"Not a Bad Thing" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Justin Timberlake for his fourth studio album, The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2 (2013).

It was written and produced by Timberlake, Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley, and Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon, with additional writing from James Fauntleroy.

The song is a mid-tempo pop ballad, that makes use of an acoustic guitar throughout, with its lyrics centering on the semantic field of love.

[1] "Not a Bad Thing" was written by Timberlake, Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley, Jerome "J-Roc" Harmon, James Fauntleroy and debut by Joey Giltner.

However, they instead opted to release "Take Back the Night" and "TKO" first, to represent the album's R&B sound and distinguish "Not a Bad Thing" from the sonically similar "Mirrors".

[12] "Not a Bad Thing" was released as a CD single in Austria, Germany and Switzerland; apart from the radio edit of the song it also featured the "TKO (Black Friday Remix)".

[14] "Not a Bad Thing" is a mid-tempo pop ballad,[15][16][17] with a running duration of 11 minutes and 28 seconds; the album version has an included hidden track entitled "Pair of Wings".

[16][17] PopMatters' Brice Ezell saw "Not a Bad Thing" to share the same characteristics as NSYNC's 1999 "(God Must Have Spent) A Little More Time on You", using the same "emotional earnestness" which made the latter song the "heart-melter" it was during its release.

[19] Holly Gleason of Paste interpreted the lyrics as endorsing love, with the song contrasting the previous tracks on The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2, celebrating the "happily ever after trope for all its worth".

[21] As well as depicting the latter influence, Melinda Newman of HitFix awarded the track an A grade, labeling it as a "lovely, lilting straight-up pop tune.

"[24] Along with several other songs within The 20/20 Experience – 2 of 2, Dave Hanratty of Drowned in Sound dismissed "Not a Bad Thing", writing that it contains "sun-kissed and forced smiles.

[1] Bruno Mars later tied with Timberlake for the most number-one singles among men when his Mark Ronson's collaboration "Uptown Funk" reached the top spot in early 2015.