According to Justin Timberlake, his hit song "Can't Stop the Feeling" was heavily inspired by the direction of the upcoming Dreamworks film Trolls. The singer admitted that if it weren't for the film, he probably wouldn't write something like that soundtrack.
During an interview with People, Timberlake narrated how he was approached by the creators of Trolls. But aside from getting the opportunity to lend his voice to Branch, a survivalist troll in the film, the pop star said that the other incentive offered to him was the role of the movie's executive music producer.
Through this role, Timberlake gained creative control over the tracks that will be featured in the film.
"It's been a lot of fun," he told People. "Writing the music was part of the pitch for me, Anna [Kendrick] had already signed on which was exciting for me. I would've never written a song like 'Can't Stop the Feeling' if it wasn't for this move. True story."
Timberlake said that he got the idea for the song after he discussed the film with director Mike Mitchell and producer Gina Shay. During their meeting, Mitchell and Shay told the singer that the concept of Trolls was inspired by films from the 70s.
With this era in mind, Timberlake did a little bit of research on his own by going through the soundtracks of old movies. One album he focused on was the soundtrack for the 1977 dance film Saturday Night Fever. From there, Timberlake was able to come up with his strategy for "Can't Stop the Feeling."
"I started bringing up the soundtrack from Saturday Night Fever, movies where the soundtrack was released before the movie and got people equally excited," he said. "The movie seems like an unabashed pop song to me, so I was like, 'Let's just write an unabashed pop song.'"
"Can't Stop the Feeling" is only one of the songs that will be featured in the film. According to EUR Web, Timberlake will also include classic tracks such as Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors" and Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence."
As for Trolls, the film is scheduled to come out on Nov. 4, 2016. Aside from Timberlake and Kendrick, the film stars Zooey Deschanel, Russell Brand, James Corden and Gwen Stefani.
