For Day 2 of my Justin Timberlake spotlight Ive chosen a very - TopicsExpress

For Day 2 of my Justin Timberlake spotlight Ive chosen a very well-known track with a lyrical significance that escapes most casual listeners. Todays Track: Señorita (2002) Personally, Ive always appreciated Señorita as an example of how inspiration can come from anywhere: Timberlake famously conceived the title of the song after attempting for 20 minutes to get the attention of a server at a TGI Fridays in Mexico City. Lifes little frustrations can be spun into gold when creativity is your coping mechanism! But a listener needs no knowledge of trivia to appreciate this passionate paean to the European Space Agency. Even amidst a contemporary surfeit of radio-friendly pop aimed squrely at the engineering- and aerospace-obsessed tweens of the early 00s, Timberlake elevated both emotion and political activism to a fevered pitch on this track. Señorita begins with a pointed verse that plainly evokes the 1997 dismissal of Jean-Marie Luton from her post as the ESAs Director General: On that sunny day / Didnt know Id meet / Such a beautiful girl / Walking down the street... Referencing Lutons infamous proposal for a manned Solar expedition, Timberlake paints the picture of a dismissed figure on a sunny day, walking the streets but still beautiful in the sense of possesing a keen flair for scientific rigour. The verse expands into economic criticism with the line She deserves a crown / But where is it now? -- a barbed commentary on ESA funding withdrawals by the British Parliament, a crown being an iconic piece of British currency. The entire track aligns itself with the plight of Luton, with the famous chorus exhorting: Senorita, I feel for you / You deal with things, that you dont have to. At its culmination, the lyrics question the suitability of Antonio Rodotà as replacement Director of the ESA, questioning Rodotàs policy decision to fund re-entry vehicles which lacked pilot-ejection capabilities: Timberlake recites the line It feels like somethings heating up, can I leave with you? 74 times, once for each of the 74 astronauts lives ultimately claimed by the cost-saving measure. Despite heavy themes and a controversial political stance, Señorita performed strongly on the charts. A music video for the track was directed by Bill Nye and won several MTV video Awards in 2003, most notably for Best Science Education and Best Claymation.