needed a voice of consciousness". Timberlake wrote Biel's parts for her, which were subsequently recorded on the Voicenotes iPhone application. Timberlake wanted her to sound like "the ghost, a presence, but we're following [her]". The "Hers (Interlude)" was recorded after Timberlake mixed the album's eleventh song "Flannel". When announcing his Man of the Woods Tour, Timberlake revealed the inspiration for both the album and tour came from the outdoors as well as his family, "The outdoors is the inspiration for a lot of these songs. That's the main idea. The tour will be able to bring the outside in. How can we bring that to life? I want people to see the inspiration for how it ended up sounding. I've never seen that done before: Bring the outside in." Chris Stapleton (who is featured on the album's third single "Say Something") was initially only writing songs with Timberlake, before being asked to sing on the song, "I really just went out to Los Angeles to write songs with him, it's a very fluid process with him, there's a lot going on. That was one of those things where there wasn't necessarily a plan. He was like ‘All right, you hop in there and take a verse,’ and I'm like, ‘You want me to do what?’ ... It came out great. I had a blast with him, he's a great creative force and one of those guys that if you get a chance to work with him, you should.". Stapleton also has writing credits on other songs on the album, including the Alicia Keys-featuring "Morning Light" and "The Hard Stuff" as well as guitar on the lead-single "Filthy". Music The genre of the album incorporates traditional R&B as well as influences from country and funk described as "...Americana with 808s". In a second teaser trailer for the album, Timberlake said that the album has a number of influences. "It's meant to be heard outside even more than inside, I believe. You talk about those, like, Southern guitars and that sound that feels like heritage. That is me exercising my love for where I came from." Rolling Stone described most of the album's first half is "cosmopolitan future-funk," while Variety stated the music is funk-soul. Ahead of the album release, Timberlake hosted a listening session with music industry insiders and members of the press. Associated Press commented the album features pop, R&B