Timbaland and Justin Timberlake

This track is Timbaland’s third official single.

Nothing much to say bout this video or song. It’s LAME LAME LAME!

Timbaland Feat Katy Perry - If We Ever Meet Again

If We Ever Meet Again is taken off Timbaland’s album Shock Value II and features Katy Perry .

Okay, video wise, I really cannot understand what is going on, am I alone?
It has no proper story line and the video is so messed up, unlike his previous video
Morning After Dark, which I actually quite liked.

Also, I don’t get why the last few minutes are suddenly so dancey, and Katy breaks out into
a wierd dance with her hands.

Timbaland

Timbaland released his latest album “Timbaland Presents: Shock Value II” last week and he’s continuing doing his rounds of promotions. Although he sold less than 40k in the first week in the US, he has tons to boast about! He stopped by a radio show and he touched on Lady GaGa and Ciara.

This is what he said about Lady GaGa:

What’s her name GaGa b-bla-bla? Yeah I wanna work with Lady GaGa, me and her are kinda the same style. I feel like she took my style (pauses) and ran with it… which is smart. I would do the same thing. I’ll put her on the re-package cos I’m a do a re-package.

Lol… Timbaland is the one who steals it and runs away with it. He did get a lot of heat from the online community. Check this youtube video out.

And Timbo talks bout Ciara being the next Aaliyah?

There’s no more R&B, so all I listen to is “baby girl” (Aaliyah). I was excited about Ciara. I gave her my blessings because she was in the right footpath, the right footsteps as I would say. I think that she was going in the right direction and I love her to death. People would say “Oh Ciara is the next Aaliyah” – yes she is. She keeps my girl alive, so when I hear Ciara a tear come out my eye, coz I’m like “wow, she ain’t forgotten”.”

That sound is still gonna be heard. These kids who don’t know [and know] Ciara will go “Who she sound like? Baby girl Aaliyah” and then they go back and buy the Aaliyah stuff and be like “Aaliyah sound better than her” or somethin’. The point is Aaliyah won’t be forgotten”

I know Timbaland is very close to Aaliyah and all… but seriously? Ciara the next Aaliyah? No offense to Ciara though…

“Timbaland Presents Shock Value II” (often referred to as just Shock Value II) is the third solo studio album from record producer Timbaland. Initially slated for a 2008 release the project was pushed into 2009 and tentatively confirmed for November 23, 2009 through Blackground Records, however, it has been pushed back once more to December 8 in the US.

First Impressions
One of the anticipated albums of the year, it certainly matches it’s hype and is worth the wait. As compared to “Shock Value I“, this album is easier to listen to while retaining Timbo’s signature sound. After listening once through, you’ll discover that Timbo’s sound has definitely evolved and while “The Way I Are” is a classic (The OneRepublic Remix is EPIC), it seems so yesterday.

*Speaking of which, let me digress abit. I’m really sick of hearing “Whine Up” at the clubs. =X I think “Dance Bailalo” is so much better.*

Standout Tracks

• Carry Out
  Features Justin Timberlake. Album opener (not counting the intro). As usual, like what I always say, it sets the tone for the whole album. Sounding rather fresh even though you know it’s distinctively a Timbo and Justin collab.
• Lose Control
  Features JoJo. With no available date on her next album release, it’s nice to “hear” that there’s some official new material from JoJo (besides her leaked tracks). A catchy song and JoJo’s in her own element.
• Meet In the Middle
  Features Bran’ Nu. I bet you guys (and gals) are wondering who the hell is Bran’ Nu. No, it’s not a new brand name of a cereal. Die-hard Brandy fans should know that Bran’ Nu is her alter ego who raps. On to the song, it’s a lite-banger track. Definitely has an addictive beat.
• Say Something
  Features Drake. This song stands out for the wrong reasons. Being the 2nd single, it’s the worst song from the album. I think Timbo’s executives who choose this song must’ve been drunk during the selection. There are definitely better singles choices from the album. I predict a flop for this one. Oh, and Drake sounds too hard to be Lil’ Wayne, which he wont be anyway.
• We Belong To Music
  Features the EVER annoying Miley Cyrus. For this song, Timbo takes the back seat while Miley rules most of the song on the vocals. Actually, this song ain’t half bad. I find myself humming alone immediately. This is the song that Timbo goes “Pop”. Taking a bite off Miley’s fans I guess. This song serves as a promo single for the album. WAIT, WAIT A MIN. This song sounds familar, doesn’t it?? =) The structure is like Ashlee Simpson’s “Outta My Head” (which is better), which is also produced by Timbo himself. Just a fact. =)
• Morning after Dark
  Features SoShy and Nelly Furtado. First single from the album. Initially features only SoShy, an additional verse by Nelly is added on the actual release of the single. It’s probably because the single wasn’t doing quite well when it was release, enlisting the star power of Nelly is a good move. =) It’s quite a good song for a first single anyways.
• If We Ever Meet Again
  Features Katy Perry. I’m rather surprised by this collab. Quite hyped for this song, it sorta disappoints and falls flat after listening to a couple of times. Sure, the verses is typical Katy. It’s just that the layers of production drowns her. It’s too much syth and auto-tune. If anyone did watch her performace on MTV Unplugged, she has the vocal chops. Her collab with 3OH!3 is so much better, going with the electro route too. One of the promo single of the album.
• Can You Feel It
  Features Esthero & Sebastian. We all know from “The Way I Are“, Sebastian is Timbo’s younger brother. As for Esthero, she’s Canadian but she resides in LA now. She also provides backing vocals on Kanye’s song “Street Lights” from his recent album, “808s & Heartbreak“. This song MUST be a single and should be the 2nd single instead!!! It’s “The Way I Are” of the album. A BANGER!!! Don’t say you haven’t been warned by us. A definitive PARTAY track.
• Ease Off the Liquor
  There isn’t any guests vocalist for this track but SoShy provides a little backing vocals and ad libs for this track. Sounds like a continuation of “Can You Feel It“. Another banger.
• Undertow
  Features The Fray and Esthero. And it all slows down from here. Timbo starts the song and leave the rest to his guests. It’s a rather nice track. Has the potential to be a single. And this song already charted at number 100 on the Billboard 100 due to strong digital downloads.
• Timothy Where You Been
  Features Jet. Anybody remembers the energetic “Are You Gonna Be My Girl“?? Yeap, it’s them. This song immediately reminds me of KT Tunstall’s “Other Side of the World” when it starts. Uber acoustic on the intro, it’s flows towards a Timbo beat after that. JoJo provides backing vocals on this track but is uncredited. A highlight song of the album too.
• Marching On (Timbaland Version)
  Features Timbo’s protegé group, OneRepublic. This version is AWESOME!!! The alternative version can be found on OneRepublic’s sophomore album, which is acoustic and stripped down.
• The One I Love
  Features Keri Hilson and D.O.E. Originally titled as “Maniac“, this song is suppose to feature Chris Brown too, but it was scrapped. All of us should know why, deep inside. I don’t bother anyway, don’t really like Chris’ stuff anyway. It’s a typical Keri jam-sounding track. Kinda liked it. =)

