played -- When did we hear the final?
Was that Electric Lady? -That was at Electric Lady, yes.
-And we stayed up -- Dude, I mean --
-Hold on, though.
You guys -- You should have at least
if not a segment on this show, another show that's called like,
"Jimmy Fallon Listens to Your Album."
Because what happens to this man when he listens to music --
I mean, you know what happens to him.
But I got the biggest kick
out of just watching you listen to the album.
-What was I doing? -A lot.
[ Laughter ] -That was cool, man.
It was just me and you in the studio chillin' out.
-Yeah.
Do you want me to do a re-enactment or...
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
"What is this song?!"
Oh! What?! What!"
-"Ahh! Who is that?!" -"Oh, my God!"
-I did not. That's not my dance at all.
It is phenomenal.
-That's just a taste. That was way worth it.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I just think it's -- I'm so happy it's almost out.
And, I mean -- -Me too.
I'm really excited about this album.
-You were saying, too, when we were listening to you,
you're like, "Dude, you know what I can't wait?
I go, "For it to come out."
And you go, "I can't wait to perform it."
-Yeah.
-And you were like, "I can't wait to perform this."
And I go, "That is so cool." I got chills when you said that.
I'm like -- Because I could just see you.
Like, you couldn't even really sit still in your chair.
You're, like, doing stuff. -Oh, I was doing that?
-Oh, yeah. You were like, "Yo, come on, man! Come on!"
What's up?! Oh, my God!
You're the best, man! It's the best!"
No, but you did say you couldn't wait to perform it.
Then you got to perform this --
-Did I get you in your feelings by doing that impersonation?
-No. No. Do you think you did?
-I don't know. I just felt like you had to retort.
It was like...
-Yeah, I've never really retorted, yeah.
-See? James agrees.
-I've never really retorted. Hey, I'm sorry about that.
I blew up a little bit. I got out of control.
-Sorry, buddy. -I'm sorry, buddy.
I'm really sorry I got a little out of control.
-I ate something spicy earlier and I had to retort.
-Yeah, it's burrito season, and don't I know it.
-It's burrito season.
-You performed at Memphis.
You crushed it. It was a free show?
-I did. My hometown, yes. -Your hometown.
[ Cheers and applause ] That's where you kicked it off.
That's where you played "Selfish" for the first time.
And then you are playing a free gig here
at Irving Plaza in New York City.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Should we tell them?
Should we tell -- -Do you have something that --
-Jimmy's gonna open up. -That's not -- That's not --
No, that's not what they want to hear.
-That's not what you said backstage.
-That's not what you want to hear.
No, what -- Are you going to perform more?
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Um...maybe.
-Do you have something to announce?
-No. No, no. I don't have anything to announce.
So -- We're announcing it. -No, no, no, no.
How about a little something extra?
-Well, we are still putting the set list together
for Irving Plaza, so...
-That's not -- -That's all I got.
I'm just telling you the truth. Don't "aah" me.
[ Laughter ]
-I'm just saying there could be something
that the audience might want to hear
if you said the right thing,
that people are watching at home,
they could go to justintimberlake.com,
and get something if they wanted something.
Is there something that you'd like to announce?
[ Drum roll ] -What is happening right now?
Oh, that. -Yes.
-Oh, yeah. I'm going on tour. [ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-Come on! This is a world tour! The world tour.
-Yes.
-The "Forget Tomorrow Tour."
I want to talk about this when we come back.
More with Justin Timberlake. Come on, now!