Justin Timberlake drops new single, video for 'Filthy'

'What you gonna do with all that meat?'

The robot in Justin Timberlake's video for 'Filthy' (YouTube/screenshot)

Justin Timberlake has released the first single from his upcoming album Man of the Woods and told fans to play it "very loud".

The song was co-written with Timbaland, Danja, James Fauntleroy and Lawrence Dopson; produced by Timberlake, Timbaland and Danja.

He sings about dismissing haters who "gonna say it's fake" while the chorus goes: "Look, I said, 'Put your filthy hands all over me'/You know this ain't the clean version/And what you gonna do with all that meat? Cookin' up a meat serving."

Meanwhile the video, directed by Mark Romanek ['Can't Stop the Feeling'] shows Timberlake presenting at the "Pan-Asian Deep Learning Conference" in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2028.

Styled as a Steve Jobs-type inventor, Timberlake introduces a robot that gets frisky with the dancers who join it onstage, blurring a line between inventor and his invention.

We're wondering if he's attempting to emulate the success of Taylor Swift and the first track to be released off reputation: "Look What You Made Me Do" - especially considering he's enlisted songwriters including Alicia Keys and Chris Stapleton to contribute to the album.

The Jack Antonoff-produced work was unlike anything Swift had released previously, and prompted a frenzy of speculation over the subject/s of the lyrics. It was also noticeably different to any of the singles - or indeed the rest of the album - going for something that got people talking to create a buzz around ahead of consecutive releases.

Timberlake is planning to release three other videos ahead of the album's release on 2 February.