He’s crying a river.
Justin Timberlake may have taken too much of a hiatus in between albums and was involved in too much negative press surrounding the release of Britney Spears’ memoir — causing fans to lose interest in the once-megastar.
“A six-year break from your mid-thirties to your early forties is a really long time [for an artist],” music journalist Touré of TheGrio told Paula Froelich of NewsNation.
“Most of [Timberlake’s] fans have aged out of caring about him. It’s like the old saying goes, ‘You don’t retire – the audience retires you.’”
The pop star released his sixth album “Everything I Thought It Was” on March 15, his first since 2018’s “Man in the Woods.”
While it debuted at No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100, a month later, it had fallen off Billboard Hot 200 altogether.
The singer’s “The Forget Tomorrow” tour, his first in five years, is also experiencing lackluster sales. Instead of selling out arenas, tickets are available in all sections in almost every city and the highest priced ones are going for only $900.
Even worse, on Friday, the former NSYNC star went so far as to cancel his June 8th show in Columbia, SC. On the concert’s web page, Ticketmaster states, “Unfortunately, the Event Organizer has had to cancel your event,” with no further explanation.
Timberlake, 43, has yet to comment on the doomed show’s status.
Another factor that may be contributing to his recent dip in popularity is the October release of his ex Britney Spears’ bombshell memoir “The Woman in Me.”
The “I’m a Slave 4 U” singer opened up for the first time about their tumultuous three-year relationship that was marred by an abortion at Timberlake’s suggestion and his cheating with “another celebrity.” The “Like I Love You” singer also broke up with the songstress via text.
In the tell-all, Spears, 42, reveals the abortion she had at 19 was Timberlake’s idea, because he didn’t want to be a father.
“I’m sure people will hate me for this, but I agreed not to have the baby. I don’t know if that was the right decision,” she writes. “If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it. And yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father.”
In January, Spears apologized for her book’s candor on Instagram, by posting a clip of Timberlake with the caption, “I wanna apologize for some of the things I wrote about in my book. If I offended any of the people I genuinely care about I am deeply sorry.”
However, instead of accepting her apology and owning up to any past indiscretions, Timberlake chose to publicly state that he’d “like to take this opportunity to apologize — to absolutely f—ing nobody,” during his concert at Irving Plaza.
In response, Spears not only deleted her apology, but came back with a new post saying, “Someone told me someone was talking s*** about me on the streets!!! Do you want to bring it to the court or will you go home crying to your mom like you did last time ??? I’m not sorry !!!”
