Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Justin Timberlake Talks Songwriting Secrets, Clichs, and Earrings

21/05/2019

When Justin Timberlake was 13, he wrote his first song. And what was the inspiration that first moved the eventual Grammy and Emmy award-winner to put pen to paper?

An earring.

The young teen wanted to get his ear pierced. His parents' answer demonstrated how they subtly encouraged Timberlake toward a path in music. My parents said, If you write a song about it, we'll take you to get your ear pierced.'

This was just one of the many stories the singer, songwriter, and actor recounted casually from the stage in a packed Berklee Performance Center the day before he'd be given an honorary doctorate-along with Missy Elliott and Alex Lacamoire B.M. '95-at the 2019 commencement proceedings. Before getting to those stories, he had an exceptionally hyper crowd to calm, as he walked out to an uproarious standing ovation that lasted almost two minutes without losing a decibel of volume.

Listen to a snippet of the crowd's reaction as he was introduced by Panos Panay, vice president of innovation and strategy:

Favoring ripped jeans over a graduation robe, Timberlake sat for an informal interview with Panay and regaled the students in the audience with stories behind his hit songs, his collaborations with the likes of Madonna, and inking his first major deal with NSYNC-the latter of which he did at age 15, just two years after his ode to earrings. Here are some highlights from that conversation.

On Not Fearing Clich s People say, I don't want to be clich . But clich s are the truth over and over again, so that's okay. Because the truth is always what we need. Not always what we want, but it's what we need.

Music vibrates. Music does move a vibration. And there are certain keys that move different vibrations. E-flat minor is one-it's an awesome key to write music in. But also? C is a great key to write in. C is the clich of musical keys because it's true over and over again.

When you hear the opening C chord in Can't Stop the Feeling!'-that's what I want. I want that [immediate excitement]. It's not a science, it is an art.

On Gaining Confidence as a Songwriter I started to gain more confidence when I started working with [pop songwriting powerhouse] Max Martin. I was 16, and in a group that you may or may not have heard of. We [the members of NSYNC] had just signed a deal. I was 15 when we actually signed the deal. But I was 16 years old when they sent us to Stockholm to work with this group of hitmakers.

I was really lucky to be exposed at such a young age to [Martins] tenacity of just writing a song. Turning over every stone to see what could sound wrong and right at the same time, and the way they worked.

Read More

Learn more about Timberlake, Missy Elliott, and Alex Lacamoires experience at the 2019 commencement proceedings. The most important thing you can do as a songwriter is listen. To really hear what's happening.

Being cool is not a thing. It's an un-thing. Be passionate, be angry, frustrated, or be sad, or happy-just don't try to be cool. Your confidence will come from within. Just keep writing.

[For Cant Stop the Feeling!]: That song specifically-I just don't know how I was so lucky to stumble into that idea. Every song feels that way. I could tell you where these ideas come from, but I don't remember how, from that point, it ended up being finished. There's this wave of creativity that rushes over you when you find inspiration.

On Trying to Save the World with Madonna With Madonna, our writing process [for the song 4 Minutes] was such that she had a journal. It was very personal. It's a very personal experience to cowrite with people. The songs have to come from an honest place.

[To Madonna]: These lyrics are so heavy. Can we lighten it up a little? And she said no-she's Madonna; she can say no. And I finally was just like, Oh my God, we have four minutes! We can't save the world in four minutes! [pauses] Ok, we're gonna save the world in four minutes-that's what the song was gonna be.

On Failure and Daring to Suck I only have one rule in the studio: dare to suck. There are no wrong answers when it comes to creating art, because it's only going to lead you to what feels good to you. And if you're going to connect that to other people, it has to feel good to you first.

Life happens in the grey area. It happens when you're misunderstood. That's like, when the really good stuff happens. You can learn from failure and success. There's never a wrong answer. I think we are defined by what happens right after we feel like we've failed.

Related categories:

News

Related Reading

Missy Elliott, Alex Lacamoire, Justin Timberlake Honored at Commencement The music icons received honorary doctorates for their lasting contributions to music and popular culture.

Star-Studded Commencement to Honor Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliott, and Alex Lacamoire Berklee Today

Spring

2019

Volume

30

Number

3

Missy Elliott, Alex Lacamoire, and Justin Timberlake to Receive Honorary Doctorates at Berklee Commencement Berklees commencement ceremony takes place on Saturday, May 11, at the Agganis Arena at Boston University.

More from Berklee Now

Most Popular

What Its like to Be a Woman in the Music Industry Erin Barra, a professor in Berklees Songwriting Department, and researcher Becky Prior share key findings from the first-ever study on women working in the music industry, published by Berklee and Women in Music.

