Everything I Thought It Was

Everything I Thought It Was is the sixth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake. It was released on March 15, 2024, through RCA Records, as his first studio release in six years, following Man of the Woods (2018). The album was preceded by the single "Selfish" and the promotional single "Drown".
Background
In 2023, Timberlake reunited with his former band members of *NSYNC and released the single "Better Place" in support of the Trolls Band Together soundtrack, as well as a collaboration with Timbaland and Nelly Furtado titled "Keep Going Up". In addition to "Keep Going Up!", Timberlake had also collaborated with Romeo Santos on the song "Sin Fin",, with Jack Harlow on his album Come Home the Kids Miss You, on the song "Parent Trap"; a remix of Coco Jones' "ICU" and a further remix of the song "3D" by Jungkook. Timberlake had also worked with Calvin Harris, producer of "Fuckin' Up the Disco" and "No Angels", on his song "Stay With Me", alongside Pharrell Williams and Halsey.
A few months after the release of the singles, the singer-songwriter unveiled a trailer for an upcoming project titled Everything I Thought It Was on January 19, 2024, narrated by actor and Reptile co-star, Benicio del Toro. He announced the album on January 25, alongside the release of the lead single "Selfish". About the album, Timberlake revealed that it has "incredibly honest" moments but is also "a lot of fucking fun". He would call it his "most straightforward" record to date, referring to it as "complex within its simplicity".
While in an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music's New Music Daily promotion, Timberlake said that the album title was inspired from when a friend, after listening to the album, told him, "This sounds like everything I thought I wanted from you." The title appears at the end of the opening track "Memphis".