How Justin Timberlake’s Son Inspired ‘Can’t Stop the Feeling!’

Justin Timberlake explained how his son inspired “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” He also revealed an iconic musician influenced the track. While “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” was a hit, it may have had a negative impact on the singer’s career.

‘Can’t Stop the Feeling!’ was Justin Timberlake’s attempt to write a kid’s song

During a 2016 interview with Entertainment Weekly, the singer explained how marrying Jessica Biel and having a son, Silas, had a massive impact on his life. “It changes everything,” he explained. “You literally wake up and look in the mirror and go, ‘I have no idea what I’m doing.'”

“Can’t Stop the Feeling!” was inspired by Silas’ youthfulness. “I don’t know that it was directly inspired to be something that my son could listen to of mine, because there’s a lot of music he can’t listen to of mine — at least not yet,” he said. “It’s crazy, this new appreciation [I have] for both of them — her and him. It’s humiliating and humbling at the same time.”

Justin Timberlake said the tune was also influenced by a 1970s soul singer

Interestingly, Silas was not the only one who inspired “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” Billboard reported that, during a 2020 interview with SiriusXM Hits 1’s The Morning Mash Up, the “Cry Me a River” singer said that tune was partly influenced by Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day,” a classic song Timberlake loved as a child. “I made it very widely known that that was the song that I was trying to … I was trying to capture a little bit of that actual feeling that that song made me feel as a little boy,” the “SexyBack” singer said.

“Can’t Stop the Feeling!” appeared on the soundtrack of the animated film Trolls. The film was based on the famous toys of the same name. Fittingly, Timberlake performed his movie theme at the 89th Academy Awards. He even worked a snippet of “Lovely Day” into his performance. The former NSYNC star praised Withers as one of his idols and lauded Withers’ “everyman” quality. “You listen to his songs and they’ll live forever because they just speak to your humanity,” he opined.

‘Can’t Stop the Feeling!’ was a Faustian bargain

“Can’t Stop the Feeling!” was a huge hit, but its success might’ve been a Faustian bargain for Timberlake. His 2000s album Justified and FutureSex/LoveSounds established him as one of the coolest superstars on the planet. However, he later made the decision to star in a trio of films based on Troll dolls, which are not the most dignified products in the world. Singing a kid-friendly theme song like “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” might’ve damaged his image as an “It guy,” similar to how Smash Mouth could never be a cool indie rock band again after they allowed “All-Star” to appear on the Shrek soundtrack.

Since the success of “Can’t Stop the Feeling!,” Timberlake put out two albums: Man of the Woods and Everything I Thought It Was. Aside from the minor hit “Say Something” from Man of the Woods, neither album did much for his career. “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” was a hit, but it was also the beginning of the end for Timberlake.

Now that Timberlake has written a song for his son, he might have more time to spend with his family.