Man, Woods, Tent, Wife, Trees

Justin Timberlake is trapped in a mid-life purgatory between real self and parody. In the video for “Man of the Woods,” from the album of the same title (named after his son Silas), Timberlake traipses through the forest and takes a literal approach to the “man of the woods” marketing theme he’s foisted upon us which he now must follow through on—recall that he had people at his album listening party eating delicious ants.

Here, he dances past men with large axes chopping trees, dances in a tent, and there he is dancing in a log cabin with his wife Jessica Biel, as woods people do. Though he certainly looks the part, it seems like he can’t commit to whether the country narrative he’s going for should be authentic or goofy and it’s quite confusing.