Perhaps best known to many for his iconic dance beats like the 2006 hits “SexyBack” with Justin Timberlake and “Promiscuous” with Nelly Furtado, four-time Grammy winning producer, songwriter and artist Timbaland has officially returned to the airwaves with his brand new single “Keep Going Up” from Mosley Music Group and Def Jam Recordings, reuniting him once again with his superstar collaborators.
First teaming up as a trio on the track “Give It To Me” in 2007, Furtado, Timbaland and Timberlake bring a fresh sound to our modern era, while also banking on the public’s desire for some nostalgia. Timbaland credits the new song’s initial sound coming from the minds of some of the young creatives at his Beatclub company, which he founded in 2021 with the mission to help music creatives at every level grow and start achieving their goals through mentorship, creative tools and other opportunities.
What might be the most fascinating part of all of this is that the journey to “Keep Going Up” began just a few weeks ago. Timbaland told me, “I was on a call with one of the [Beatclub] members and they played this song that had this infectious hook. I said, ‘That’s it!’ I didn’t know what it was but I knew that was it. I was walking around like, ‘Ooh! What if it was me, Justin and Nelly?’ So, while I was on the call, Nelly texted me about something. I said, ‘I was just about to text you about a song that I think we should do.’ She was like, ‘When? Where? I’m there.’
When it came to Timberlake joining the mix, Timbaland said, “He texted me like, ‘We can get to LA – I got to do my part. That magic that we both have in the room – I know that Nelly got that with me and Justin had the same type of energy with me and him. After that and the song was done, [I said that] I want to put it out in two weeks or a week. Everybody knew it was an urgent record. All of us were on the same page and here we are.”
Reflecting on his latest music-making process with Timberlake, Furtado and his Beatclub team, Timbaland said, “The energy was so great. We created magic. This was no frustration [to make] – this was pure energy and love.”
He went on to compare the feeling of “Keep Going Up” to what “We Are The World” gave to music lovers, adding that the 1985 song with its all-star list of artists had “a message for the world but you jam to it, too. It’s very rare you make records that have a meaning and can play in the club. What people tell me about the record, it feels new and yesterday. I was like, ‘Perfect!’ What I wanted to give to the world is that feeling.”
Now at 51, Timbaland, who was born Timothy Mosley, said he has noticed his vocal cords changing over the years and that he no longer sounds the way he did at 19, when he was first starting out in the music business.
“Tone is everything to me and for me, that tone back then was an innocence. To go in a booth now, you’re thinking, but we went in the booth [for ‘Keep Going Up’] not even thinking. That’s why this song is the essence of 2006 bottled up. I just thank God that he’s placed me in 2006, but I live in 2023 and 2024.”
Coming from a time in music 20 years ago when social media was barely a thing yet, I asked Timbaland how he has noticed the business of his music evolving over the years, with the immediacy of communication in promoting his content now possible.
“I think today you have a lot more ways to monetize and to collect – to make money. Back then, I guess it was based on – it had a structure – now it’s like the Wild Wild West. So many avenues – YouTube shorts, this that, that this, TikTok – it’s a lot. And the thing about today versus yesterday, we made seven minute songs. Ain’t nobody listening to a seven minute song. Everything has got to be bite size.”
Regarding the evolution so far with Beatclub, Timbaland said that his company is still in its beta stage and continues to grow, but he takes great pride in the achievements his group of creators and musicians have brought in making “Keep Going Up” a reality.
“I feel like this is the launch of Beatclub – showing that Timbaland now is in Quincy Jones mode, where I don’t necessarily have to do the beat. I help another person because I try to bring out the gift in somebody else. I’m coaching them. These young producers and these kids today, they move so quick. That’s where I’m old at because I ain’t moving that quick. It’s weird to watch a team of people with computers, where it used to be a keyboard. I’m in my Phil Jackson mode, where I’m producing, composing with young talent, great gifted kids. I enjoy it.”
As for his recent reunion with Furtado and Timberlake on this newly released “Keep Going Up” track, Timbaland said that fans should expect even more from this music trio very soon.
“We just started. We just tapped into something that we should’ve tapped into a long time ago. This song sparked off so much of an energy that life ain’t promised to us, so let’s not sit on an idea – let’s just to do it. “I was like [to Furtado and Timberlake], ‘Let’s do six songs – let’s do seven songs.’ We got two more in the can. Let’s do a whole EP and figure it out.”
As we began to wrap up our conversation, following his many various contributions to music over the past couple of decades, I wondered how exactly Timbaland would credit himself today as a music creative.
“I think I credit myself as a great taste maker. I want to be a brand now. You don’t have to necessarily like everything. If I say this is something you should pay attention to, because I haven’t let you down. I always gave you great feeling, always made you feel a certain way about yourself as your vibe. It was Timbaland, Missy [Elliott], Ginuwine, Aaliyah and all that – but now, I feel like I’m in a stage in my life where I’m the brand. I’m the taste maker. I’m the one that says this is the next thing that’s about to pop.”
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