Latest

Justin Timberlake Talks Songwriting Secrets, Clich s, and Earrings The multiplatinum recording artist shared stories from his two-decade career while on campus to receive an honorary doctorate.

BerkleeNYC Launches Community Fund The BerkleeNYC Community Fund will raise money for scholarships, pr
LINK: https://www.berklee.edu/news/berklee-now/justin-timberlake-talks-songw...
See more stories from berklee

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

15/04/2026

BBC World Service TV Selects Open Broadcast Systems IP Decoders for Global Distribution

Open Broadcast Systems has announced that BBC World Service has selected its IP ...

15/04/2026

NAB 2026: LiveU Expands Collaboration with Sony to Include File-Based Workflow Integration

LiveU has announced an expansion of its collaboration with Sony Corporation, add...

15/04/2026

NAB 2026: Ateme and NVIDIA Announce Immersive Video Workflow for Apple Vision Pro

Ateme has announced a collaboration with NVIDIA to support live Apple Immersive ...

15/04/2026

Professional Fighters League Renews Multi-Year Partnership with DAZN DACH

The Professional Fighters League (PFL) has announced a multi-year partnership renewal with DAZN DACH, covering Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, and...

15/04/2026

NAB 2026: Canon Sets New Benchmark with CINE-SERVO 40-1200m Lens; New Remote Camera Controller Supports Up to 200 Cameras

Canon U.S.A. (NAB Booth C3825) today took the lid off of the CINE-SERVO 40-1200m...

15/04/2026

NAB 2026: Panasonic and NEP Group to Demonstrate KAIROS and NEP Platform Integration

Panasonic Video and Audio Systems North America and NEP Group will demonstrate a...

15/04/2026

Exclusive Wasabi Report: AI Spending Is Surging, But ROI Tells a Different Story

For the fourth year running, independent analysts found businesses across all industries and verticals pay roughly the same amount in fees as they spend on stor...

15/04/2026

NBC Sports to Broadcast The Soccer Tournament Live on NBC, Peacock, and NBCSN, May 30-June 1

The Soccer Tournament (TST) has announced a media rights deal with NBC Sports to...

15/04/2026

NAB 2026: JB&A Announces Exhibitors for Pre-NAB 2026 Technology Event

JB&A will host the Pre-NAB 2026 Technology Event on April 17-18 at Flamingo Las Vegas, ahead of NAB Show. The event features hands-on demonstrations and technic...

15/04/2026

NAB 2026: Sennheiser Group to Exhibit with Spectera and AMBEO Updates

The Sennheiser Group will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth 4931, Central Hall), with demonstrations from Sennheiser, Neumann, and Merging across three areas: Rel...

15/04/2026

NAB 2026: NAB Show 2026 to Feature Expanded AI, Sports, and Creator Economy Programming

NAB Show 2026 will take place April 18-22 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, wi...

15/04/2026

NAB 2026: AI-Media Launches LEXI Text Encoder and LEXI Voice Encoder

AI-Media has announced the LEXI Text Encoder and LEXI Voice Encoder at NAB Show 2026, the company's first new encoder hardware release in more than a decade...

15/04/2026

NAB 2026: Cartoni Debuts New Camera Support Products

Italian camera support manufacturer Cartoni will introduce several new products at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C6540, Central Hall), including the Master 30 OB fluid h...

15/04/2026

NAB 2026: Lawo and swXtch.io Sign MOU to Explore groundSwXtch Integration

Lawo and swXtch.io have announced a memorandum of understanding at NAB Show 2026, under which Lawo will explore incorporating swXtch.io's groundSwXtch softw...

15/04/2026

NAB 2026: CacheFly to Demonstrate New CDN Features

CacheFly will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W3129, April 19-22, Las Vegas Convention Center), showcasing three new additions to its content delivery platform:...

15/04/2026

NAB 2026: Synamedia Launches GO Shorts for Mobile-First Short-Form Video

Synamedia has announced GO Shorts, a new module within its Synamedia Go OTT platform that uses AI to convert an operator's existing content library into a s...

15/04/2026

NAB 2026 Preview, Central Hall: Everything You Need To Know Heading Into the Show

The NAB Show kicks off on Saturday, and the SVG and SVG Europe editorial teams a...

15/04/2026

AJA Video Systems to Acquire Video Encoding Software Company Comprimato

AJA Video Systems has announced an agreement to acquire Comprimato, a live video encoding and processing software company. The deal will unite the two companies...

15/04/2026

NBA Playoffs 2026: Prime Vision, Prime Insights Offer New Data-Driven Experiences for NBA Fans

Prime Video Sports' NBA Playoffs coverage, which includes the entire SoFi NB...

