Timbaland - The Way I Are

Monday, 13 August 2007 05:47

Timbaland - The Way I Are (feat. Keri Hilson & D.O.E.)
Produced by Timbaland, Danja

The concept of a single song that defines a summer is an alluring one. Being able to simply name a song and have that song conjure memories of summertime frolicking and mid-July keggers, pick-up soccer games and house parties, is convenient. It’s also too neat; real life is messier than that. Most years have more than one song that could be considered that summer’s ‘anthem.’ Last year had Promiscuous, SexyBack, Crazy, and What You Know. All four were omnipresent throughout the summer and when I hear them now they recall numerous nights spent with friends of both sexes. But they weren’t my summer anthems. For me, summer anthems are less about what’s popular and ubiquitous that summer than what songs manage to strike a chord with me -- and my friends -- in some fashion.

Last year, instead of Promiscuous or Maneater, I was more partial to another song from Nelly Furtado’s exquisite Loose: Say It Right is sexier than the not-so-subtle, circular cat-and-mouse chase game going on in Promiscuous and quite haunting too, with Timbaland’s stripped down production shifting all of the melody to Furtado’s vocals. There’s a lot of tricks employed in Say It Right such as the common technique of multi-tracked vocals and slight echo placed on everything in the song. Furtado’s vocals linger like a humid August night, and the drums feel weightier than the air before a huge thunderstorm. Underneath all the atmospherics, you’ll find Timbaland’s beatboxing and a lonesome voice shouting “Hey!” from what sounds like a far off precipice somewhere in a jungle, overlooking miles and miles of untouched nature.

But for my friends and I, what emerged as our summer jam was perhaps an unlikely song: Morrissey’s You Have Killed Me. It’s not your typical summer jam, but for some reason it really clicked with us. It was the one song that we all cheered when it came on. We knew all the words to it, and it got the most spins of all the songs that were soundtracking our summer. That’s how it works, though. You can’t choose what ultimately manifests itself as the spokessong for a summer. You have no control over the matter, to be perfectly honest.

This year, it’s been another wildcard of sorts that has emerged as our summer jam. When it was released in March, Timbaland’s Shock Value turned out to be a pretty shitty album. There were maybe three or four good songs, and sure enough, they weren’t the rap songs. The lead single was pretty cool, and its remix proved Jay-Z can still rap when he wants to, but songs like Bounce found Dr. Dre out of his element. Then there was Come Around, the long-anticipated first collaboration with M.I.A., where Timbaland apparently got cold feet and chickened out by giving Arulpragasam the most obvious track he could. And enlisting Elton John to practice scales on a track? Maybe Timbo thought he had to, since he already had an Elton John by way of Coldplay song in Apologize, featuring One Republic. It’s as bad as it sounds.

But hidden amongst its numerous cubic zirconias, there are a few gems on Shock Value, including what has become an unexpected single, and my summer jam of ‘07: The Way I Are.

The Way I Are is kind of a ridiculous song. Its main conceit is that Timbaland is dirt poor and can’t afford to take his girl out, which is funny because we know it’s not true. When Tim raps, “I can’t even buy you flowers, but together we can be the perfect soulmates.” it’s all tongue-in-cheek, and The Way I Are subverts this common insecurity through Timbaland’s ironic sing-song verses and D.O.E.’s retardedly fun rap. Keri Hilson, who’s poised to release her own solo album soon (featuring production from both Timbaland and Polow da Don), sounds all kinds of pretty. She really works her melodies into the grit of the beat, which is possible amidst the blinding sheen of Danja’s uber-clean, hospital sanitized synths. They somehow sound quite unlike anything else on the radio today. To hear four grown-ass men singing along, at the top of their lungs, to Hilson’s parts while driving around town is truly something to behold. And if that isn’t what a summer jam is about, then I don’t know what is. But I like that just the way it are.

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