{"id":487040,"date":"2019-06-14T10:55:07","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T16:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=848242"},"modified":"2019-06-14T10:55:07","modified_gmt":"2019-06-14T16:55:07","slug":"justin-timberlake-finds-his-fellow-weirdos-at-songwriters-hall-of-fame-ceremony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/justin-timberlake-finds-his-fellow-weirdos-at-songwriters-hall-of-fame-ceremony\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Timberlake Finds His Fellow \u2018Weirdos\u2019 at Songwriters Hall of Fame Ceremony"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Standing before a packed auditorium at the Marquis Marriott Hotel in New York City Thursday night, Justin Timberlake<\/a> seemed to finally feel at home. Standing amongst his peers to accept the Contemporary Icon Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the pop star summed up the honor, saying, \u201cBeing recognized by the people who work alongside me means so much to me. I think for the first time in my career, in my life, the thing that I love to do, I feel like I\u2019m in a room of people and I feel like all of us are in it together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Timberlake capped off a night that also saw a slew of songwriting legends enter the Hall of Fame: Missy Elliott, Yusuf\/Cat Stevens, R&B maestro Dallas Austin, country scribes Tom T. Hall and John Prine and early Eagles whisperer Jack Tempchin. Halsey<\/a> also received the Hal David Starlight Award, pop great Carole Bayer Sager accepted the Johnny Mercer Award and publishing giant Martin Bandier was honored with the Visionary Leadership Award.<\/p>\n

To be honored by the Songwriters Hall of Fame is to be honored purely for craft, and every inductee and award recipient seemed floored by the particular gravity of this distinction. In his speech, Timberlake spoke about visiting New York City for the first time as a teenager and realizing that music could be the thing that brought him not just to a city like New York, but to people \u201cwho are just like me \u2014 and now we\u2019ve found each other, all the weirdos, look at us!\u201d<\/p>\n

Timberlake\u2019s speech was poignant, earnest and often funny \u2014 \u201cChurch is the best place to get your start because even if you go up there and completely shit the bed, at the end, everyone says, \u2018Amen’\u201d \u2014 and afterwards, he closed the night with a euphoric medley that started with \u201cTheme from New York, New York\u201d and included hits like \u201cMy Love,\u201d \u201cCry Me a River,\u201d \u201cSay Something,\u201d \u201cWhat Goes Around\u2026 Comes Around\u201d and \u201cMirror.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also deftly captured the elusive magic of writing music that many of the other inductees and recipients spoke of throughout the night. \u201cThere\u2019s no feeling like finishing a song; the only feeling that can even measure up is when you actually hear someone sing it back to you, and how lucky am I that I get to do that?\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve also said this, but if there is a God, then writing a song and having that experience \u2014 because you heard the great Yusuf say it, you\u2019ve heard everybody say it, you don\u2019t know exactly how they happen. That, if there is a God, writing a song, connecting to that meditative moment, that\u2019s the closest that I will get to Her. I feel like this is the room that really understands that.\u201d<\/p>\n