Justin Timberlake is reflecting back on his love of beatboxing.
The “SexyBack” singer responded to a viral video on Monday that questioned his musical choices in the early 2000s. In the Instagram clip, creator Hannah Young remarked that fans “don’t talk about Justin Timberlake beatboxing enough.”
“There was a moment in time where that man would be in the middle of a song and just boots and cats and boots and cats,” Hannah said. “Nobody questioned it. Nobody said, ‘Justin, you know, we have drums.’”
“And we liked it,” Young added. “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?’”
Timberlake took a moment to jokingly apologize for the beatboxing chapter of his career, replying to Young in the comment section of the post.
“I often look back on that time as well,” Timberlake wrote. “I still haven’t come up with any answers. 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.”
“Also, I can’t promise I won’t do it again. God help us all,” he added.
While the “Suit & Tie” singer may have been joking, his beatboxing past is well known. Timberlake famously performed the vocal percussion while on NSYNC’s No String Attached tour in 2000 in a moment that has since gone viral. One year later, his beatboxing skills were included on NSYNC’s hit single “Pop” from their 2001 album Celebrity.
Timberlake previously opened up about beatboxing while appearing on Hot Ones with his former NSYNC bandmates in 2023. The “Cry Me River” crooner said that his beatboxing battle interludes during their tours were “slightly regrettable,” while Lance Bass argued that they were “iconic.”
“File that under, you know, slightly regrettable,” Timberlake dished.
