“Say Something” by Justin Timberlake & Chris Stapleton

“Say Something” is a song written, recorded and performed by American singer-songwriters Justin Timberlake alongside Chris Stapleton. In the song, the singers (Timberlake and Stapleton) sing about the pressure from society to “say something that says something”. However, the singers think that sometimes the best way to “say something is to say nothing at all”.

But what really does “say something” mean?

Till date, neither Timberlake nor Stapleton has said something (pardon our pun) about the meaning of this song. That said, many believe that Timberlake is talking about how his fans and the public in general are looking to society’s famous people like him to speak up about certain social ills ranging from #MeToo movement to President Donald Trump’s discriminatory politics in America. According to this interpretation of the lyrics, sometimes extremely famous celebrities like Timberlake do more harm than good commenting on certain social and political issues.

Facts about “Say Something”

• “Say Something” was released on 25th January, 2018 as the third single from Timberlake’s fifth studio album Man of the Woods.
• “Say Something” was written by five songwriters, including Justin and Chris. The other 3 songwriters are: Larrance “Rance” Dopson of the famous musical ensemble 1500 or Nothin’, record producer Floyd Nathaniel Hills (Danja) and Timbaland.
• All the writers of “Say Something” handled the song’s production with the exception of Chris Stapleton.
• According to Stapleton, the initial plan was for him to just co-write the song and not sing on it. However, before he knew it, Timberlake suggested he sing.
• “Say Something” isn’t the only track that Stapleton co-wrote on Timberlake’s Man of the Woods He also co-wrote the songs “The Hard Stuff” and “Morning Light” with Timberlake.
• The music video for this track was directed by Mexican film and music video director Arturo Perez Jr.. The video was filmed at the iconic architectural landmark the Bradbury Building in Los Angeles, California. The building is known for appearing in numerous TV series and films, most notably the 1982 American science fiction film Blade Runner starring Harrison Ford..
• The track debuted and peaked at the 9th position on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. This feat gave Timberlake the 19th top 10 Hot 100 single of his solo career. It also gave Stapleton the first Hot 100 top 10 single of his career. On the UK Singles Chart, the song also peaked at the 9th position.

What musical genre is the song “Say Something”?

This song best fits into country rock genre.

Is this the first time that Timberlake has worked with Stapleton?

No. The pair first worked together in 2015 when they performed together at the CMA Awards.