Justin Timberlake is back with a brand new single from his upcoming latest album Man of the Woods. Here’s Love London Love Culture’s first impressions of ‘Filthy’ …

Even if you watch this video without the sound, you really get the impression that Justin Timberlake is most definitely changing the direction in which his music is going. There is a more futuristic approach to music which is quite a surprise given the fact that his last single ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling’ was such an upbeat crowdpleaser and enjoyable to listen to.

With ‘Filthy’ though there is certainly a lot more production value with this song – plenty of techno beat and bass that sadly comes across as overpowering in contrast with Timberlake’s voice, that can make the overall sound clunky.

It is difficult to know what Justin was trying to achieve with this song – does he want to sound edgy and cool? Or does he want to stick with the feel-good and smooth sound that has proved so popular over the years? At the moment it seems that he is in a bit of a transition phase.

However, on the flip side to this by releasing this is a first single it certainly makes the listener curious to know exactly what his next album Man from the Woods is going to be like (released 2nd February). It really opens the possibilities and potential direction that this album is going to take and the surprises it might have in store.

Overall, it is a song that catches the listener by surprise and suggests that the singer is in the mood to update his sound in a way that we perhaps couldn’t have expected. It might be a song that needs to be listened to on a few occasions to really get into it but an interesting song nonetheless.

Man of the Woods is released on the 2nd February. It is available to pre-order now.