He has been busy on the promotional trail for the new animation by Dreamworks, a film which he stars in and created music for having produced the score.

However it took his two young goddaughters to convince him to take up the project, something he was initially afraid of.

"I was afraid to go into this because I thought there was probably going to be more frivolity than substance," he said.

"But then I looked at the story and I was like, 'Wait hold on, we have a female protagonist, that has a belly, crazy hair'. I was thinking about my two goddaughters, what women must go through from such a young age of being ashamed of their body and ashamed of their appearance. We have a troll [in this film] and for young females to get to see that, that's not frivolous at all, it's so important, and what a cool way in getting them into the theatre to be like 'I want to be like Princess Poppy, not Barbie."

A lot has changed since November 2001 when the then 19-year-old NSYNC star stole the show at the AMAs with his then girlfriend Britney Spears by wearing matching double denim outfits.

The two were the prince and princess of pop who had been dating for about two years before they worked the media wearing their version of the Canadian tuxedo. Spears wore a strapless patchwork denim dress with bustier, while Timberlake donned a light-wash blazer, matching Dad jeans and denim Stetson-style cowboy hat.

For his Australian red carpet debut on Sunday Timberlake, now 35, looked more dapper than daggy in Sydney wearing a royal blue suit and purple paisley shirt.

His clean cut look also follows the news that he is set to relaunch his clothing label, William Rast, that was foundered in 2005 but took a back seat to his acting, singing, producing and fatherhood duties to his 18-month-old son, Silas.

Not that he was too interested in divulging what his other projects involve - one of which is a new album with Pharrell. Media were instructed to not quiz Timberlake on "gossip" and questions posed to the Can't Stop The Feeling singer were "NOT to be a personal nature" and had to be "related to the film".

The star has turned over a new, private leaf after he landed in hot water recently for oversharing when he cast his vote early in the presidential election and posted a selfie taken in a polling booth in Memphis.

His act of civic duty, which he used to encourage other voters to turn out, had the potential to land him a short stint in jail or a fine as it has been illegal to take photos or video in voting booths in Tennessee since 2015.

Trolls also stars Australia's Eurovision star Dami Im, who provides the voice of Grandma Rosiepuff, the grandmother to Timberlake's character, Branch.

Trolls opens in Australian cinemas on December 1.