”There’s a couple of duets in there”

Justin Timberlake has written and produced songs for everyone from Rihanna to Reba McEntire, not to mention Duran Duran, Macy Gray, 50 Cent and Madonna.

Paparazzi photographs of Timberlake and Madonna leaving recording studios in London have appeared in magazines all around the world.

The pair share more than a CV that includes kissing Britney Spears.

So far Madonna, Timberlake and FutureSex/LoveSounds co-producer Timbaland have written six songs for her forthcoming album.

“There’s a couple of duets in there,” a cagey Timberlake says of his work with the queen of pop.

Madonna offering the creative olive branch to a young performer (Timberlake is still only 26) must be like getting to meet pop’s answer to Yoda (admittedly a hotter version thereof). She was topping charts when Timberlake was filling nappies.

“She’s a very talented lady,” Timberlake says diplomatically. “There are definitely moments when I think, wow, I’m singing with Madonna. But she’s so cool. She’s very clever, very innovative. I was humbled working with her. She’s fun to work with and she takes advice. Plus she has an amazing mind.”

Pressed, Timberlake says some of the Madonna tracks have grooves that sound like her first album, but with more advanced lyrics.

“It kind of meets in the middle between what she does and what I do. It’s exactly how you want to hear Madonna right now. It doesn’t sound quite like anything she’s done yet it still sounds like Madonna.”

Madonna’s gravitating towards Timberlake is perhaps the ultimate barometer of his acceleration from pop star to pop icon — and of his credibility.

Unlike most of his contemporaries, Timberlake can do more in the recording studio than muck around on video games while waiting to sing someone else’s lyrics.

At various points of the evening he plays guitar, piano and keyboards — not to big note himself, merely because he can.

He’s been on big stages for more than 10 years and it shows.

From an article by Cameron Adams, the Herald Sun.