While the announcement of Justin Timberlake's upcoming album Man of the Woods sparked plenty of excitement for the star's return, it carried extra weight for diehard fans because it promised to unite JT with Pharrell, a holy union of pop goodness we've been deprived of for entirely too long. Though Justin and Pharrell collaborated on "Brand New" from Skateboard P's 2014 album G I R L, they've largely operated in separate spheres since Justified, and now we finally have some insight into why.
Speaking to Zane Lowe on Beats 1 Radio, JT said that their collaborative hiatus was due largely to label politics.
I was not able to work with Pharrell out of a—and I've got to say this the right way, 'cause I don't want to blame anybody for anything, but it did change the course of things for a minute. Everyone remembers Clipse. Clipse was 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, it became challenging for him to work with any Jive artist at that point.
Timberlake's last release on Jive was 2005's FutureSex/Love Sounds, The 20/20 Experience was released through RCA, which will also put out Man of the Woods on February 2. JT caused a stir on social media in March 2017 when he posted a photo of himself with Pharell and Timbaland. The Neptunes member and "Rock Your Body" producer also appeared in the teaser videofor Man on the Woods. It's unclear if any of the Pharrell collaborations were what Timberlake played during an impromptu appearance at New York's 1 OAK.
Later in the Zane Lowe interview, Timberlake revealed more of his personal feelings about the situation with Pharrell, referencing legal and financial issues he's faced in the industry.
If I'm being totally honest about it, I was extremely hurt being caught up in the middle of it, but at the same time I had—listen, I had had a [shit]load of money stolen from me by somebody else when I was in the group, you know? I had gone through like, legal troubles and I kind of felt like, 'You know what, I'm at this point where I feel like I have so much ahead of me, I don't want to be in the middle of the record label and somebody that I consider a friend, and so I feel like I just kind of removed myself from the situation.
Check out a clip from Timberlake's interview, which airs in its entirety on January 18 at 1 p.m. ET, below.
