Justin Timberlake is more than a puppet master in his new music video — he’s the puppet as well.
The singer shared a behind-the scenes clip from his video for “Filthy” on Saturday, January 6, and revealed that he’s the one who gave the dancing robot its smooth and sexy moves.
In the clip, the former ‘NSync singer, who released “Filthy,” the first single off his upcoming album on Friday, January 5, can be seen wearing a unitard and skull cap as he’s hooked up to motion-capture equipment.
The song plays in the background as he jokingly grabs his crotch before someone pushes him off balance and he grabs a box and carries it across the stage. “Making of a [robot],” he captioned the clip.
In the futuristic video directed by Mark Romanek, the 36-year-old singer wears a black Todd Snyder turtleneck and glasses as he plays a Steve Jobs-type character, unveiling his robotic creation to an audience.
The robot performs onstage alongside several backup dances as Timberlake sings, “Haters gon’ say it’s fake.”
“Filthy” is the first single from the Grammy winner’s fifth album, Man of the Woods, which is due out February 2.
Timberlake previously said in a video tease that the album “is really inspired by my son, my wife, my family, but more so than any album I’ve ever written, where I’m from.”
He’s set to release three additional songs and videos in the lead-up to the album’s release and will headline the Pepsi Super Bowl LII halftime show on February 4.
