Justin Timberlake‘s been very busy in the studio lately, he tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, and his A-list entourage has been pivotal in making his exciting new sound “a moving target” he can’t exactly pinpoint.
JT’s affinity for R&B has been further cemented in his recent Trolls World Tour collaborations with SZA (“The Other Side”) and Anderson .Paak (“Don’t Slack”), so reuniting with his longtime collaborator Timbaland for his upcoming solo project checks out, as Lowe correctly guessed.
“But I’m working with some new cats too, man,” Timberlake told him during the New Music Daily interview. “Well, I got in with Kaytranada the other day.”
The Haitian-Canadian DJ/producer once remixed Timberlake’s No. 3 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Cry Me a River,” and now the two have officially connected in the studio with Timberlake’s frequent producers Danja and Rob Knox.
As the Apple Music host pinned Timbaland, Kaytranada and The Neptunes as “three points on a triangle,” the “Mirrors” singer reflected, “If you take J] Dilla and Madlib and Neptunes and Timbaland, and that’s Kaytranada…. He’s birthed because of those people who were birthed.”
Finally, the 39-year-old hitmaker teased one more star he’s been working with in the studio: prolific hip-hop producer Hit-Boy. “It’s first time. We’re going to go back in soon,” he told Lowe. “Honestly, I’m telling you, I’m in the zone where I just want to work. If you’re out there and you want to work, I’m available.”
Listen to Timberlake’s interview on Apple Music’s New Music Daily below.
