Give It To Me

The Creation and Chart History of "Give It To Me" by Timbaland Featuring Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake

By early 2007, Timbaland had established himself as the dominant production force in mainstream popular music. His ability to blend elements of hip-hop, R&B, electronic music, and world music into a distinctive sonic signature had made him the most sought-after producer in the industry, and his fingerprints were on a significant percentage of the chart-topping records of the mid-2000s. "Give It To Me," released in February 2007, was the lead single from his second major solo album, Shock Value, on Blackground Records and Interscope Records. The track brought together two of his most successful recent collaborators, Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake, both of whom had benefited enormously from Timbaland's production expertise.

The song emerged from a period of extraordinary creative productivity for all three artists. Timbaland had produced Nelly Furtado's comeback album Loose in 2006, which had generated multiple hit singles including "Promiscuous" and "Say It Right," restoring her to chart prominence after several quiet years. He had simultaneously collaborated with Justin Timberlake on FutureSex/LoveSounds, one of the defining pop-R&B albums of the decade, producing hits like "SexyBack" and "My Love." The reunion of all three for "Give It To Me" was therefore a commercial event as well as a creative one, bringing together three artists at the peak of their individual trajectories.

The recording process capitalized on the rapport developed across those earlier collaborations. Timbaland's production for "Give It To Me" was lean and aggressive, built around a driving, minimalist beat that allowed the three performers space to project personality rather than filling every sonic gap with texture. The track incorporated elements of the Bollywood-influenced production style that had become one of Timbaland's recognizable signatures, blending South Asian musical elements with contemporary hip-hop rhythms in a way that had become commercially distinctive in popular music of that period.

"Give It To Me" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on February 24, 2007, entering at number 87. Its climb through the chart over the following weeks was steady and sustained, reflecting strong radio promotion across multiple formats including pop, rhythmic, and adult contemporary. The single reached number one on April 21, 2007, spending multiple weeks at the top of the chart and confirming that the combination of three established chart forces had delivered the expected commercial result. The song ultimately spent twenty-six weeks on the Hot 100, an extended run that reflected its multi-format radio appeal.

The single reached number one simultaneously on several Billboard component charts, including the Pop Songs airplay chart and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, demonstrating the breadth of its mainstream appeal. This cross-format success was itself a testament to Timbaland's production philosophy, which deliberately avoided genre-specific production choices in favor of sounds that could travel freely between radio formats. The song performed similarly well on international charts, reaching the top ten in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and across much of Europe.

The song became the subject of cultural commentary beyond its commercial performance due to its explicitly competitive lyrical content. The song was widely interpreted as a response to criticisms leveled at Timbaland, Timberlake, and Furtado by other artists, with several public figures identifying themselves as subjects of the song's commentary. This controversy generated significant additional media coverage that amplified the song's visibility during its promotional period.

The music video reflected the song's competitive energy, presenting the three artists in scenarios that projected confidence and dominance. The video received heavy rotation on music video platforms and reinforced the promotional narrative of three major artists at the top of their respective games. Critical reception emphasized the song's commercial effectiveness and production quality, with reviewers frequently noting Timbaland's continued innovation within a sound he had essentially invented.

In the broader context of 2007 popular music, "Give It To Me" represented a high-water mark for the collaborative, production-centered approach to pop music that Timbaland had pioneered. Its extended chart run and multi-format success made it one of the definitive singles of that year, and it remains one of the signature documents of Timbaland's remarkable period of creative dominance in the mid-2000s music industry.