"Give It to Me" is an electro and hip hop song with club music sensibilities. [10] It features a space-age sound that is built of skeletal synths, percussion, bass, low range horns, breathless drums, and digitized keyboards. [7] [11] Andy Kellman of AllMusic describes it as a "leisurely club track full of swagger". [12] David Hyland of WESH Orlando noted the song as "a mellow, slinky club jam that meshes odd, polyrhythmic drumming, a "Twilight Zone" countermelody and digitized keyboard belches with vocals supplied by Furtado and Timberlake." [13] It begins with a heavy tribal beat and accompanying synths. [14] Furtado begins with rhymes about her change in appearance for her third studio album, with the lines "Love my ass and my abs in the video called 'Promiscuous' / My style is ri-dic-dic-diculous, 'diculous, 'diculous". [15] After the chorus, Timbaland raps about his successes as a producer and songwriter while making disparaging remarks towards an unnamed producer, most notably in the lines "I get a half a mill for my beats, you get a couple gra-an-and/Never gon' see the day that I ain't got the upper hand/I'm respected from Californ-I-A, way down to Japan" and "I'm a real producer and you just a piano man/Your songs don't top the charts, I heard 'em, I'm not a fa-an-an". [15] Timberlake follows after the second chorus with his verse, where he addresses a rival (allegedly Prince) about his chart success with "SexyBack", present in the lines, "If sexy never left, then why's everybody on my shi-i-i-t? / Don't hate on me just because you didn't come up with it". [14]
Critical reception
"Give It to Me" received generally positive reviews from music critics. The song received a four star rating from Bill Lamb of About.com , praising it as an intoxicating song with a "mesmerizing rhythm figure and cheeky lyrics" that "easily sticks in the brain." [7] Lamb, however, felt it was one-dimensial and repetitive, comparing it to Nelly Furtado's "Say It Right" and Justin Timberlake's "My Love", both produced and co-written by Timbaland. [7] Andy Kellman of Allmusic writes that "it is immediate enough to connect on the first listen, while Tim also sneaks in enough subtle layers to make it increasingly insidious with each play." [12] Houston Chronicle's Zharmer Hardimon, despite dismissing Timbaland's rapping, praises it as the album's best track. [10] David Hyland of WESH Orlando defines the song as "an example of the outside-the-box approach to hit-making that has earned Tim his reputation" while also praising Furtado and Timberlake for their vocal performances, writing that they sound "seductive" and "convincing as a possible suitor" respectively. [13] Kelefa Sanneh of New York Times compared "Give It to Me" to Scott Storch's "Built Like That" and declared Timbaland's song the winner, writing "It's an instantly addictive song built from a muscular rhythm and a few well-placed synthesizer notes." [16] Norman Mayers of Prefix Magazine declared the song to be one of the album's best tracks, claiming that Timbaland's "fluttering grooves" and Furtado's and Timberlake's "boastful verses" merged perfectly. [17]
PopMatters writer Mike Schiller describes the song as "a combination of every single beat on the Nelly Furtado album ( Loose )" while later commenting that, with Timberlake's and Timbaland's vocals, it is an infectious all-star cut. [18] Steve "Flash" Juon of RapReviews labeled it as a "triumvirate of hip-pop perfection" while Jody Rosen praised it as the catchiest song on the album. [15] [19] Evan McGarvey of Stylus Magazine wrote "The song never comes together though, all of its constituent parts resemble diluted tools from other, more inspired Mosley moments." [11] The Guardian's Alexis Petridis praised the song for its hooks, which he describes as irresistible, and its moments of unpredictability. [20] The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. [21]
Chart performance
In the United States, "Give It to Me" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on the week ending February 24, 2007, at number eighty-seven. [22] The song slowly rose the chart for weeks until the week ending April 21, 2007, when the song ascended forty-one places, from forty-two, to number one. [23] The rise was caused by the strength of 248,000 downloads sold within that week, logging the second-best digital sales for a song's first week at the time, behind Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack". [23] The song has, as of July 23, 2010, sold 1,880,000 downloads in the United States, standing as Timbaland's third best selling solo single behind "Apologize" and "The Way I Are". [24] It also stands as his only solo single in the United States to attain the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100.
