“Supplies”

Does Justin Timberlake have a fully-stocked doomsday bunker underneath his woodsy Montana retreat? After taking in the paranoid and apocalyptic “Supplies,” maybe the better question is: How many fully-stocked doomsday bunkers does Justin Timberlake have underneath his woodsy Montana retreat?! This song sounds like it was conceived, written, and recorded in the mad dash between an emergency ballistic missile alert and the ensuing big bang. Produced by the Neptunes, who should really know better, it comes off like warmed-over trap for zombie dads, filled with gestures of desperation and death.

On the song, Timberlake promises to be a savior following humanity’s demise, sounding like a stoned Alex Jones as he literally compares himself to survivalist essentials like wood, light, and a generator. He has the supplies, you see, to stay alive. “Some shit’s about to go down,” he figures, “I’ll be the one with the level head.” All of which is not very level-headed, and quite dumb. But then you see the video, and things get much, much dumber.

The nonsensical clip mashes up dystopic images into mush: Timberlake staring at TV screens plastered with topical villains and violence; Timberlake walking through what looks like a Matrix porn spoof; Timberlake crashing a group of grey sheeple praying to the almighty dollar; Timberlake waking up in Blade Runner 2049’s orange hellscape with a cute kid who tells us to “die already.” It is the hashtag-baiting fever dream nobody asked for—ridiculous at best, offensively trivializing at worst. This thing twists meaningful resistance into a hollow caricature that diminishes the very idea of protest. Yes, the world is a terrible place. But Justin Timberlake’s woke-pop brain farts will not save us.