Back in May, Justin Timberlake teased a possible joint project with Anderson .Paakafter they hit the studio together. It looks like the pop singer has continued to stay busy, as he teased collaborations with Lizzo, SZA, and Meek Mill in a new Entertainment Tonightinterview.
Timberlake said he met Lizzo at the Songwriters Hall of Fame, where he approached her about working together.
“I think she thought I was lying, but we got in and we got a couple of ideas,” he remembered. “I’m not going to tell you too much about what we did together in the studio. If she wants to tell you she can, but it’s flames. It is so good. I am so excited about it.”
Back in August, he shared a preview from their session:
Speaking about his recent collaborations, Timberlake said working with different artists reinvigorated his approach to music.
“I worked with SZA the other day and just worked with Meek Mill,” he said. “I’m having these experiences that are fueling me in such a different way and, again, I think it was really birthed out of feeling like, what can I do right now to just be a part of my community and integrate.”
SZA spoke about her studio session with Timberlake in a recent interview with Kerwin Frost, explaining that it felt like their energies aligned:
Before I was like, ‘What the fuck am I doing in the studio with Justin Timberlake right now? This is crazy.’ But when I heard his music and we started singing together and the harmonies and the note choices that we were finding together, it’s like, ‘Oh, we speak the same language. The same frequency.’ I understood where he was going before he could finish a run, and I wanted to be in that tandem.
According to Timberlake, he’s been able to connect with people who may be outside of his comfort zone after reaching out to his publisher.
“I said, ‘You know, I just want to work with young, fresh people, and I want to collaborate more,’” he recalled. “I’ve been songwriting and producing for so long—I want to experience that energy, and I want to work with people that I think are truly amazing.”
Not much is known about Timberlake’s follow-up to last year’s Man of the Woods. In March, he shared an Instagram video teasing his return to the studio with his frequent collaborator Timbaland: