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...

07/05/2026

Colorfront Streaming Server Awarded Trusted Partner Network Gold Logo Certification

January 8, 2024 Colorfront (colorfront.com), a leader in high-performance, on-s...

07/05/2026

Colorfront Unleashes New Opportunities for Content Owners Plus Other Ground-Breaking Visual Experiences at Nab 2024

March 20, 2024 NAB 2024, Las Vegas - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-awa...

07/05/2026

Colorfront Delivers Innovations for HDR Cinema at Cinemacon 2025

April 1, 2025 CINEMACON, APRIL 1, 2025 - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming syste...

07/05/2026

Colorfront to Showcase Advanced HDR Cinema Mastering Solutions at CineEurope 2025

June 15, 2025 Colorfront (colorfront.com), an Academy and Emmy Award-winning de...

07/05/2026

Colorfront at ICTA Barcelona Cinema Technology Summit

June 15, 2025 Colorfront participated in the ICTA Barcelona Cinema Technology Summit on Sunday, June 15, 2025. Held at The Phenomena Experience, the event feat...

07/05/2026

Colorfront Does IBC 2024 Live From Stockholm!

July 1, 2025 Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...

07/05/2026

Colorfront Transkoder Delivers a Masterful Performance at Annapurna Studios

July 1, 2025 Passion and dedication will take you places. Come with us on a short trip to the heart of India, where Annapurna Studios is living-up to the inspi...

07/05/2026

Colorfront Opens a New Chapter in Color Tools For Cinema & Television

July 3, 2025 Colorfront (colorfront.com), the multi-award-winning developer of high-performance dailies/transcoding/streaming systems for motion pictures, OTT,...

07/05/2026

Colorfront at IBC 2025: Advanced Tools Make Easy Work of Critical Mastering Tasks and More!

September 1, 2025 IBC 2025, Amsterdam - Colorfront (colorfront.com) - the Acade...

07/05/2026

Colorfront Introduces Colorfront Immersive Utility, a New Mac App for Creating Apple Immersive Video

April 17, 2026 LOS ANGELES - April 17, 2026 - Colorfront today announced Colorf...

07/05/2026

Colorfront Delivers Even More AI Automation Power and Extends Technology Partnerships with Dolby Apple

April 23, 2026 NAB 2026, Las Vegas - the Academy and Emmy Award-winning develop...

07/05/2026

CNN Founder Ted Turner Dies at 87

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/05/2026

FCC Urges Appeals Court to Toss Challenges to Nexstar-Tegna Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/05/2026

Carr Announces FCC Staff Promotions

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/05/2026

Recreating the 1974 Doctor Who Time Tunnel in After Effects

Recreating the 1974 Doctor Who Time Tunnel in After Effects Graham Quince May 6, 2026 0 Comments The Time Tunnel from Doctor Who titles is one of th...

06/05/2026

Wisycom RF Solutions Support Gravity Medias Live Cycling and Marathon Broadcasts

Gravity Media Chief RF Communications Engineer Glenn Willems uses Wisycom RF over Fiber and wireless solutions across major cycling events and international mar...

06/05/2026

Sennheiser Spectera Module Now Available in Bitfocus Companion and Buttons

A Sennheiser Spectera module is now available in Bitfocus Companion and Buttons, enabling direct integration of Spectera with the two software platforms. The mo...

06/05/2026

Ted Turner, Cable Television Pioneer, Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer, Dead at 87

Ted Turner, the visionary media entrepreneur whose appetite for disruption helpe...

06/05/2026

FIFA World Cup 2026: Peacock Launches Visin de Campo (aka Pitchside Live), Will Stream All 104 Matches in Spanish

Peacock is going all-in on the beautiful game - streaming all 104 FIFA World Cup...

06/05/2026

NoiseWorks Audio launch VoiceAssist Basic, Standard & Advanced

New pricing tiers for vocal/dialogue restoration tool NoiseWorks Audio's AI-powered vocal and dialogue processing plug-in is now available in three diff...

06/05/2026

RME TotalMix FX 2 now available

Popular mixing & routing software overhauled Following a recent public beta test, RME have launched the final release version of the powerful mixing and rou...

06/05/2026

Focusrite: Designing The ISA C8X Audio Interface

New SOS Video Feature Focusrites ISA C8X is a milestone product that brings together the companys analogue heritage and their expertise in digital audio. Yo...

