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What goes around comes all the way back around 20 years later.
Nearly two decades after Justin Timberlake released his 2006 single “What Goes Around…Comes Around,” the Grammy winner set the record straight on the longtime speculation that the track was inspired by his breakup with Britney Spears.
“Maybe I should dispel a rumor at this point, which has gone around forever,” the 45-year-old shared on a Nov. 5 episode of Complex’s Re-Rank podcast. “It’s not a personal story from mine.”
In fact, Timberlake—who famously dated Spears from 1999 to 2002—said the song, which follows a woman who betrays her partner, before karma results in her facing the same fate, is “actually a personal story from a friend” that he asked to use as inspiration for the track.
“He was just going through it, and he was telling me what had happened,” he recalled. “I said, ‘Do you mind if I write about this?’ And I quote, my friend said, ‘Yeah, torch that b–ch. What goes around comes around.’”
“And I was like, ‘I have to go. Thank you,’” Timberlake joked while pretending like he was on a phone. “He was like, ‘What?’ I was like, ‘I got it.’”
After ending the call with his friend, the “SexyBack” singer couldn’t stop the feeling of inspiration and immediately began writing.
“I hung up the phone,” Timberlake recalled. “I had the idea. I just went in and again, this song was written in, I mean, damn near 20 minutes. It was just flowing.”
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He continued, “The interlude that goes with it, and then you put the video with it—there’s a 10-minute video we shot for it—this just hit on all cylinders for me.”
Because of this, the “Mirrors” artist noted that he would rank “What Goes Around…Comes Around”—the third single from his second album FutureSex/LoveSounds—as “one or two” if they were “ranking the bangers” from his discography. (He ultimately slotted it at No. 1.)
While Timberlake has now shared the way it was really going down when he wrote the hit, fans have long speculated that the Grammy-winning track was a sequel to his 2002 single “Cry Me a River,” which has also been believed to be about Spears.
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After all, not only was the song released eight months after his split from Spears, but he also cast her lookalike in the music video.
And similar to “What Goes Around…Comes Around,” the lyrics quickly poured out of Timberlake.
“I wrote that song in about 10 minutes, five to 10 minutes,” he shared, confirming that he recorded “every vocal” within less than two hours.
For a look back at Timberlake’s journey in the spotlight, put on your suit and tie and keep reading…
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