It was late 2013 when the world finally got its hands on The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2. People were still reeling from the slick, suit-and-tie pop of the first volume. Then, tucked away toward the end of the tracklist, this weird, bluesy, whiskey-soaked anthem appeared. Honestly, Justin Timberlake song Drink You Away felt like a glitch in the Matrix at first. You had the guy who brought "SexyBack" suddenly channelin' a Memphis soul singer stuck in a dive bar at 2 AM. It shouldn't have worked.
The song starts with that grinding, distorted organ. It’s gritty. It feels like dust on a vinyl record. Then those acoustic guitars kick in, and you realize JT isn't trying to be a pop prince here. He’s grieving. Not a person, necessarily, but a memory he can't drown out.
The Nashville Connection That Changed Everything
Most pop songs live and die on the Billboard Hot 100 within a few months. That wasn't the case here. Justin Timberlake song Drink You Away had a bizarre second life that nobody—not even RCA Records—saw coming. For two years, it just sat there as a fan-favorite album track. Then came the 2015 CMA Awards.
Timberlake took the stage with Chris Stapleton. If you haven't seen the footage, go find it. It’s legendary. Stapleton was just starting his massive breakout, and Timberlake was... well, he was the biggest star on the planet. They mashed up Stapleton’s "Tennessee Whiskey" with "Drink You Away," and the chemistry was radioactive.
Suddenly, country radio programmers were blowing up the label's phones. They wanted to play it. They had to play it.
Why country music claimed a pop star
It’s about the "bones" of the song. Written by Timberlake, Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley, Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon, and James Fauntleroy, the track follows a classic 12-bar blues progression that feels native to the South. It doesn't use the synthetic, shiny textures of 2010s EDM-pop. Instead, it relies on:
- A gospel-inflected choir in the background.
- Heavy, rhythmic handclaps that feel like a revival meeting.
- Lyrics that lean into the classic "liquor as medicine" trope.
Timberlake isn't just singing; he's wailing. When he hits those high notes over the line "bottom of the bottle," you feel the desperation. It’s a performance that earned him respect in circles that usually ignore Top 40 artists.
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Deconstructing the Production: Timbaland’s Southern Roots
We usually think of Timbaland as the king of futuristic beats and weird mouth noises. But people forget he’s from Virginia. He knows the dirt. On Justin Timberlake song Drink You Away, he stripped back the gloss.
The percussion isn't a programmed 808. It feels organic, like someone kicking a wooden crate. This "stomping" rhythm creates a sense of forward motion, like a man walking toward a bar he knows he shouldn't enter. The organ, played with that heavy Leslie speaker vibrato, gives it a churchy feel that contrasts sharply with the "sinful" nature of the lyrics.
It’s a masterclass in tension.
The song never quite "resolves." It just keeps building and building. By the time the bridge hits, the guitars are screaming, and the vocals are layered into a wall of sound. It’s messy. It’s loud. It feels like a hangover in real-time.
The lyrical "Poison"
The metaphors are thick. He lists out the bar rail: Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Murphy's, Bushmills. He calls it "bittersweet poison."
“I can’t drink you away. They say time heals all, but I’m still waiting.”
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It’s simple. Effective. It taps into that universal human urge to numb out when the silence gets too loud. While some critics at the time called the lyrics "cliché," they missed the point. Country and soul music rely on those clichés because they are foundational truths.
The Chart Anomalies and Cultural Impact
After the CMAs, the song was officially pushed to country radio in early 2016. That almost never happens with a pop artist. Usually, when a pop star goes country, it feels forced. Like they’re wearing a costume. But because Timberlake grew up in Memphis, this felt like he was finally speaking his native tongue.
The song eventually cracked the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It sold over a million copies without a traditional music video. Think about that. In an era of high-budget visuals, a song from three years prior climbed the charts purely on the strength of a live performance and a radio-ready hook.
- Peak Chart Positions: It hit #5 on the US Bubbling Under Hot 100 and #17 on the US Hot Country Songs.
- Critical Reception: Rolling Stone praised its "grit," noting it was the most "honest" moment on the album.
- Genre Blurring: It paved the way for the "country-pop" crossover trend that dominated the late 2010s, though few did it with this much soul.
Why it still hits different in 2026
Looking back, Justin Timberlake song Drink You Away serves as the bridge to his later work, specifically the Man of the Woods era. While that album was polarizing, this song was the proof of concept that worked. It showed he could handle Americana.
The song has aged better than most of the synth-heavy tracks from the same year. Why? Because organic instruments don't have an expiration date. An acoustic guitar and a B3 organ sounded good in 1965, they sounded good in 2013, and they sound good today.
A lesson in artist branding
Timberlake proved that you don't have to stay in your lane if you actually know how to drive. He didn't just "try" country; he collaborated with the genre's most respected new voice (Stapleton) and let the music speak for itself. He didn't put on a cowboy hat. He just sang.
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Actionable Takeaways for Music Fans and Creators
If you’re a songwriter or just someone who loves dissecting what makes a hit, there’s a lot to learn from the trajectory of this track.
For the Listeners:
Go back and listen to the live version from the 2015 CMAs. Notice the difference in energy between the studio recording and the live performance. The studio version is polished, but the live version is where the "soul" of the song truly lives. It changes how you hear the lyrics entirely.
For the Creators:
Don't be afraid of "genre-bending" if the foundation is solid. The reason this song worked at country radio wasn't because of Timberlake's name; it was because the chord progression was familiar to that audience. If you want to cross genres, find the common denominator. In this case, it was the blues.
For the Curators:
If you're building a playlist, "Drink You Away" is the perfect "pivot" track. It fits between Chris Stapleton and The Black Keys, or between Al Green and modern pop. It’s one of those rare songs that bridges the gap between different musical worlds without feeling like a compromise.
The song remains a staple in Timberlake's live sets for a reason. It’s the moment in the show where the lights dim, the "showman" persona drops, and for five minutes, it’s just about the music and the whiskey. That kind of authenticity is hard to manufacture, and it’s exactly why we’re still talking about it over a decade later.