Pop, Goes the Timbaland!?
AMW !.e. Talent: Single Handed
August 8, 2007
Rap and R&B producer Timbaland is shifting his musical direction due to his present dissatisfaction with the state of the game. He told music-centric website Gigwise that he was “ready to throw in the towel.” While that was easily misinterpreted as a call to retirement, he will instead take a break from his genres of choice to focus more on producing pop music acts.
Timbaland has been working with British rockers Duran Duran, who came to fame in the 80’s and have continued to make music ever since. He has contributed tracks to their Red Carpet Massacre Album to be released late October. Timbaland’s protégé Nate “Danja” Hills says that the group “sounds better than ever.” The band’s keyboardist Nick Rhodes claimed that they were “really inspired.”
He is also supplying music for Celine Dion’s new R&B album. I can only imagine tracks that like Aaliyah’s “One in a Million” over songs such as Dion’s hit “My Heart Will Go On.” Rapper/singer M.I.A., who Timbaland has collaborated with, told the Village Voice of her conversation with the super-producer: "He told me, 'I'm done being cool; I want to work with Celine Dion.'"
Sounds like an awfully backhanded compliment to me, but I get his point and I’m finished digressing.
Timbaland’s recent work with Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake (and unbeknownst to me, songstress Bjork) should prove his ability to succeed in the pop realm. The man can attack any genre and infuse it with his signature sound. At this point, his contribution to the rap game can be limited at best. He has far too many successful crunk producers to compete with, and the crap producers account for most of the rest of those musicians who have the hip-hop world by its proverbial cojones.
Swizz Beats, if you’re reading this, I am not including you in this group of successful producers. Keep on shaking that tambourine!
Shifting his attention elsewhere is what Timbaland needs to maintain his interest in making music. Hopefully it will also be necessary for making good music so I don’t have to sit through another uninspired track like “She Wants It,” his recent collaboration with 50 Cent and a song I previously complained about.
Hopefully working with Duran Duran among others will make him “hungry like a wolf” again.
