Justin Timberlake revealed last week that his new single is called Take Back The Night. The track was released on Friday, amazingly without another teaser to a trailer to another trailer. I’ve attached below. And here’s what I wrote initially about the title the other day:
“Take Back The Night is commonly known to be a slogan for organisations that aim to end violence against women. Is JT singing for women’s safety? Or is this another song about sex? If that’s the case, maybe not the best choice of words?”
Well, it ended up being a song about sex. And now Take Back The Night, the foundation, is pissed about the fact that JT just co-opted their name for his song. JT’s explanation? Oh, he didn’t know. Just like he didn’t know about when his friends decided to mock homeless people at his wedding. He released a statement to Radar:
“Upon the release of my new single ‘Take Back The Night’, I was made aware of an organization of the same name called The Take Back The Night Foundation. I wanted to take this opportunity to let all know that neither my song nor its lyrics have any association with the organization. As I’ve learned more about The Take Back The Night Foundation, I’m moved by its efforts to stop violence against women, create safe communities and encourage respectful relationships for women — Something we all should rally around. It is my hope that this coincidence will bring more awareness to this cause.”
This is so sad to me. You know why? Because he’s a man. And some men are clearly ignoring the Take Back The Night movement. And that’s also terrifying, not to mention offensive. You know why it’s offensive? It’s offensive because he turns an apology into promotion and ego. It’s basically the same as saying “Look, I didn’t know about your charity, but now that it has the same name as my song, you’ll benefit because I’m the best. So you should be thanking me instead”.
Thanks Justin Timberlake.
Also… you don’t Google?
Of course he doesn’t.
Because when JT conceived of the phrase “take back the night”, he actually thought that he came up with it first. That after all this time, after all that’s come before, only he was clever enough to put together that kind of wordplay. Just like his sound. Only he was gifted enough to come up with this sound…which …sounds a lot like Michael Jackson? You listen, below.
Attached – Justin with Jay-Z at the Wireless Music Festival in London this weekend where they performed Holy Grail together which is better than any of his own sh-t, non?
