I was scrolling through my Twitter feed and came across a post made by "thatGrapejuice.net" tha brought up the topic of the prince of pop. The two artists that were in debate were Bruno Mars and Justin Timberlake.While many people were replying back with Bruno Mars as their choice, I would have to disagree. No, not because I am trying to be different, Justin Timberlake was my immediate reaction.
While both artists have different styles, I would consider JTs music more pop than Bruno. Timberlake has been with the 90's in the great pop boy band NSYNC* The going solo, he has garnered hits like "Senorita," "Cry Me a River" and "SexyBack" just to name a few. While he has been evolving his music with his last two part album "The 20/20 Experience" having multiple genres including the country inspired "Drink You Away." His most recent song "Can't Stop The Feeling" from the Trolls Soundtrack, it was pure bubblegum pop. Personally, I would say Timberlake is the male Beyonce as of now and if I were to see him headline a festival, I would immediately think pop artist.
Bruno on the other hand, I would consider more R&B/Funk. While I would consider his earlier stuff more pop including his collab with Travie Mccoy "Billionaire," and "Locked out of Heaven," ever since "Treasure" from his album Unorthodox JukeBox, he has transitioned to the R&B Funk genre. Mars then came out with the Mark Ronson collaboration "Uptown Funk" that swept the nation then following his now classic song and album 24k Magic. I would say this album reminds me 90's retro-funk R&B. I will be surprised if this album does not win Best R&B Album at the Grammy's next year.
Maybe it is because Justin has been around longer is why I say Justin, but maybe I will change my mind once I see where Bruno heads next for his next album.