{"id":956662,"date":"2026-11-08T04:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T04:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/956662\/"},"modified":"2026-11-08T04:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T04:20:14","slug":"justin-timberlake-reveals-whether-hit-song-is-about-ex-britney-spears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/956662\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Timberlake reveals whether hit song is about ex Britney Spears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Justin Timberlake has finally revealed that his hit 2006 song, What Goes Around\u2026 Comes Around, was not written about ex-girlfriend Britney Spears.<\/p>\n

Since its debut, many have believed the song was about Spears, as it came out around the time the pop star was divorcing Kevin Federline. However, that\u2019s just not the case, according to Timberlake.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMaybe I should dispel a rumour at this point, which has gone around forever, which is like, it\u2019s not a personal story from mine,\u201d Timberlake said during a recent appearance on Complex\u2019s Re-Rank YouTube series.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s actually a personal story from a friend\u2019s that I asked permission [to use],\u201d he said of the track, which was a single off his 2006 album, FutureSex\/LoveSounds.<\/p>\n

Timberlake, 45, explained that the song was informed by a friend\u2019s break-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was just going through it and he was telling me what had happened, and I said, \u2018Do you mind if I write about this?\u2019 And I quote, my friend said, \u2018Yeah, torch that b***h. What goes around comes around.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018I have to go. Thank you\u2019,\u201d Timberlake recalled.<\/p>\n

The Mirrors singer said he wrote the song in \u201cdamn near 20 minutes\u201d.<\/p>\n

Paired with the 10-minute long music video, he said it \u201chit on all cylinders\u201d for him. In the YouTube show, Timberlake ranked the song as number \u201cone or two\u201d in his discography.<\/p>\n

However, while What Goes Around\u2026 Comes Around is not about Spears, 44, another one of his songs might be \u2014 and that\u2019s Cry Me a River, from his 2002 debut album, Justified.<\/p>\n

In the music video, he sings alongside a Spears look-alike, who is portrayed to have been cheating on him.<\/p>\n

Timberlake and Spears, who\u2019d first met on The All-New Mickey Mouse Club as children, began dating in 1999 and broke up after three years, in 2002.<\/p>\n

However, in her 2023 memoir, The Woman in Me, the Toxic singer claimed that the media storm that followed the Cry My a River music video\u2019s release made her look like a \u201charlot who\u2019d broken the heart of America\u2019s golden boy\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was comatose in Louisiana, and he was happily running around Hollywood,\u201d she shared.<\/p>\n

In the book, she also claimed that Timberlake had cheated on her \u201cseveral times,\u201d though she didn\u2019t name anyone in particular.<\/p>\n

In a since-deleted January 2024 Instagram post, Spears apologised to the Friends With Benefits actor and said that she was \u201cin love\u201d with his new song at the time, Selfish.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanna apologise for some of the things I wrote about in my book. If I offended any of the people I genuinely care about I am deeply sorry,\u201d Spears wrote at the time, along with a photo of Timberlake appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also wanted to say I am in love with Justin Timberlake\u2019s new song Selfish,\u2019\u201d she added. \u201cIt is soo good and how come every time I see Justin and Jimmy together I laugh so hard???\u201d<\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in Page Six<\/a> and was republished here with permission<\/p>\n

Originally published as Justin Timberlake reveals whether hit song is about ex Britney Spears<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Justin Timberlake has finally revealed that his hit 2006 song, What Goes Around\u2026 Comes Around, was not written…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":956663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[523978,523952,523972,523967,523984,448476,259616,292270,202613,21023,523979,383124,455379,523961,382185,466767,385473,523958,414269,523969,523955,523963,2095,425971,64,63,523982,447,1581,502,104146,286020,134,380445,523956,523960,523974,523981,523989,523953,523975,523976,523965,523957,523983,523970,523971,323239,1973,464534,523985,523980,5185,43172,13339,17357,523987,439598,386143,41050,455202,75957,163377,523954,377952,523964,281377,75458,4031,523962,523973,376865,376840,523988,523986,481384,391067,379036,523966,413243,379066,384220,484609,377935,392174,380911,376539,115425,523977,387947,382203,523968,378564,382773,395118,32611,523959],"class_list":["post-956662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-s-break-up","tag-s-golden-boy","tag-s-meaning","tag-s-new-song-selfish","tag-s-re-rank-youtube-series","tag-s-release","tag-259616","tag-20-minutes","tag-202613","tag-21023","tag-a-harlot","tag-a-friend","tag-a-headline","tag-a-personal-story","tag-a-photo","tag-a-recent-appearance","tag-a-river","tag-a-river-music-video","tag-a-rumour","tag-a-since-deleted-january-2024-instagram-post","tag-a-spears-look-alike","tag-all-cylinders","tag-america","tag-another-one","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-benefits-actor","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrity-news","tag-children","tag-complex","tag-damn-near","tag-entertainment","tag-every-time","tag-ex-britney-spears","tag-ex-girlfriend-britney-spears","tag-futuresex-lovesounds-timberlake","tag-her-several-times","tag-her-2023-memoir","tag-her-look","tag-him-timberlake-and-spears","tag-his-2002-debut-album","tag-his-2006-album","tag-his-discography-however","tag-his-hit-2006-song","tag-his-new-song","tag-his-songs","tag-hit-song","tag-hollywood","tag-its-debut","tag-justified-in","tag-justin-and-jimmy","tag-justin-timberlake","tag-kevin-federline","tag-louisiana","tag-love","tag-mirrors-singer","tag-my-book","tag-my-friend","tag-number","tag-our-new-app","tag-overdrive","tag-page-six","tag-particular-in","tag-permission","tag-selfish","tag-silence","tag-spears","tag-star","tag-the-10-minute-long-music-video","tag-the-all-new-mickey-mouse-club","tag-the-book","tag-the-case","tag-the-chart-topping-track","tag-the-cry-my","tag-the-early-aughts","tag-the-friends","tag-the-heart","tag-the-media-storm","tag-the-music-video","tag-the-people","tag-the-pop-star","tag-the-rumour-mill","tag-the-singer","tag-the-song","tag-the-things","tag-the-time","tag-the-tonight-show-starring-jimmy-fallon","tag-the-toxic-singer","tag-the-track","tag-the-woman","tag-the-youtube-show","tag-this-point","tag-this-story","tag-three-years","tag-timberlake","tag-timberlake-obsessed"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=956662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/956663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=956662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=956662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=956662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}