Justin Timberlake isn't crying a river over his beatboxing days, but he is apologizing for them. The Grammy Award winner, 45, responded to a viral Instagram Reel shared by social media user Hannah Young, who posted a video about the singer's beatboxing.
"We don’t talk about Justin Timberlake beatboxing enough," Hannah says in the video. "Because there was a moment in time where that man would be in the middle of a song and just 'boots and cats, boots and cats.'"
"And we were like, 'Yes, there he is.' Nobody questioned it. Nobody said: 'Justin, you know, we have drums. This is a professional recording studio. There are instruments available to you.'"
"But no, Justin Timberlake wanted to make space noises with his mouth. You couldn’t stop him. Awards shows, live performances. You gave that man a microphone, and there was always a chance he was about to go 'boots and cats, boots and cats,'" she continues.
"And we liked it. That's what I need us to sit with. We were watching that man make drum noises with his mouth, like, 'Oh my God, what can't he do?' I just, I think about it sometimes."
© Liaison/Getty ImagesJustin responded to the video on Instagram, commenting that he often looks back on that time, too.
"I still haven't come up with any answers," the "SexyBack" singer wrote. "I don't know how to apologize enough for whatever those ambitions were. Too many boots. Too many cats. I hope you can forgive me."
Although he asked for forgiveness, Justin couldn't promise that his beatboxing days are behind him for good.
"Also, I can't promise I won't do it again," Justin added. "God help us all."
One social media user pointed out in the comments: "To be fair, dude was good at it." Meanwhile, another wrote: "We are so here for it @justintimberlake We want all the boots and all the cats."
© Christopher Polk/Getty ImagesJustin's beatboxing was featured on *'NSYNC's 2001 single "Pop." During the band's 2023 appearance on Hot Ones, Justin's beatbox battle interludes from *NSYNC's stadium tour shows were brought up, with Justin calling his beatboxing "slightly regrettable," while his former bandmate Lance Bass labeled it "iconic."
"We can file that under, you know, slightly regrettable," Justin said.
The performer beatboxed with chicken in his mouth, for the first time, during a 2020 episode of Hot Ones, during which, he recalled producer Timbaland beatboxing "Cry Me a River," the 2002 song they, along with Scott Storch, wrote.
"The crazy thing about 'Cry Me a River' was he beatboxed it first," Justin shared. "I came into the studio and I was less than thrilled and I think he saw my mood and he just started, like, [beatboxing]."
Justin revealed that "four hours later [it] was, like, written and recorded and then we started working on post-production."
