Justin Timberlake Drops New Single ‘TKO’, Delivers Same Old Sound

Ready, set, go, are you ready for “TKO”?

Talk about throwing one heck of a sucker punch. Justin Timberlake with his producer Timbaland have pulled out another duet for their new single “TKO”.

After teasing the single on his Instagram this Thursday, Timberlake finally let loose on his second single from The 20/20 Experience Part 2. If you’re hoping it’s a different sound, you really shouldn’t, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing either. Timberlake and Timbaland finesse the skills that they already have and turn out a solid jam.

The bass-poppin’, groovy style, mixed with bravado and blunt soul, is a sound that has been delivered before by Timberlake and Timbaland, instead now it’s stretched out for a full seven minutes.

As far as the lyrical content of “TKO”, it’s a straight forward simple story. Timberlake maps out a story we have all heard before. He sings about a girl who really knocks him out in more ways than one. He thought he knew this girl, and now she’s someone who doesn’t even recognize. She’s cheating on him, and he’s still pulled in by her ways. Truly it’s a story we can all relate to, but is it something new from Timberlake? Not really.

Some of the lyrics heard on “TKO” are as follows:

“I’m out for the count, yeah, girl you knock me out, It’s just a TKO” which is over a staple up-tempo beat that we all know and love from this dynamic duo.

“TKO” may be a great choice as a single in the club, but if you ask us this one may be one of those transitional tracks that groove well in between tracks three and five.

We would have loved to hear the experimental sound Timberlake was pushing forward on tracks like “Tunnel Vision”, which mixed something old with something new. As for typical Timberlake songs that go past the 4-minute mark, his best sounds come after the radio friendly mark. With most of his innovative sounds after the 4-minute mark, we wonder how this will be cut for the radio. As for the overall content, we’re not as impressed as we were with “Take Back The Night.” Then again, most of his tracks hook a listener in on the third spin, so perhaps it’s a little too premature to judge “TKO” right out the gate.

What do you think about Justin’s new single “TKO”?