A year after Nelly Furtado dropped her now acclaimed debut album, 2000’s Whoa, Nelly!, she gifted us another fated release: a remix of Missy Elliott’s “Get Ur Freak On.” With rapid-fire verses from Furtado and rapper Twista, the song showed us that the singer from British Columbia wasn’t ready to be boxed into any genre — and that she had found a kindred spirit in producer Timbaland.
“I’m pretty much rapping; it’s totally me and Tim coming together and creating some kind of electricity,” Furtado told the Fader in 2016, remembering their work together on the single.
It was the beginning of an incredibly successful collaborative relationship, as Timbaland would go on to co-produce, co-write and feature on Furtado’s third album, 2006’s Loose, and the two would hop on the megahit “Give it to Me” together with Justin Timberlake in 2007. The aughts were a magical time for all three artists, and the trio was explosive when they merged their talents.
Now, 16 years later, we have a second, single from Furtado, Timbaland and Timberlake: “Keep Going Up,” a preview to Timbaland’s upcoming fall album, and his first solo single in eight years.
To celebrate this unexpected reunion, we looked back at Furtado and Timbaland’s collaborative timeline to revisit songs that will never leave our playlists.
‘Get Ur Freak On (Remix)’ (2000)
Before Timbaland and Furtado teamed up to make original music together, the two worked on a pair of remixes. In 2000, following the release of Whoa, Nelly!, Furtado hopped on a remix of the Timbaland-produced Missy Elliott hit “Get Ur Freak On.” Given the pop nature of her own music, Furtado notes that “Get Ur Freak On” was her “first ‘street’ hit” that showcased her pseudo rap skills. “Putting that out was important, and it did really well,” Furtado told the Fader. If winning a Grammy Award off her debut album didn’t raise her profile enough, Furtado’s feature on “Get Ur Freak On” placed the singer on some even bigger stages, including the MTV Video Music Awards and the TV concert special Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration. — Melody Lau
‘Turn Off the Light (Remix)’ (2000)
The original version of “Turn Off the Light” was one of Furtado’s biggest hits at the time, and it was a crunchy blend of folk-pop with a sprinkling of a hip-hop groove. However, when Timbaland and rapper Ms. Jade jumped on a remix, the song was injected with bouncy beats and reassembled into a club-ready banger. Stripping away the ominous hums at the beginning of the song might seem like a small change, but it shifted the vibe of the track and made it lighter. Timbaland’s re-worked intro featured the similar truncated “womp” sounds featured in the opening of Ginuwine’s 1996 hit “Pony,” which Timbaland also produced. “I really, really want you to see me/ so baby don’t turn off the lights girl,” he sings at the beginning, transforming Furtado’s original theme of feeling inhibited in the bedroom into an empowerment jam. Instead of sounding frustrated with herself and wanting to disappear into the darkness, “Whose gonna turn off the light?” feels like an invitation to a late-night tryst thanks to Timbaland’s magic touch. — Natalie Harmsen
‘Promiscuous’ (2006)
It’s impossible to pick only one song from Loose, the chart-topping 2006 album that Furtado and Timbaland worked on so closely together, so we’ve picked two (see below). “Promiscuous” was the lead single for Loose, and the instant club hit became Furtado’s first No. 1 hit on the Billboard charts, and longest-standing so far. Before the beat drops, Furtado asks, “Am I throwing you off?” and stakes her claim as the lead on the track. Timbaland’s confident return — “Nope” — steers the two into a verse-for-verse swap that’s flirtatious, sexy and respectful.
“I remember being a bit shy to put it out,” Furtado told the Fader, of the song. “That was probably the content, the fact that it’s called ‘Promiscuous.’ I hadn’t done anything wrong but women are always judged. I’ve since changed my mind about that. By the time ‘Promiscuous’ came out, I was super happy. I always felt like the male and female voices were equals. It was created in that tradition of a TLC or a Salt-N-Pepa song, where the women are assertive and just like, ‘I’m OK with my sexuality.'”
The video for “Promiscuous,” helmed by Toronto’s award-winning Director X, would also tease Furtado’s upcoming 2007 hit single: Justin Timberlake made a silent cameo. — Holly Gordon
‘Say it Right’ (2006)
From the very first second of “Say it Right,” it’s evident that Furtado and Timbaland had a polished, seismic bop on their hands. The song’s hip-swaying rhythm was the driving force, and when paired with the infectious yet simple chorus (“Oh, you don’t mean nothing at all to me”) it had listeners hooked, soaring to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Furtado told BBC that “Say it Right” was one of the songs she had no idea would become a hit: “The thing that still perplexes me about the song is that I still can’t put into words what it’s about,” she said. “I think it’s maybe about personal, visceral abandon. Throwing yourself into something without inhibitions.” She cited the Eurythmics as an inspiration for the song, explaining that she and Timbaland listened to the group a lot while creating Loose.
In 2020, Tame Impala covered the track and two years later, Gen Z discovered Loose, leading to the song’s resurgence on TikTok. “Say it Right” went viral as the result of user @jamie32bsh dancing and singing along to the hit (Furtado even re-shared the clip in a charming TikTok of her own). — NH
‘Give it to Me’ (2007)
After the mega-successes of Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/LoveSounds and Furtado’s Loose, Timbaland (who produced both albums) reunited with the pop stars for “Give it to Me,” the lead single off his sophomore solo album, Shock Value. It would go on to become Timbaland’s only No. 1 hit with him as the lead artist, but it came with quite a lot of controversy. Described by Furtado as “the first-ever pop diss song,” the club-pop anthem seemingly addressed multiple beefs at once, inspiring lots of fan theories as to who the song was aimed at.
Timbaland’s lyrics (“I’m a real producer and you just the piano man”) were a jab at fellow producer Scott Storch, who had accused Timbaland of not giving him credit as a co-producer on Timberlake’s hit “Cry Me a River.” Timberlake’s verse (“We missed you on the charts last week — damn, that’s right, you wasn’t there”) is slightly more vague, though many assumed it was about Prince, who reportedly said the following at an Emmy Awards afterparty: “For whoever is claiming that they are bringing sexy back, sexy never left!” Furtado was left mostly unscathed, with some suggesting that she was feuding with fellow pop star Fergie, who allegedly modelled her solo album after Furtado’s sound. Those rumours were quickly dismissed. While Furtado has admitted that she regrets releasing this song, noting that “we put a lot of negative energy out into the world,” “Give it to Me” still acted as a chart-topping victory lap for three of music’s biggest stars at the time. When you’re at the top of your game, why wouldn’t you want to boast a little? — ML
‘Keep Going Up’ (2023)
“How you been, young lady? Does the feeling still drive you crazy?” Timbaland asks off the top, immediately dropping a callback before a softened but “Promiscuous”-inspired beat drops. Marking the studio reunion of Furtado, Timbaland and Timberlake after 16 years, “Keep Going Up” is an optimistic, upbeat number that has its singers looking back over some hard years. “I been workin’ on my gains lately/ I been lovin’ myself on the daily/ had to cut some people off, they were drainin’/ I’m no longer settlin’, I’m upgradin’,” Furtado sings on her first verse, as she and Timberlake share the vocal spotlight with supportive nudges from Timbaland. “It felt like the moment when we did ‘Say it Right,” Timbaland said in the making-of video for the new track. “It’s almost like we can read each other’s minds, and there’s a lot of trust there,” Furtado added. We hope it’s just the beginning of a new collaborative chapter for both of them. — HG