 " Cold Case Love " starts with a sparse melody and gradually builds through each verse before it culminates with a full production flourish . The Boston Globe 's Sarah Rodman wrote that Timberlake manages to build a wall of sound , from simple voice and quavering organ to full " strings @-@ beatbox @-@ kitchen @-@ sink melodrama " . According to Will Welch of GQ " Cold Case Love " is a combination of the works by Phil Collins and Lionel Richie and Timberlake 's song " Losing My Way " ( FutureSex / LoveSounds , 2006 ) . Sean Fennessey wrote that on the song Rihanna seems to discover the " flip " side of her 2007 single " Umbrella " . 