15/04/2026

Top Live-Sound-System Manufacturers Team Up To Better Manage Stadium Noise

Just announced, the SDE standard provides a unified method and file format to ensure consistent and reliably comparable noise predictions Sports and entertainm...

15/04/2026

Spotify Podcast Awards Return to Celebrate Latin America's Most Influential Voices

From immersive storytelling to laugh-out-loud comedies, podcasts are booming in ...

15/04/2026

Spotify Expands Audiobook Features, and Printed Book Sales Go Live in the US and UK

Books have always moved with us, whether tucked in our bags or humming in our he...

15/04/2026

Spotify and NIVA Partner to Support Independent Venues Across the US

For many artists, independent venues are where music careers begin and fan communities take shape. Independent venue operators work hard every day to keep local...

15/04/2026

Spotify Editors Reveal Their Picks for Best Book of the Century (So Far)

From gripping thrillers to poignant memoirs, the 21st century has had no shortage of unforgettable books. To celebrate the standout storytelling of our modern e...

15/04/2026

SonicWorld introduce Telsie T

Vintage broadcast experts release second plug-in Telsie T is the second plug-in to be released by SonicWorld, a German audio company who specialise in servi...

15/04/2026

UAD Explore Free from Universal Audio

Includes eight free UAD plug-ins Universal Audio's latest bundle brings together a selection of their renowned plug-ins and virtual instruments, and is ...

15/04/2026

Maximum uptime for broadcasters: Rohde & Schwarz launches R&SBroadcastShield at NAB 2026

Maximum uptime for broadcasters: Rohde & Schwarz launches R&S BroadcastShield at...

15/04/2026

WIDOW: The Mission Software Defining Rotary Strike

Image courtesy of MD Helicopters...

15/04/2026

L3Harris Announces Billion Dollar Expansion to Boost Solid Rocket Motor Production in Orange County, Virginia

Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, L3Harris VP Mark Farley, and state and local l...

15/04/2026

Advancing America's Space Defense: L3Harris Completes Critical Milestone on Way to Delivering GBOSS Capability to the Warfighter

U.S. Space Forces Ground-Based Optical Sensor System upgrade at the Maui Space S...

15/04/2026

Winter Olympics, Super Bowl Power NBCU-Versant to Gold Medal Performance in Nielsen's February Gauge Reports

NBCU-Versant notches 13.1% of TV viewing in February, its best since August 2024...

15/04/2026

Nielsen CMI shows New Zealand's over-65s are a growing, cashed-up and still-working audience brands can't ignore

New data reveals older Kiwis are financially resilient, loyal to local products,...

15/04/2026

aconnic launches ACCEED 4430 10 Gigabit system for high volume enterprise and business service aggregation

aconnic AG (ISIN: DE000A0LBKW6), Munich, announces the market launch of the ACCE...

15/04/2026

Autocue to Mark 2026 NAB Show Debut of its New PTZ Prompter

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

Locality Deploys Nielsen's Media Data Engine

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

Viant Announces Agreement to Acquire TVision

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

Evergent introduces Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platfor...

Evergent introduces its Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platform, transforming how subscription businesses across direct-to-consumer streaming, pay-TV, telecommun...

15/04/2026

CentralCast Delivers Breakthrough Efficiencies to Public...

Harmonic's XOS Media Processor Delivers Exceptional Video Quality to More than Half of U.S. Public Media Viewership Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announce...

15/04/2026

DPA N Series Wireless System Unlocks Duplex Gap and Guard...

LONGMONT, COLORADO, APRIL 15, 2026 DPA Microphones N Series Digital Wireless System users in North America can now take full advantage of the system's exc...

15/04/2026

Cobalt Iron Launches Compass Tape Gateway Modernizing IBM...

Cobalt Iron, a leading provider of SaaS-based enterprise data protection, today announced the launch of Compass Tape Gateway (CTG), a transformative enhancemen...

15/04/2026

Disguise to Showcase Cutting-Edge Experience Tech for Sports, Broadcast and More at NAB 2026

Disguise to Showcase Cutting-Edge Experience Tech for Sports, Broadcast and More...

15/04/2026

Arooj Aftab Makes the Music She Wants to Hear

Arooj Aftab Makes the Music She Wants to Hear The singular artist explores the juxtaposition of grief and joy, dark and light, in her distinctive sound. Apri...

15/04/2026

Panasonic, NEP Partner on IP-Based Live Production

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

15/04/2026

Encompass Digital Media Powers Global Cloud Transformatio...

Interra Systems, a provider of end-to-end quality assurance solutions for the digital media industry, is proud to announce its central role in the digital trans...