A Guide to the Justin Timberlake Backlash of 2018
In 2013, Justin Timberlake released a party anthem with a less-than-party-like title.
"Take Back the Night," the first single from the pop star's fourth solo album, boasts a sleek disco groove and prime Michael Jackson horns, but the song's musical assets were dampened by its name. Take Back the Night, as anybody with a cursory knowledge of feminist politics might know, is the name of a nonprofit foundation aimed at fighting sexual violence. It is not a party slogan. Everybody knows that. Doesn't everyone know that? Justin Timberlake did not know that.
The news cycle moved fast: Bloggers Timberlake for his apparent ignorance, Take Back the Night and issued a strongly worded statement criticizing the song ("the lyrics are definitely very sexual and not at all clearly anti-sexual violence"), Timberlake apologized, the organization backed down from a lawsuit and everybody had a drink and moved on. Two months later, the pop star released the worstDespite a critical drubbing, it became a No. 1 album.
