At Romania’s Electric Castle festival, Justin Timberlake’s first-ever show in the country turned sour. The star kept fans waiting in the rain, then barely sang during his set on July 17.
A TikTok clip went viral showing the performer singing just bits of “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” while the audience did most of the work. The video’s creator wrote in the video: “When you pay for a concert but get a mute singer,” and then continued in the caption, “Dude took a day off on stage.”
Romanian artist Amelissa also blasted the performance in a video that has garnered up to 5.6 million views. In the clip, she lamented, saying, “You come to my country, I pay a lot of money, it’s raining like s—. I’ve been waiting for you all day to come up on stage. You were late, first of all. Yeah, and then you sing like five words on each song,” as reported by Entertainment Weekly.
The criticism spread fast across Europe. Fans at other shows chimed in with similar stories, per Entertainment Weekly. One wrote in her comments: “I just wanna add that we saw him in Estonia and it was a disappointment for us, too.”
When rain started falling, the Trolls star pulled up his hood and paced the stage. Between short bursts of lyrics, he tossed out quick phrases — “Say what?” and “sing, c’mon” – while waving his arms.
Social media lit up with harsh takes. “That performance could have been an email,” one viewer joked. Another commented, “So y’all went to karaoke tour?” Others dubbed it a performance by the “audience ft. Justin Timberlake,” mocking how little he sang himself.
Just days before the Romania incident, Timberlake snapped at his crew over technical issues during his Lytham Festival set in England. These mishaps add to mounting criticism of his current Forget Tomorrow World Tour.
With his final shows still ahead in Azerbaijan and Turkey on July 27 and 30, the star’s team stays silent. Despite media outlets asking for comments about the Romania show, no official response has come from him yet.
Curious to see the “Cry Me a River” singer perform live for yourself? You can find more details on his upcoming shows, including the dates, venues, and ticket prices, on Justin Timberlake’s official tour page.