Justin Timberlake gets 'personal' in first album in five years

New York - Pop superstar Justin Timberlake on Tuesday announced his first album in nearly five years, promising more "personal" songwriting inspired by his home and family.

The 36-year-old singer and actor said that Man Of The Woods, his fifth solo studio album, will come out on February 2 - two days before he headlines entertainment during the Super Bowl, generally the most watched television event of the year in the United States.

He unveiled the album with a short video on social media that, true to the album's title, shows him walking reflectively in scenes of nature from a snowy forest to a sunny corn field.

"This album is really inspired by my son, my wife, my family, but - more so than any other album I've ever written - where I'm from," Timberlake says in the video.

"And it's personal."

Timberlake - who had a son in 2015 with his wife, actress Jessica Biel - grew up near Memphis, Tennessee, one of the capitals of blues and soul music as well as rural-rooted country.

The video features snippets of acoustic guitar, but closes with Timberlake in the studio with pop producing star Pharrell Williams.

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Timberlake, one of the top-selling artists of the 21st century both as a solo artist and with boy band *NSYNC, rose to fame with an electronic pop sound before finding a new voice with R&B, notably on his 2006 album FutureSex/LoveSounds.

He has been offering hints about his upcoming album for years. In a 2016 interview with the BBC, he declined to describe it as a country album but acknowledged the influence. "I really did grow up in a place in America where I was like two hours from the country music capital of the world (Nashville), home of the blues, birthplace of American rock 'n' roll," he said.

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He last released full albums in 2013, putting out The 20/20 Experience and The 20/20 Experience - 2 Of 2 in quick succession. Even without albums, he has kept putting out music, scoring a mega-hit in 2016 with Can't Stop The Feeling!, a giddy summer song that appeared in the animated film Trolls.

But he has focused increasingly on acting rather than music for several years, most recently starring as a bookish and seductive lifeguard in Woody Allen's Wonder Wheel.