Justin Timberlake has divulged that his 2006 single “SexyBack” was inspired by David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel”.
Speaking on the Apple Music podcast, Timberlake told host Zane Lowe, “I was listening to ‘Rebel Rebel’, which essentially is about a cross dresser. And so I was picturing guys, girls, all iterations of that in a club, singing this to each other.”
He continued, “I said, ‘This has to be so simple and a vibe and just like an attitude.’”
Timberlake, 39, recalled how he arrived at the song’s titular lyrics, “I was like, ‘What’s the most audacious thing you could possibly say?’ And that was the first line of the song.”
The artist then told the story of how the hit R&B single featuring Timbaland came to be.
“I’ll never forget this moment,” he said. “So [Timbaland’s] like, ‘All right man, I think we got to bring dance music back.’ So he’s [beatboxing]... He’s like, ‘Whatchu you gonna say?’ I just go like this, [singing] ‘I’m bringing sexy back!’”
The former NSYNC member said that when the pair finished recording, “we knew it was different”.
“We would invite people to the studio. And every time that record came on, the reaction you got from any female ... I was like, ‘This is it.’”
“SexyBack” was released in 2006 as part of Timberlake’s second studio album, FutureSex/LoveSounds.
The track became his first No 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed at the top spot for seven weeks. It went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording at the 2007 ceremony.
