Timbaland Goes Viral for Performing Only His Backing Vocals in Nelly Furtado’s Say It Right
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Footage has gone viral of producer Timbaland performing exclusively his iconic “EH” backing vocals during a playback of Nelly Furtado’s 2006 hit “Say It Right” at the Łódź Summer Festival in Poland on July 25. The set sparked widespread social media reactions, ranging from amusement over his memorization of the vocal drops to praise for his foundational production work.
Viral Festival Appearance in Łódź Highlights Early 2000s Pop Production
During his appearance at the Łódź Summer Festival on July 25, Timbaland played Nelly Furtado’s chart-topping 2006 single “Say It Right” and opted to perform solely his original backing vocals. Without Furtado present on stage, the multi-platinum producer delivered the signature sequence of repeated grunts that punctuate the track. According to social media reactions documented across platforms, one Instagram user quipped, “Crazy that he still remembers all his lines,” while another remarked that he sounded “like the birds outside my window every morning at 6 a.m.”
Other digital observers focused on the technical performance aspects, with a commenter asking, “I wonder if they did sound check to make sure he stayed in key.” Conversely, supporters defended the staging as an acknowledgment of his production style. One poster described the moment as “the most baller shit I’ve ever seen,” while another noted that “this man’s grunts were many times the genius small details that together with his production, made some of the best pop songs of this century.”
Commercial Legacy and Chart History of ‘Say It Right’
Timbaland co-produced “Say It Right” alongside Nate “Danja” Hills for Nelly Furtado’s third studio album, Loose. Released in 2006, the track became Furtado’s second US number-one single and earned a nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards, where it ultimately lost to Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab.” The song’s enduring cultural footprint was further cemented when Tame Impala covered it during a special performance for BBC Radio 1 in 2020.
Furtado discussed her creative partnership with Timbaland in a 2024 interview with NME. Reflecting on sessions that yielded singles like “Maneater,” “Promiscuous,” “In God’s Hands,” and the Justin Timberlake collaboration “Give It To Me,” Furtado stated that she and the producer “didn’t want it to sound perfect, we wanted it to sound real.” She added that their goal was to create “trippy, melancholic, bittersweet melodies and lyrics over Tim’s heavy beats and make a dreamy type of mix within that.”
Future Touring Prospects and Industry Infrastructure
Furtado previously floated the idea of celebrating the Loose album with a dedicated residency in Las Vegas. As she told NME, “We could play the album from beginning to end, because I do think it captures the world we’re in at the time.” However, any prospective live touring undertaking requires substantial logistical coordination.
Furtado announced a temporary departure from live performances in October for the foreseeable future, following her induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in March.