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Justin Timberlake Dances All Over New York in ‘Take Back the Night’ Video

Justin Timberlake, "Take Back the Night" video, 20/20 Experience

Justin Timberlake has shared the video for “Take Back the Night,” the Michael Jackson-channeling first single from his upcoming The 20/20 Experience — 2 of 2, and it finds him in an unmistakably Empire State of Mind. The pop star mixes live footage from Yankee Stadium with shots of himself dancing with a kid in Chinatown, among other New York City scenes.

It’s the type of video that has three directors — Jeff Nicholas, Jonathan Craven, and Darren Craig — and designer Neil Barrett has Timberlake wearing some sort of ridiculous tuxedo-as-shirt. But at this point Timberlake has a budget that’s actually Yankees-level, at least in pop-music terms, and the MTV Video Music Awards darling uses it smoothly enough to make you forget he somewhat implausibly claimed he’d never heard of the Take Back the Night Foundation.

The sequel to this year’s The 20/20 Experience is due out September 30 via RCA Records. It remains to be seen whether it will be as good as Robin Thicke’s just-out Blurred Lines, which we deemed “the album Justin Timberlake was too famous to make.” Come to think of it: After using the song title “Take Back the Night,” at least JT was smart enough not put more naked women in his video.

Timberlake’s performance at Yankee Stadium was part of his co-headlining tour with Jay-Z. Check out our review of Timberlake and Jay-Z’s “The Legends of the Summer Tour” opener.