Termite Music Videos: SexyBack

Sexyback

The penultimate shot of Justin Timberlake's video for "SexyBack", directed by Michael Hausmann, proves that the most intense pleasure arrives through its delay. The premise is this: JT is wiretapping the room adjoining his in a Berlin hotel, possibly even rigging it with a bomb. A busty scoop-dressed brunette (stunning, of course) is the tenant, and is involved in some counter-intel as well. These scenes are intercut with JT and his femme fatale eyeing each other at a sleek modernist nightclub - marking the spy scenes as a metaphor for their expert mating ritual.

The best part of the song (aside from Timbaland's tremulous/joyous "take it to the chorus" vocal) is its reversal of sex roles. A snippet: "You see these shackles baby I'm your slave/I'll let you whip me if I misbehave". Coy and sluttish. But also: "I'm bringin' sexy back/Them other fuckers don't know how to act/Girl let me make up for all the things you lack". Braggadocio, but not in terms of dick length, but of what he does with it. He's a man for all lusty seasons.

Back to the video: as JT peeks in on various couplings in the unisex bathrooms of the nightclub, his/our fantasy heats up. The two spy kids hook up in her room in robust table clearing fashion, a particularly predatory coupling. Soon enough, with the fantasy at its peak, the bomb explodes as JT nimbly minces off the balcony rail.

Penultimate shot: close-up in super slo-mo as their two faces edge closer before a kiss, their skittish movement echoing the fractured synth melody. Right before the magic moment of connection, Hausmann cuts away as their image fades on a TV screen. It's that breath before the kiss that's captured, and it's the most erotic moment in the video.

I can't wait for the album.