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Justin Timberlake's Star Image

danielbruce7 — 2014-10-16 10:55:06 UTC

Introduction

danielbruce7 — 2014-10-16 10:55:53 UTC

Justin Randal Timberlake birn January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. Born in Memphis Tennesse he appeared on the television shows Star Search and The All New Mickey Mouse Club as a child. In the late 1990s, Timberlake rose to prominence as one of the two lead vocalists and youngest member of the Boy Band NSYNC, whose launch was financed by Lou Pearlman. Justin Timberlake may be the quintessential pop star of the new millennium, a star who jumped from platform to platform on his way to establishing himself as something bigger than a star: he was a self-sustained empire.

How Justin's Star Image Was Established

danielbruce7 — 2014-10-16 11:03:10 UTC

In August 2002, Timberlake performed at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, where he premiered his debut solo single "Like I Love You";it peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut solo studio album Justified was released in Novemberand debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 439,000 copies, fewer than previous 'N Sync releases. It went on to sell over three million copies in the U.S. and more than seven million copies worldwide.Its R&Binfluence, provided by hip-hop producers The Neptunes and Timbaland, was complimented by music critics. The album spawned the top 10 singles "Cry Me a River" and "Rock Your Body".

Justin's Later Career

danielbruce7 — 2014-10-16 11:07:48 UTC

In a lot of Justin's videos throughout his iconic career he has played many a role in his music videos. Particularly in the early years of his career he was very much seen as a sex symbol who could sing and dance and get the women he wanted who was featured in the music video. However, now his career has matured so has the way he acts in the music videos, switching to more themes than seduction and appeal and highlighting more mature subjects such as love, class and problems in relationships. In a recent video Suit and Tie which reached 77m views on Youtube Justin acts as a classy performer in a video that appears to be set in the 50s or 60s. These visual motifs also underline Timberlake's persona as he himself as advanced through his career as both an actor and a pop singer. He also always tends to perform in his music video's underlining his image and he wants to give them the feeling of being at one of his concerts.

How Justin Is Shown In Music Videos

danielbruce7 — 2014-10-16 16:53:02 UTC

As Justin has his own record label he practically decides exactly how he is featured in his music videos. Justin himself however is always shown as a masculine icon to women, all of his music videos feature him with a clean and slick appearance allowing him to act as the heart throb that he indeed is. Through the use of camerawork and editing Justin has a mixture of visuals throughout all of his music videos, but as a star is expected to, he is always the centre of attention. Justin has also performed songs and indeed music videos with a wide array of famous stars in the industry, Jay Z, Kanye West, A$AP Rocky, and Beyonce to name only a few.

Camerawork/ Editing Reinforcement

danielbruce7 — 2014-10-16 17:03:59 UTC

A lot of Justin's music videos always show long periods of him either performing or telling a story. A huge range of camera angles are used to highlight that Justin is always the main man, for example the image below is taken from Justin's popular music video 'Mirrors', let alone the music video but the pure name of the music video suggests to an audience that Justin is constantly looking at himself and perhaps how much he has changed from his early career days, where the main theme was seduction and teasing whereas now he discusses his much deeper emotions. I personally feel that the Justin image is constantly being seen throughout all of his music videos as he never uses an actor to play himself, Justin must always be seen to be active and fully engaged with his music, telling his fans and viewers a growing story about his life and how much his career has both grown and changed.

Justin's Cultural Image

danielbruce7 — 2014-10-16 17:08:32 UTC

I feel that Justin's early career was the standpoint of how his image was beamed around the world. Justin in his early career days and indeed when he was single and not in a relationship, was that he would come across as both macho and a male sex symbol gaining female and possibly male fans from all over the world. Justin's main music video themes was to dance and put his character in a scenario where he would have to get a desirable to want/like him. It also comes across to an audience in Justin's older yet more impacting music videos from his early career that he can indeed begin to sing and then have any girl that he wants, something that was extremely common in male pop songs from that era.

Conclusion On Justin's Star Image

danielbruce7 — 2014-10-16 17:23:07 UTC

I generally feel that Justin and his music and music videos have evolved and matured over the extent of his long pop career. In Justin's early years he really made sure that his sexual and macho image was beamed across to every audience who would watch his music, a popular thing to do in order to truly boost his name and status in the pop industry. However, as his luxurious career as continued Justin has become much more in tune with topics such as emotions and love and even from the way he dresses he now has a huge element of class attached to him, with his changed image being much easier to do now that he has a fan backing who will buy his records no matter what. As i have also looked at the timeline of Justin's music videos in great detail he has also used much more deeper and darker colours within his music videos and in some cases (Suit and Tie) the entire music video is in Black and White and set in the 50s or 60s. I personally feel that Justin's acting career and age has also impacted heavily on his musical career almost forcing him to make himself less of a sex symbol and more a performer who oozes class.