Selfish (Justin Timberlake song)

"Selfish" is a song by American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake. Released on January 25, 2024, it is his first solo single release in almost six years, following his standalone July 2018 single "SoulMate". It is the lead single from his sixth studio album Everything I Thought It Was. It was followed shortly after by a promotional single, "Drown", in late February.

Background and release
Between 2020 and 2023, Timberlake did not release any solo singles, only appearing on collaborations such as "Stay with Me", "Sin Fin" with Romeo Santos, and on Timbaland's "Keep Going Up" alongside Nelly Furtado. In September 2023, he reunited with NSYNC on the promotional single "Better Place" for the soundtrack album to the 2023 DreamWorks Animation film Trolls Band Together; he also co-produced the soundtrack itself.

On January 25, 2024, Timberlake appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He announced the release of "Selfish" and revealed that the parent album Everything I Thought It Was had taken four years to produce.

Composition
The song was written by Timberlake, Amy Allen, Henry Walter, Theron Thomas, and Louis Bell. The song was produced by Timberlake, Cirkut, and Bell.

In an Apple Music 1 interview, the singer explained that the songwriting process of the single started with his music director Adam Blackstone singing "Jealous Guy" by Donny Hathaway. During the process, Timberlake reflected that men usually do not sing about "an emotion that makes them vulnerable".

Critical reception
Billboard compared the track to Timberlake's previous lead singles saying it "is actually much more unassuming" describing it as "a honeyed, ornately produced mid-tempo ballad built on warmly groaning organs and a bossa nova drum machine," and while lyrically "not exactly a brand-new sentiment" for Timberlake, it is "one sweet enough that it's hard to really get up much hate for." It was voted as favorite new music release in their weekly poll. Consequence gave the song a widely negative review, calling it "a turd" and stating that "'Selfish' isn't even bad enough to be interesting, and it's certainly not ambitious; it's like he was aiming squarely for mediocre and still came up short." The New York Times found it thematically similar to Nick Jonas' 2014 single "Jealous". The Daily Beast also compared "Selfish" to Jonas' song, and said it "seems to be mature, radio-friendly, well-produced, and, yes, ambitionless pop."

Music video
An official music video, directed by Bradley Calder, was released on January 25, 2024.

The music video on YouTube has received over 35 million views as of June 2024.

Live performances
On January 19, 2024, Timberlake performed a free one-night-only concert at the Orpheum in Memphis where he live-debuted the new single after teasing a new project on social media in previous days. On January 27, 2024, Timberlake performed the single on Saturday Night Live. The performance was introduced by Jimmy Fallon. Timberlake performed the song on the February 23, 2024 episode of the UK's The Graham Norton Show. In April 2024, Timberlake opened the iHeartRadio Music Awards, performing the single, as well as "No Angels", the second single off of Everything I Thought It Was. Timberlake also performs the song on his seventh concert tour, The Forget Tomorrow World Tour (2024).

Chart performance
In the United States, "Selfish" debuted and peaked at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Timberlake's highest debut in six years on the chart. It became his 39th career solo entry on the Hot 100 and his 29th to reach the top 40. In Canada, the track debuted and peaked at number 22 on the Canadian Hot 100.

In the United Kingdom, "Selfish" debuted at number 47 on the UK Singles Downloads Chart and number 51 on the Singles Sales Chart on January 26, 2024. On January 29, 2024, the song appeared at number 35 on the country's Singles Midweek Chart and ended up debuting at number 37 on the main chart on February 2, 2024; it appeared on that chart for nine weeks. "Selfish" climbed to its eventual peak at number 29 in the following week. Six weeks after its release, the song peaked at number 5 on the UK Singles Downloads Chart.

Personnel

 * Justin Timberlake – vocals, songwriter, producer
 * Amy Allen – songwriter
 * Henry Walter – songwriter, producer
 * Louis Bell – songwriter, producer
 * Theron Thomas – songwriter