Justin Timberlake – Justified

JUSTIFIED won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. The album was also nominated for Album of the Year. Cry Me a River won for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. JUSTIFIED may represent Justin Timberlake's attempt to break out of the boy band mold and be taken seriously as a musician, but N Sync and, more specifically, ex-beau Britney Spears continue to serve as red flag reminders of these specific times. Ballads like Never Again and Nothin' Else bear the markings of classic break-up songs but, far from licking his wounds throughout the rest of this debut, Timberlake includes a number of cuts that celebrate being single including the Timbaland-produced cut Right for Me and equally the thumping Rock Your Body. Other names this teen idol nabbed in a quest for credibility are red-hot producers the Neptunes and P. Diddy. In keeping an R&B element as the touchstone for this debut, Timberlake dishes out a number of surprisingly stellar songs including the very mellow, Stevie Wonder-flavored Nothin' Else, Latin-soaked Senorita, and infectious Like I Love You. in delivering such a mature record, Justin Timberlake has created a springboard to bigger and better future projects.