06/05/2026

L3Harris to Boost Polish Navy Combat Power with Advanced Ship System

Polands Miecznik-class frigates are part of the largest contract in Polish shipbuilding history. (Image Credit: PGZ Stocznia Wojenna)...

06/05/2026

FCC's Anna Gomez Urges Rigorous Review of Paramount-WBD Merger

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/05/2026

Riedel Ups Marc Engroff to CFO, Shifts Frank Eischet to Group COO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/05/2026

Amagi Launches In-Content Ads' to Attract More CTV Advertisers

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/05/2026

Riedel Expands Leadership Structure Appoints Marc Engroff...

Riedel Communications today announced the expansion of its leadership structure as part of a strategic initiative to strengthen both its operational management ...

06/05/2026

Production Sound Mixer Dirk Sciarrotta Delivers Camera Re...

For nearly three decades, Veteran Production Sound Mixer and Five-time Emmy Award Winner Dirk Sciarrotta has helped define the sonic identity of the long-runnin...

06/05/2026

ZEISS CinCraft LensCore: Cinema Lens Looks for Compositing

ZEISS CinCraft LensCore: Cinema Lens Looks for Compositing Brie Clayton May 6, 2026 0 Comments ZEISS announces the launch of CinCraft LensCore, a nove...

06/05/2026

Wisycom Solves Extreme RF Challenges Across Miles of Live Action for Gravity Media

Wisycom Solves Extreme RF Challenges Across Miles of Live Action for Gravity Med...

06/05/2026

NAB Launches Weekly Podcast on Local Broadcast Policy

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/05/2026

Mavis Launches Mavis Studio iPad For Media Production

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/05/2026

Narrative Entertainment partners with Encompass to provid...

Narrative Entertainment has partnered with Encompass to deliver high-quality subtitling of its Great! network content using the Altitude Intelligence AI assiste...

06/05/2026

SipRadius extends its seamless creation and connectivity...

SipRadius, widely recognized for making content processing and connectivity secure and seamless, is proud to launch a dramatic new approach to AI content creati...

06/05/2026

Big Blue Marble at ANGA COM - TV as a Service in the spot...

When the broadband and media industry gathers at ANGA COM in Cologne from May 19 to 21, Big Blue Marble will be at the forefront. The international broadcast an...

06/05/2026

Cinegy makes its MPTS debut with software-defined televis...

Cinegy GmbH, a leading developer of software-defined television technology, is proud to exhibit at MPTS for the first time. Visitors to the stand will discover ...

06/05/2026

Val Jeanty Receives 2026 Doris Duke Artist Award

Val Jeanty Receives 2026 Doris Duke Artist Award Jeanty, a composer, percussionist, and turntablist, is the fourth Berklee recipient of the prestigious award ...

06/05/2026

Zeiss Launches CinCraft LensCore

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/05/2026

Gomez Urges Rigorous FCC Review of Paramount-WBD Merger

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/05/2026

Wisycom Solves Extreme RF Challenges Across Miles of Live...

When live cycling races and international marathons stretch for miles across cities and countryside, there is no margin for RF failure in live broadcast. As Chi...

06/05/2026

ZEISS CinCraft LensCore - Cinema Lens Looks for Compositi...

Oberkochen/Germany, May 5, 2026 ZEISS announces the launch of CinCraft LensCore, a novel solution for creating physically based cinematic lens looks for visual...

06/05/2026

VEON's Kyivstar Authorized to Resell Starlink for Businesses & Enterprises in Ukraine

06 May 2026 VEON's Kyivstar Authorized to Resell Starlink for Businesses & ...

06/05/2026

UKTV Brings the Early Years of Neighbours to U in 420Episode Back Catalogue Deal

UKTV has secured the exclusive rights to the early back catalogue of iconic Australian drama series Neighbours, following a landmark content deal with Fremantle...

06/05/2026

Sky commissions feature documentary to mark 10th anniversary of Manchester Arena bomb

Wednesday 6 May 2026 Sky commissions feature documentary to mark 10th anniversa...

06/05/2026

Sky and Formula 1 agree long-term partnership across UK, Ireland and Italy

Wednesday 6 May 2026 Sky and Formula 1 agree long-term partnership across UK, Ireland and Italy Sky in the UK & Ireland to remain the home of Formula 1 until ...