Timberlake releases 'What Goes Around... Comes Around' with Johansson video

Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around... Comes Around" came from his second solo album, FutureSex/LoveSounds, released in September 2006. The song was co-written and produced with Timbaland, the American producer behind much of the album's sound, and was later issued as a single. Its long, two-part structure, with a dramatic musical shift near the end, set it apart from typical pop radio releases.

The accompanying music video starred actress Scarlett Johansson as Timberlake's love interest in a story of betrayal and heartbreak. The film-style clip drew considerable attention alongside the song itself.

From the start, the lyrics about a lover who cheated and faces consequences led many fans and media outlets to guess that the song was aimed at Britney Spears. The two pop stars had been a couple in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and their split was heavily covered by the tabloid press. Timberlake did not confirm that reading at the time, and the theory became a long-running part of the song's public story. That history is why his later comments about its meaning attracted fresh interest.