Critical Response
Critics reacted in a generally positive manner to "Summer Love". Barry Schwartz of Stylus Magazine gave "Summer Love" a positive review and additionally praised "its good foot hesitation boom-clap and cascading chorus". Alexis Petridis of The Guardian stated, "a dreary central-casting pop ballad called 'Summer Love' is enlivened only by another of Timberlake's peculiar announcements: 'I'm sick and tired of trying to save the world.' Shaheem Reid and Jayson Rodriguez off MTV News stated that "Summer Love" alongside Timberlake's 2007 singles "My Love" and "LoveStoned", rocked every iPod, stereo player and stadium during his tour. North by Northwestern's Dagny Salas called "Summer Love/Set the Mood (Interlude)" a stand-out track on FutureSex/LoveSounds. According to him the song "oozes sun, sex, and a sultry affair". A reviewer of IGN commented that "the bulk of the album is focused on funk lite, but with 'Summer Love/Set The Mood (Prelude)' Timberlake and Timberland slip into darkness." An editor of Billboard criticized Timbaland's production: "hile the track offers cunning instrumentation, Timbaland's heavy production hand is so overwhelming that the singer is pushed to the back of the track".
Bill Lamb of About.com was skeptical about the song and concluded that "Justin Timberlake may indeed score one of the bigger pop hits of summer 2007 with this song, but it is a significant comedown from the 3 consecutive No. 1 hits off FutureSex/LoveSounds" referring to "SexyBack", "My Love" and "What Goes Around... Comes Around". Because of "Summer Love"'s similarity with the songs of Timberlake's former band, Lamb added that "you can almost imagine the ghosts of 'N Sync dancing in the background." He placed the song at number 100 on his list of Top 100 Pop Songs of 2007 and concluded that even though is one of the "weaker" songs on FutureSex/LoveSounds, Justin Timberlake is " better than the best by many other performers". Lamb additionally ranked "Summer Love" at number seven on his list of Top 10 Pop Songs – Summer 2007.
Read more about this topic: Summer Love (Justin Timberlake Song)
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