Final Verdict
This album is rather diverse and clear-cut as the mainstream stuff are on the first half of the album and the experimental ones are on the second half. It has been a long way for Timbo to gain recognition in the music industry. Producing for the late Aaliyah and Missy Elliot in the early years, Timbo actually worked with Nelly Furtado on her debut album indirectly (On the Timbo remix of “Get Yr Freak On” and “Turn Off The Lights“). He also had production credits on Justin Timberlake’s debut album too, but goes unnoticed.

Timbo also produces the most of Brandy’s Afrodisiac album and experimented with Utada in 2004. 2006 is the breakout year for Timbo, because of Nelly Furtado’s “Loose” and Justin T’s “Futuresex/Lovesounds“. And since then, he’s a well sought after producer. Almost anything he produces would be a hit.

Whilst this album is really enjoyable, I wouldn’t really put it on heavy rotation as I might get sick of it. Listen to this album on an inconsistent basis would you find that this album is a gem. =)

This album scores a 4 out of 5.

This is the second version of Morning After Dark featuring the trio, Timbaland, SoShy and Nelly Furtado

Slight changes have been made ! See if you can spot them!

Which do you prefer? This or the first version?

Morning After Dark is Timbaland’s new single with French singer SoShy, the latter recently signed on
to Timbaland’s  Mosley Music Group.

The single is take off Timbaland’s  album Shock Value 2

As for the video, I must say I was quite impressed, I like the movie-esque theme and the effort they put into
producing it, at this point of time when alot of artists have been producing rather cheap, budget videos, this
one does it pretty well for me.

Im not gonna be a spoiler, but the theme is rather True Blood , Twilight- like.

Think along those lines and catch it yourself  !

For his latest album, Shock Value II, Timbaland has enlisted so many collaborators. From long time friends, Keri Hilson, Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado to new collabos like Miley Cyrus, Daughtry, and Jet.

To kick off the hype of his latest album, Tim is releasing Morning After Dark as the lead single. The original cut features only SoShy but now the final version includes both SoShy and Nelly Furtado. I guess the inclusion of Nelly is to bring more hype to the track.

The beats of this track has the very typical Timbo beats. Once you hear it, you will know its produced by him. It’s like how you know if a remix is a Moto Blanco remix. The track is a potential club banger like Give It To Me.

Anyways, enjoy this track…

Timbaland – Morning After Dark (feat SoShy & Nelly Furtado)

With She-Wolf not making much impact in the US for Shakira, the release of the album has been pushed. To salvage her album, Shakira is releasing a new single. The new single titled Give It Up To Me features Lil’ Wayne and Timbaland. The track is also produced by Timbaland himself.

Doesn’t this sounds familiar? This happened for her previous album too. The lead single for Oral Fixation didn’t perform well at all. But she quickly recorded and released “Hips Don’t Lie” and that saved the album. So will this new track be Shakira’s saving grace? I dont think so.. It doesn’t have the hook that will keep people engaged. And apparently, this track was supposed to be in Timbaland’s upcoming Shock Value Volume 2 album.

Anyways, good luck to her :p

Shakira – Give It Up To Me (feat Lil’ Wayne and Timbaland)