Justin Timberlake: “I’m a very impatient person...I don’t wait very well.”

Cosmo: How does your wife respond to you performing sexy songs that make girls scream?
Justin Timberlake: “She gets it. She’s an actor. She plays parts all the time. She plays characters for me!”

C: You mean in the bedroom?
JT: “That’s none of your business (laughs). No, she’s the greatest of all time. We have a lot of fun together and I think that’s the most important part. That’s what we’re discovering, that the most important part of being married is having fun together. You have to like the person—loving and liking...”.

C: Is there nothing you two don’t agree on?
JT: “The dishwasher. I don’t empty it. There was a whole thing about how to stack the dishwasher I was totally not into. Domesticity can either bring you together or break you apart!”

C: Is there anything else you don’t do well?
JT: “Yes, I’m a very impatient person and I’ve been trying to work on that my whole life. I don’t wait very well.”

C: You’ve said how you feel there is not much substance in music anymore. What do you mean by that?
JT: “I just feel like a lot of it starts to sound the same. I went through a period of time where I was hearing different singers sing what sounded like the same song, probably produced by the same person. I don’t know if that feels progressive to me.”

C: Do you think other artists will be offended by your remarks? 
JT: “No, it doesn’t seem that controversial of me to say this, but I just think it all did start to sound the same. But I think the last year has been an amazing year for music. I love Daft Punk’s record. I think there’s a lot of music out there that feels very progressive in different genres as well. But for the first time in my career, I don’t really consider myself a pop artist. You just go in and try to make music that you don’t hear on the radio, because I think that’s the only way to move the needle, so to speak...”

C: We see so many former child stars struggle with the transition to adulthood. How did you cope with that so well?
JT: “I think it’s a culmination of things. It’s a false idol-hood that gets put on a young person where how much trouble you get into is all about how much access to things you have. Who hasn’t got drunk, stumbled out of a club and thrown up in the street? The difference is the way we look at certain people—especially younger stars—isn’t relatable. Like Miley (Cyrus). She’s just doing what young people do, but the difference is she’s on stage. Take it easy on her. She’s a young adult and she can do that. Let her do her thing.”

C: So you like Miley?

JT: “Yeah. I think she’s really smart and I think she’s really talented. I’m not saying I agree with everything she does, but I feel like every 10 to 15 years, we pick somebody that we try to make them the model of who we want our daughter to be or not be.”

C: But how do you stop being old news?
JT: “You just stretch a lot. I like to be around people that have a fresh take on things because I think it keeps you young. I do think it’s a state of mind. I feel like I’ve been very lucky in a sense that a lot of the people that do have an interest in my music have grown up with me. There is a different kind of bond between the artist and someone who likes your music. At the end of the day, you do make it for yourself and that’s the most important thing. You have to work from a pure place—that’s the best way. That’s what I’ve learned. You just learn that from experience.”