Justin Timberlake Says He Had To Push For ‘SexyBack’ To Be A Single Because “Everybody Told Me I Was Crazy”

Justin Timberlake recently revealed that his hit song “SexyBack was not supposed to be a single but he fought to make it so.

In an interview with Apple Music, Justin said, “When I brought the album in, I said, ‘This is the first single,” he said of “SexyBack.”

“Everybody told me I was crazy. They’re like, ‘It’s too fast.’ I’m like, ‘Okay.’ Like, ‘It doesn’t sound like you.’ I’m like, ‘Okay.’ They’re like, ‘It doesn’t have your signature falsetto.’ I’m like, ‘Okay.’ And I say, ‘Every reason why you think that that’s why it’s wrong, I think it’s right.'”

But, it seems the former boy band member made the right decision as the song shot to Number 1 on the Hot 100 list and is a standout on his 2006 album, FutureSex/LoveSounds.

The album also included hits like, “My Love” and “What Goes Around.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Justin opened up about the process of creating other hit songs like “Señorita,” “Cry Me a River” and “Can’t Stop The Feeling!”

“I was listening to Bowie. And I was listening to ‘Rebel Rebel,’ and Tim[baland] was on a Talking Heads trip as well. That’s why, he’s basically doing his David Byrne,” he said of his inspiration for the songs.

“When I was writing that song, I wanted it to be … I was listening to ‘Rebel Rebel,’ which essentially is about a cross-dresser, right?” he continued. “And so I was picturing guys, girls, all iterations of that, in a club, singing this to each other. And I said, ‘This has to be so simple and a vibe and just, like, an attitude.’ And I was like, ‘What’s the most audacious thing you could possibly say?’ You know what I mean? And that was the first line of the song.”