Cry Us a River, Justin Timberlake
So, Justin Timberlake has announced a big comeback this week: a new single, a free concert in New York, and an album coming in March.
And here we are, nearly twenty years after the infamous “Wardrobe Malfunction” and “Nipplegate” during the Super Bowl half-time show in which Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake danced and sang his “Rock Your Body” song together after she had performed a few of her own hits. The spectacle ended with Timberlake singing the last line of the song (“’Cause I gotta have you naked by the end of this song!”) and ripped off her top, exposing her right breast.
It was definitely one of the cultural moments of the decade, much like this decade’s Slap.
The Super Bowl half-time show is always a prestige moment for the chosen artist. Jackson had had many top ten hits and albums up through 2001 but hadn’t released anything since. In 2004, she released a new album, Damita Jo, and the Super Bowl performance was probably designed to kick off her comeback. Alas, her career came to a crashing end. She had only one more Top Forty hit after that, 2007’s “Feedback.”
After the incident, Jackson went on the apology tour, hitting the talk shows and news programs. As for Timberland? Nada.
I think Jackson — then and in later interviews — was far too gracious to Timberland. First…
