Let me admit, right off the bat, that the 2nd thing I do every morning is check perezhilton.com (in my defense the first thing I do is check breaking real news... okay, I skim the headlines.) Today, I read about this over my morning coffee.
Perez, who always has the latest and most shameless gossip, links to concert video from two different concerts -- one of Justin singing Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" and one of him singing Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy". In both songs, Perez points out that Justin sings "she" where the lyrics call for "me" or "I". As in, "I think she's craaaazzzy!" or, "They tried to send her off to rehab, but she said no, no no!" The obvious speculation is that Justin is singing about Britney.
I think it's time to point out that Justin has always gotten credit for taking the high road regarding the Britney breakup. I'm starting to question if that is true anymore, or if it's was even true then.
He's never explicitly, to my knowledge, talked about the breakup or Britney in an awful way -- even when he was promoting his first solo album. As far as I know, he didn't -- like Britney did -- go on Barbara Walters to tearfully discuss the breakup.
No, he just makes HIT SONGS smearing her all over the radio. Then he makes HIT VIDEOS smearing her all over the TV. When Britney did go on Barbara Walters, Justin had already done his song "Cry me a River," about a cheating girl who wants to get back together. The accompanying video featured a CLEAR Britney stunt double! I have no idea on what the real story was behind their breakup, but he certainly had the last word there -- I for one still have the song on my iPod. I thought it was a little tacky, but they'd just broken up so I let it go.
However, he follows it up -- years later -- with the song "What Goes Around Comes Around." Hmmm, WHO could he be referencing? Even I rolled my eyes at the lyrics in this one. He even made a video with Scarlett (his latest fling) as the lead in the video, playing a girl who cheats on Justin with a friend of his...and dies in a fiery car-crash! A cheater, a bad driver, and dead! I can only imagine what it's like for Britney to turn on MTV, probably wearing sweatpants and eating Cheetos, and watching videos like "Cry me a River" and "What Goes Around Comes Around." Who needs an awful, leech husband or a career that's falling apart to suffer a nervous breakdown?
Now, this brings me to Justin's latest offense. You could point out that with "Cry Me a River," Justin was getting his say. Fine. Whatever. She did cheat on him -- allegedly -- with their shared choreographer. You could say that "What Goes Around Comes Around" was him...umm...still getting his say. But now it seems like Justin is just kicking a girl when she's down. Justin, the poor girl doesn't even have any hair! Haven't you heard? She shaved it herself! She wept in a tattoo parlor! She doesn't wear shoes! She went to rehab! She either has a substance abuse problem or post-partum depression! The press constantly eviscerates her!
Now, we might expect this mocking from something like the NY Post, but from a childhood love who is now on top of the world? He's never been better -- a duet with T.I., collaborations with Timberland, hit singles with Nelly Furtado, dalliances with Jessica AND Scarlett and now he's founding his own record label. He's got all sorts of new cred. So, isn't it about time he stopped having his cake and eating it too?
Full disclosure: there is a contest at work and the prize is Justin Timberlake tickets. I'll be entering. I'm a hypocrite! But this bolsters my point -- Justin -- you don't need to kick Britney when she's down. You songs are too damn catchy. Hands off Brit Brit, Justin -- you're better than this.
Or, as one of the commenters on Perez Hilton put it:
"I'm not a fan of hers but that must of been some good **** ******* cuz he is still... about her and its been like 5 years. How many songs and subliminals are we gonna get? He is lame and should of grown some **** and not left Janet to dry after the superbowl . I have no respect for him."