Music Review: Justin Timberlake "TKO"

Justin Timberlake

TKO

Album: The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2

Year: 2013

          Justin Timberlake is caught off guard by his girlfriend’s cheating in the fazed   “TKO.”

            In the intro, amidst the stern bass,Timbaland baby talks and mentions the song’s title, setting an antagonistic tone. (“Kill me with the coo-coochie-coochie-coo/She kill me with the coo-coochie-coochie-coo/Kill me with the coo-coochie-coochie-coo/She kill me with the coo-coochie-coochie-coo Kill me with the coo-coochie-coochie-coo/She kill me with the coo-coochie-coochie-coo/Kill me with the coo-coochie-coochie-coo/She kill me with the coo-coochie-coochie-coo/ Kill me with the coo-coochie-coochie-coo/She kill me with the coo-coochie-coochie-coo/Lights out, TKO.”)

            The chatter inside the coffee shop is a welcome distraction As usual, his girlfriend is at the gym, working out. Even on the weekends, she wakes up at 4 am and leaves. She should be returning home any minute. Today, though, he couldn’t play into her bravado. Yesterday, he had brought up during their daily phone call at lunch about his problems at work and she had quipped an “oh well.” She had moved on quickly to another subject. As he sips on his coffee, he thinks her bitterness came from somewhere. It ticks him off and he questions why he’s still with her at all. (“Baby, everyday in training to get the gold/That’s why your body’s crazy/But you can’t run from yourself, that’s where it’s difficult/Girl I can see in your eyes that there’s something inside that made you evil/Where did you go, ‘cause it just ain’t fair/Over here thinking ‘bout the shit you say/Don’t know why it gets to me.”)

                In the pre-chorus, he picks at his muffin and through the window, he sees his girlfriend rub the shoulders of another guy. She perches on her tip toes to give him a kiss and they disentangle from the embrace. Both head off into the opposite direction. His mouth gets dry and he coughs to cover up his gagging. He leaves his food and races to the bathroom. (“It cuts right on my eye, yeah it hurt, won’t lie/Still can’t see, think I saw you with another guy/Can’t fight, knocked down, then I got over you/Can’t fight no more, you knock me out/What am I supposed to do?”)

          In the chorus, he wipes his mouth with some hand towel paper. He bends to the left and flinches. His ribs, sore from heaving, have become sharp, bursting out of his chest. His takes a deep breath, wheezing through his nose. While he sits on the bathroom floor, trying to recover, he realizes he’s through with her. His girlfriend, who at one time, was sweet and sensitive, is aiming to hurt him as much as she can. (“I don’t understand it/Tell me how could you be so low/Been swinging after the bell and after all of the whistle blows/Tried to go below the belt, through my chest, perfect hit ‘til the dawn, dammit babe/This ain’t the girl I used to know/No, not anymore, TKO/I’m out for the count/Yeah, girl, you knock me out/It’s just a TKO/I’m out for the count/Yeah, girl, you knock me out/With a TKO/T-TKO/Out for the count/Yeah, girl, you knock me out/With a TKO/Now, I’m out for the count/Yeah, girl, you knock me out/With a TKO.”)

           A couple walks around the block, he goes back to their apartment. She greets with him a huge grin. He untangles his arms from around his waist and says he knows where she really was today. She says he’s just a friend. He retorts that it wasn’t what it looked like. She kisses him hard on the mouth and soon, she is leading him to the bedroom. However, his satstification is short-lived. As he lays in bed next to her, he knows they can’t continue to argue every day. She’s checked out of the rlationship and he hasn’t been happy in a long time. It would be best for the both of them to move on. (“Baby, now I really know what we’re fighting for/This rematch sex is amazing/But nobody wins when if somebody’s heart is slow/’Cause when I see you move like you got something inside that made you lethal/Where did you go, it just ain’t fair/Over here thinking ‘bout the shit you do/Don’t know what I got to lose.”)

              The pre-chorus and chorus are sung again.

             In the bridge, Timbaland wonders out loud why his girlfriend is being passive-aggressive towards his friend. (“Girl/See what you doing/See what you doing, girl?/You knock me right out/See what you do/ Girl/See what you doing/See what you doing, girl?/You knock me right out/See what you do/ Girl, girl, girl/You knock me right out/Hey girl/See what you do /Girl, girl, girl/You knock me right out/Hey girl/See what you do/Girl, girl, girl, you knock me right out.”)

              The pre-chorus is sung again.

               The first half of the chorus ends the single. (“I don’t understand it.. no, not anymore, TKO.’)

             Timberlake’s definite  vocals question her behavior, trying to figure out what is going on with her. But he’s already out the door. He’s become indifferent to her and he can no longer excuse her catty comments. The cheating confirmed what he had suspected.

              The  lightweight “TKO” has some muscle but lacks the stamina of his earlier hits.