Timbaland All Over The Map On Upcoming Album
After a banner 2006 which saw him nominated for multiple Grammys for his work with Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado, producer Timbaland is now turning his attentions to his own album. The as-yet-untitled set is expected in March; the first single will likely be “Give It To Me,” which features Timberlake and Furtado.
“He ventures into the alternative world and the real pop world,” Timbaland right-hand-man Nate “Danja” Hills tells Billboard.com. “He has so many different sounds from hip-hop, to pop, to rock on this album. And he pulls every single one of them off perfectly.
Timbaland has not released an album under his own name since 2003’s “Under Construction II,” a collaboration with longtime partner Magoo. Hills declined to reveal the guest artist lineup for the upcoming set, which is rumored to include Bjork, Jay-Z, Missy Elliott and 50 Cent, among many others.
For Timbaland, the coming year will provide the challenge trying to handle a heavy production load while simultaneously on tour with Timberlake, where “he will have his own spot in the show,” according to Hills.
“There won’t be a break [from producing] as long as I’m around,” he says. “I’m not going to be on the road. I’ll be in the studio and he’ll be working from the bus doing projects that way. He’ll still be active making records.”
Asked why the Timbaland sound is suddenly back atop the charts after a hiatus in recent years, Hills observes, “His ear is more attuned to an international sound. Any type of music with a crazy melody, he is automatically attracted to. He knows how to transform those melodies to something urban. He knows how to put the oomph behind something pretty, or melodic and big. When you get the right vocals on it, it turns into something crazy international.”
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