Although Timbaland jacks the “yeah”s from “Sexyback” and the synth line from “My Love” for his grammatically atrocious “The Way I Are,” Atlanta-born singer Keri Hilson is the main reason the song is getting more play than his Hives dive–and she’s helping mask the overall stink of Shock Value to boot.
A recent MTV.com article mentions Hilson’s membership in the hitmaking collective the Clutch, which could help her upcoming album In a Perfect World avoid the delays that other artists have faced of late:
Either on her own or as part of the five-person songwriting/production team the Clutch, Hilson has penned tunes for Britney Spears, the Pussycat Dolls, Diddy, Ciara, Usher, Chris Brown, Mary J. Blige, Ruben Studdard, Ludacris (“Runaway Love”) and Omarion (“Ice Box”).
“The Clutch is a new thing, it’s still a baby,” she said. “We are responsible for some major hits: ‘Ice Box,’ ‘Take Me as I Am,’ ‘The Way I Are,’ so many. ‘Anonymous’ by Bobby Valentino, a whole bunch of new artists. Beyoncé … the Clutch is everywhere.
One song set for In A Perfect World is the syrupy “Happy Juice,” which is streaming on her MySpace. The first couple of listens go smoothly, but because of the robotic voice on the hook–which sounds like T-Pain scraping the bottom of his register–it remains to be seen if we can handle a whole bellyfull of this juice.
Timbaland Protege/ Justin Timberlake Collaborator Keri Hilson: You Need To Know Me [MTV]
Keri Hilson [MySpace]
I like “Push It 2007″, er, “The Way I Are” pretty much, it’s probably the best song on “Shock Value”, which is not saying much, I know.
Ah, and you forgot about Mya’s delayed disaster-in-the-making album.
It took five people to write “Ice Box?”
Wait, Reid, are you saying in some manner that Keri Hilson > The Hives?
You couldn’t possibly be saying such a thing.
Could you?
I love Clutch! Is she the new keyboard player? oh, wait…
So, is Timbaland a member of this collective or is he farming out production work now, too? I know he’s not much for lyric writing, but if he hired someone else to come up with the grammatically atrocious “the way I are” he should have really gone DIY.
@DanGibson: I’m saying that Hives + Timbaland comes out lumpier than gluten-free gravy.
@HarveyWallbanger: Quote of the year.
@HarveyWallbanger: As far as I’m concerned, the Hives can do no wrong, so you have to blame Timbo and his giant juice jug, gravy or no.