Karma Chameleons

"Soft overripe fresh skeezed California females
with 3-inch cherry red press-on Lee nails."
~ Beastie Boys

Justin Timberlake's third single from FutureSex/LoveSounds titled "What Goes Around...Comes Around" is also his third consecutive single to reach number one on the Billboard Hot1oo. Although I'm not too concerned with chart status, it's popularity stems from usual markers of talent, ability, hotness/coolness, and relevancy. The fact that JT is making music people like is as obvious as the song's similarity to 2002's "Cry Me A River." Where "Cry Me A River" was rumored to be an inward reflection on his relationship with ex-wife Britney Spears, the story goes, "What Goes Around...Comes Around" is an outward look at the karmic circularity of relationships.



What this all points back to is the Beastie Boys's track "What Comes Around" off of Paul's Boutique. Although thematically and narratively similar, it is a much easier connection to establish Timberlake's song as being connected elsewhere. To make a case for the author, Timberlake's thematic unity or ideas expressed over time, gives value to the argument for Justin Timberlake as an artist. If "What Goes Around...Comes Around" is really a version of "Cry Me a River," then JT has depth and vision as an artist.

But, I'd still like to pull these songs apart. The inward examination versus outward understanding does the separation work for me. This is the difference between personal and public, between self and society, between individual and universal. "Cry Me a River" is just a dear diary entry; "What Goes Around...Comes Around" speaks a truth about the human condition.

Making that clear it becomes more difficult to posit the relationship of this song with that of one by the Beastie Boys, but my claim is simply that the connections made between texts should not be prioritized for their proximity; that connections made that cross context may not give us insight into the artist, but allow for a bigger picture that is our cultural construction.

Paul's Boutique, the Beastie Boys sophomore album, happens to be less sophomoric than their debut, Licensed To Ill. On Paul's Boutique we see them begin to emerge as artists. With the help of the Dust Brothers, they begin to really understand what they are capable of as musicians. This maturation process has absolutely nothing to do with them taking themselves seriously. And I think that's why it has become really disconcerting to understand the Beastie Boys in their current context.

Regardless, "What Comes Around" expresses similar issues as Timberlake's song. In the lines, "Look out my window look over the city with two black eyes your girl ain't that pretty. Why you wanna beat that brat with a bat? Why you wanna beat your girl like that?" the Beastie Boys question violent actions in abusive relationships. Although Justin Timberlake's song deals with no such issue, it's interest in karma that the Beastie Boys's chorus invokes in the lines, "What goes around, comes around and what comes around goes around."

Another difference between "Cry Me A River" and "What Goes Around...Comes Around" is in the tone. I think this difference provides evidence for the assumption that "Cry Me A River" comes from a personal experience and "What Goes Around...Comes Around" describes something outside of Timberlake's experience. "Cry Me A River" seems to be a bitter account of the end of a relationship. JT seems to be much harsher on the antagonist in "Cry Me A River," than he is in "What Goes Around...Comes Around." This harshness in tone could come from personal feelings, where in the latter, the distance of the situation gives Timberlake a much different perspective.