Justin Timberlake (Somehow) Senses the Right Time to Collaborate With Drake Is Now

Drake recently put out an album titled Scorpion, in which he confirms he’s fathered a child. It’s long—25 tracks spanning two sides and I don’t need to listen to it to know that that’s 25 straight tracks of Drake being in his feelings (I’ve had a lot going on, okay, I’m gonna get around to listening to it). For a modestly reviewed album, it broke some streaming records, which is not actually very surprising, given that streaming numbers are more akin to Google searches these days than album sales. Drake, in other words, is currently enjoying a lot of visibility, even if he’s not critically at the height of his career—and right on time, Justin Timberlake, another pop/R&B auteur who’s confident not just in the sound of his voice but the people’s propensity to want to see him, is in the news, talking about collaborating with the rapper.

In an interview with Complex, Timberlake said he and Drake have been talking about working together again (yes that’s right, again—lest you forget, Drake appeared on the track “Cabaret” on Timberlake’s 20/20 Experience).” We’ve talked about [collaborating again] a lot,” the former boy band member said. “I don’t wanna say too much because I don’t wanna jinx it, but we’ve talked about it a lot.”

I haven’t wanted to listen to anything Justin Timberlake has put out since “Mirrors,” so hopefully this does actually jinx it. If a collaboration does come to fruition, I’m sure it’ll be just fine—not great, but fine. It does give me a hint of joy to imagine JT hitting up Drake and getting left on read (Drake has read receipts on, probably), as Drake sits pensively in the studio and thinks of new ways to say he’s too busy right now. Another text comes in, and with it, Drake’s attention is elsewhere and JT’s chances are back to zero. Later, Drake thinks to himself, I should FaceTime with my child, and sits with an unfamiliar feeling.