I was just looking on wikipedia and somehow wandered onto Justin Timberlake's page. I was shocked to discover he has only released 2 studio albums. I can understand an artist only releasing a couple of albums if both albums under-perform and the label no longer wants to support them, but Justin Timberlake has sold around 8 million from his first album and about 10 million from his second album which are very impressive sales.

Justin Timberlake is considered quite a big artist, whenever he has had albums out his songs have charted well and pretty much everyone knows who he is and they know him first and foremost as a musician.

My question is, was there a specific reason why Justin strayed from music and ventured into the film industry? Did he tire of being a musician? And will he ever make another album do you think? It just seems bizarre to me that he has that kind of success as a musician and his second album was bigger than his first and then he decides to give it up?

He just said he wanted to focus on acting for a while. I think he will return to music in a few years.

for some reason he lacks the motivation. when pressed on such issues, he usually mentions the level of commitment needed to develop an album. he takes into consideration the promotion and touring involved. its senseless in all honesty and after all it is his profession. it just comes across conceited and ungrateful. i dare say if he released an album it probably would do well and he would be able to tour. so his continued absence is taking his fans for granted.

Wasn't his manager stealing from him or something?

I was saying the same thing to my sister the other day after i was listening to his Justified album which still sounds so good.

But ye i think he just wanted to try other things.

I hope he comes back to music soon.

R&B/Pop at the moment is terrible, It's all the same up tempo dance stuff.

he's weird.

but ok he's nice to his fans.

Great artist who seems to have his intentions in movies right now

It's surprising he only released 2 albums, but he did so many collaborations, so he always had a song out for practically the whole decade.

I love his songs. So much better than the music today. But Justin Timberlake was one of the artists that popularized electropop and dance music in the mid-00s.

I love JT. Can't believe it was 6 years ago since SexyBack I wish he'd pull his finger out and release another album.

2006 was a pretty good year for music. FutureSex/LoveSounds along with Loose and Oral Fixation were my favourite albums over that summer.

He was in a boy band for years before releasing his solo albums so it's hardly a case of just 2 albums. He's also done quite a lot of collabs and appearances on soundtracks and stuff plus toured a few times so it's understandable why he would want a break.

its been 6 years since he's released new material and 5 years since he's released singles of his own too

While he is a success in movies and doesn't need the money...I think he may find it harder than he imagines to comeback after such a long spell out. The teenagers dancing along to Sexyback 6 years ago have moved on, while the younger kids won't really know that much about him.

I'm not convinced we'll get another solo album from him. Maybe a few small projects here and there, but not an album....plus he's getting older now and he just doesn't seem that interested fronting music any more...

He's a decent actor and a great songwriter....I loved Rihanna's Cold Case Love and Leona's Don't Let Me Down, so I think he'd do well just to continue that....

Though if he ever does decide to do another solo album I'd be pretty happy...the mainstream industry is seriously lacking decent male solo artists...

I do enjoy him in films, he's not bad but...I don't know, I do prefer him as an artist so I hope he revisits it in some form. Even if he just features in songs.

he`s obviously not to old to release music. he just needs to discipline himself and lacks motivation. i cant say i fully understand it to be honest. many music artists find the acting process far more boring, waiting around for your scene to be filmed.

he doesn't need to make an album that appeals to kids. most rnb artists over the past few decades started off doing music for younger people and then matured. i don't think such a large section of his audience were that young. some of them may have been young in the 90s when he was in nstynk but have grown up, a bit like take thats current fanbase of 40 year old women

I think that is a bit much tbh

You need to take his career as a whole into consideration. He has been working full time since he was stupidly young, he was only about 11 when he got cast in the Mickey Mouse Club then it was pretty much straight into Nsync when he was what 13? then straight out of Nsync into a very successful and intense solo career.
Boybands are worked into the ground. Record companies know they have a short shelf life so its a case of work them as hard as we can, while we can, to get as much money out of them as we can.
Then you have the fact that whilst he was being made to work non stop his manager was fleecing him and his band mates for nearly every penny they were making. So much so they had to take him to court. (that is without getting into all the other unsavoury stories that surround Lou Pearlman which I dread to think about) This was all while he was still in his teens. If it were me I would be more than a little sceptical and jaded with the music industry.

I for one have nothing but respect for any artist who has the strength to conduct their career on THEIR terms and not their managers, their record label or their fans. It is his career and his life. He to be quite frank has earned the right to do what ever the hell he wants with it. He has (it would appear anyway) managed to survive being incredibly famous at a very young age with both his sanity and career intact, more than can be said for nearly every contemporary. So what ever he is doing is working for him.

Of course on a selfish level I want a new album very badly but I'll happily wait for it cause I know it will be worth it

Sorry, but I think this post is ridiculous and completely OTT. To me, releasing a half-arsed effort he doesn't give a stuff about and expecting his fans to shell out anyway is more of an insult to them. A pretty pointless exercise all round.

well from 1996-2007 or 08ish he was just doing music non-stop so maybe he was tired of making music and even maybe bored as well. so that's why acting maybe on his priority list right now

completely agree. People sometimes forget that there was 4 years between Justified and Future Sex/Love Sounds. He took his time and when he released his second album it was better and more successful than the first (in fact its influence on music is still being felt in the charts today) the tour that accompanied it was of an equally high standard.

He said in an interview that touring an album of music you do not believe in 100% is eventually soul destroying so why do it?

The music industry is so much about get them in the studio, get them out on the road, get them back in the studio, then back on the road, then back in the studio, back on the road...repeat till fade. Its all about making as much money as possible as quickly as possible. Why do people think Rihanna recorded 6 albums in 6 years? for love of the music? hell no! money plain and simple. You carry on at that pace you will eventually burn out.

Justin is someone who has been through all that, learned the lessons and took control of his life and career and is doing things on his terms. We need more of him and less of the other kind of popstar imo.

A wee reminder of what we are all missing out on whilst he takes his time getting his ass into the studio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21DVHYHrHPM

i wonder if some people even forgot he was a singer? now these days he's an actor

I think Justin Timberlake will always be a popstar first and foremost in peoples minds. Especially as so many of us grew up with his music. It would maybe take many more years and way bigger films than he has been making before people will forget about Sexy Back or Cry Me A River

that's true

Loved the Cry me a river/Rock Your Body kind of stuff.

its my opinion and i don't think its ott or ridiculous. if he doesn't want to be a music star any more, due to lack of motivation or whatever reason. then its a waste, because he is pretty talented. i am sure that many of his fans will find this situation frustrating and disappointing.