In Furtado's native Canada, "Give It to Me" debuted at number two on the Canadian Hot 100, where it peaked for one week, on the issue dated June 7, 2007. [25] It lasted a total of thirteen weeks on the chart, spending its last week at number 44. [26]
In the United Kingdom, "Give It to Me" debuted at number eight on the UK Singles Chart on April 8, 2007 – for the week ending date April 14, 2007 – and rose seven places to the summit of the chart the following week. [27] [28] On April 22, 2007 – for the week ending date April 28, 2007 – "Give It to Me" was dethroned from the top of the UK Singles Chart after one week by "Beautiful Liar" by Beyonce and Shakira, falling two places to number three. The song accumulated a total of ten weeks in the top ten, and 26 weeks in the top 100, of the chart. [26]
In Ireland, "Give It to Me" debuted at number thirty-three on the Irish Singles Chart and fell off the next week. [26] On April 12, 2007, two weeks later, the song reappeared on the chart at number six. [29] It peaked on the chart at number two during its sixth week and lasted more than ten weeks in the top ten. [26] [30]
In Switzerland, the song peaked at number six on the Swiss Singles Chart on the week ending date July 1, 2007. [31] It spent five non-consecutive weeks in the top ten and a total of forty-nine weeks on the chart, slowly descending the chart following the week at its peak position. [31] In Germany the song reached its peak at number three and held the position for two nonconsecutive weeks. [26]
In Austria, "Give It to Me" peaked at number three on the Austrian Singles Chart, and logged a total of 34 weeks on the chart. [32]
Music video
On February 26, 2007, the music video for "Give It to Me" was premiered on MTV's Total Request Live . It shows Timbaland, Nelly Furtado, and Justin Timberlake performing the song at the 2007 Grammy Awards pre-show concert, and is intercut with footage from a studio recording session and from inside Timbaland's tour bus. The clip also shows Furtado singing on a balcony of Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles. The video was directed by Paul "Coy" Allen and Timbaland and appeared at number ninety-eight on BET's Notarized: Top 100 Videos of 2007 countdown.
The music video on YouTube has received over 175 million views as of April 2024. [33]
Track listing
UK and European 2-track CD single
- "Give It to Me" (radio edit) – 3:33
- "Give It to Me" (instrumental) – 3:55
Australian and European CD maxi-single
- "Give It to Me" (radio edit) – 3:33
- "Give It to Me" (instrumental) – 3:55
- "Come Around" (featuring M.I.A.) – 3:57
- "Give It to Me" (video) – 3:55
European 12-inch vinyl
- "Give It to Me" (radio edit) – 3:33
- "Give It to Me" (explicit) – 3:55
- "Give It to Me" (instrumental) – 3:55
- "Give It to Me" (a cappella explicit) – 3:30
Credits and personnel
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Shock Value, released through Mosley Music Group, in association with Blackground Records and Interscope Records. [3]
Recording and mixing
- Recorded at Thomas Crown Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia and Chalice Recording Studios in Los Angeles
- Mixing at Thomas Crown Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia and The Village in Los Angeles
Personnel
- Songwriting – Tim Mosley, Nate Hills, Timothy Clayton, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado
- Production – Timbaland, Danja
- Recording, mixing and programming – Demacio "Demo" Castellón
- Mixing (assistant) – Matty Green
- Drums – Timbaland
- Keyboard and bass – Timbaland, Danja
Charts
| "Give It to Me" | ||||
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| Single by Timbaland featuring Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake | ||||
| from the album Shock Value | ||||
| B-side | "Come Around" | |||
| Released | February 6, 2007 | |||
| Studio | Thomas Crown (Virginia Beach), Chalice Recording (Los Angeles) | |||
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Weekly charts
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Decade-end charts
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