Justin Timberlake made the radio rounds during his trip to New York. Fresh off his epic performance at the VMAs, the pop superstar stopped by Angie Martinez’ show on Hot 97 to discuss his friendship with Beyoncé and Jay Z, collaborations with Drake, Nas, and Jay Z, and his plans after The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2 drops on September 30. He also weighed in on Miley Cyrus’ infamous VMA performance. Find out what he had to say.
On hanging out with Jay Z and Beyoncé after their New York show: “I did get both of them standing on a couch. Me and my wife get along with them so well. For all the stuff that surrounds us, they’re so normal and just nice people. They’re just good people, my kinda people.”
On winning the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the VMAs: “To even be mentioned in the shadow of the GOAT, to even be mentioned in the shadow of MJ… That’s when you’re like, ‘Whoa!’ It’s humbling. It feels sacred in a way.”
On Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance: “It’s the VMAs. It’s not the Grammys. We’re talking about Madonna in a wedding dress humping the stage, we’re talking about Britney doing a striptease. This cycle is not uncommon. … I’m saying she’s young, take it easy on her. I think [‘We Can’t Stop’] is jammin’ when I hear it on the radio. I like all the bears. To me, it’s almost like if something like that doesn’t happen at the VMAs, then I feel like it was boring.”
On collaborating with Nas, Jay Z, and Timbaland on “Sinatra at the Sands”: “Originally I think it was something that Tim and I… Tim obviously did the beat and I wrote a hook on it where I sort of sang in the style of Frank Sinatra. I didn’t know that Jay was gonna be on it. I haven’t heard it done, I’ve only heard what Tim and I did together. It’s a mid. It gives you that feeling though of this easygoing… I don’t want to say too much about it ’cause I haven’t heard the end of it.”
On collaborating with Drake on “Cabaret”: “Drake and I have been trying to get at each other about doing a record. I think we’ll probably end up doing more as time goes by as well… He killed it.”
On his next album: “I don’t know that I would take as big a break this time because it really comes down to, do you have something to say with music… And if you don’t, wait until you have something to say.
“I have a lot of ideas about even beyond this double album where a sound could go from the songs we’ve just done, and funny enough, had conversations with Tim and Pharrell about it ’cause I played Pharrell a lot of this stuff before Tim and I were finished with it as well. I’m in a musical space for sure.”