"FutureSex/LoveSound" incorporates elements of new wave and industrial rock into its production. It was written in the key of F#minor, in common time, with a tempo of 104 beats per minute. Timberlake's vocal range spans from the low note of A3 to the high note of G#5. Timberlake sings in a "muted whisper slink" and his distorted voice "drones" over a "very produced" beat. Bernard Zuel of "The Sydney Morning Herald" stated that Timberlake morphs into "Michael Hutchence at his most lizard-like". According to Spence D. of IGN, the beat is a "throwback from the future past of disco's demented dimension".