Justin Timberlake, Coachella: ‘I Was Tripping My Mind Out’

On the same weekend that Justin Bieber is catching heat for an allegedly weed -fueled party he wasn’t even invited to, another Justin — Timberlake — is being lauded for admitting he took drugs (implied hallucinogenic) on many occasions at California’s Coachella music and arts festival.

A hypocritical response from the echo chamber? Just a tad, but that’s not Timberlake’s fault.

The recently crowned king of the album chart talked drugs with My Space in a new interview to mark his SWSW debut last weekend.

By all accounts, Timberlake delivered a masterclass set. But then, there’s never been any doubt about his musical chops. There has, however, however, always been an element that griped about his squeaky clean blue-eyed soul image.

So are The 20/20 Experience singer’s recent drug declarations an attempt to curry cool?

Considering Timberlake has just scored the fastest selling album of 2013, was recently inducted as a member of the five-times SNL hosting club, tore the roof off Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, appears happily married, and will shortly kick off an insanely anticipated “Legends of the Summer” stadium tour with fellow industry titan Jay-Z — I’d say that’s a no.

Here’s what the Memphis native had to say about his trips to the wild side:

“This is my first time [at SXSW]. I’ve been to Coachella many times, on many different, um, substances. I’ve been to Coachella many times but not remembered a lot of it, I’ll leave it at that. But I remember I used to go to Coachella a long time ago. I remember Coachella when there wasn’t, like, paparazzi and stuff there.”

“Like, I stood in an open field and one year I saw Nine Inch Nails and the next year I saw Weezer, and I was standing in the middle of the field, you know, like tripping my mind out.”

While this writer notes the rich — and yes, sometimes tragic — history of drug taking by many creatives, Timberlake’s 2011 reasoning to Playboy about the arguable merits of pot is at least an honest one.

“The only thing pot does for me is it gets me to stop thinking. Sometimes I have a brain that needs to be turned off. Some people are just better high.”

The suit and tie is officially loosened.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE " Strawberry Bubblegum " Live…by UnderProject

[Image via Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com]