Timbaland: Recycling himself again...

Timbaland's "The Way I Are," easily one of the most overplayed songs of the decade so far, was the first track to bring R&B singer Keri Hilson to worldwide attention. Before that track's infectious, stuttered synths and questionable lyrics rocketed Hilson - and a going-solo Timbaland - to international success, she was more of a background industry figure than an independent artist, working as songwriter and back-up singer for a number of major stars, including Chris Brown and Britney Spears.

This year though, she's striking out on her own. Well...not quite. The thing is, Hilson's stacked up such a starry list of contacts - including pretty much every pop producer there is - that her debut solo singles sound startlingly anonymous. It doesn't help that her voice is serviceable rather than exceptional - and if you feel like you've heard it before, that's because you have.



One of the first singles from the album to chart was unsurprisingly a Timbaland production, a jittery, synth-heavy duet called "Return the Favor." Watch out, now. I'm going to start ranting. See, the problem with the song isn't just its name, a clear and rather cynical reference to Hilson's work on "The Way I Are"... the scary thing is, "Return the Favor" sounds almost exactly like that song. Essentially, it's a remix, with a slightly altered beat and slightly altered lyrics, and the fact that Timbaland expects us to lap up studio scraps like this is evidence that his ego finally has gotten the better of him.

Now, Timbaland's often been accused of recycling his sound. Over the past year, especially, his clattering drum-work and stuttered vocal ticks have become repetitive, and it doesn't help that step 1 on the pop producer's road to success is "COPY TIMBALAND!" (see Justin Timberlake's rather stilted attempt on T.I.'s "Dead and Gone"). Still, the blatant recycling going on with "Return the Favor" is much more shamelessly lazy than anything he's previously done.

The synth riff is identical, with the exception of a couple of notes; Timbaland raps awkwardly with exactly the same rhythmic pattern; and even the melody's structure is a plain carbon copy, with terse, syncopated exchanges between the two singers leading to a decadent, sugary head-rush of a chorus. It's lucky that he's plagiarising himself on this one - rather than some obscure Scandivian techno-geek, as he was accused of doing on Nelly Furtado's "Do It" - or I could see some nasty court cases coming up for him.

I'll admit, I do have a soft spot for Timbo. He's done some great work in the past, and has certainly been more consistent in his output than many other super-producers. What's more, anyone who's had such a blanket effect on the sound of pop music worldwide is clearly a force to be reckoned with and respected. But he'd better watch out, or soon he'll be a has-been, and people will be returning him the favor. [AXT]