MEMBERS ONLY: TIMBALAND SPEAKS

The collaborative energy surrounding Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado is as palpable now as it was in 2007 when they teamed up for “Give It to Me.” The trifecta recently pooled their talents for a collaboration called “Keep Going Up” (Mosley Music Group/Def Jam) as part of ESPN’s Monday Night Football soundtrack. Their chemistry was so electric, in fact, that Timbo, Timberlake and Furtado are currently working on an entire album together.

“When we got back in the studio for the first time in 16 years, it made me feel like I was 19 or 21 again," Timbaland tells us. "That’s the feeling everybody with creativity searches for; that's the feeling you dream of, and I'm just blessed to capture that feeling again.”

Beatclub, Timbaland's one-stop shop for mentorship, creator tools and collaboration, played an integral role in bringing “Keep Going Up” to fruition.

"I started Beatclub going on four years ago," Timbo noted. "As a producer, I’m always trying to figure out what's the next new thing. When I came into the game, producers were like the car to the artist or the jewelry man—you needed a dope beat to be poppin’. Now we live in a world where everybody puts their stuff on YouTube. I realized that the world was changing to where producers weren’t going into the studio as much, so I said, ‘Why don't I create something?'

"I created this community of creators, invite-only, and we created magic. We always do one-on-ones, and I met a group of guys called Animal Kingdom, and they had this particular song I thought was amazing; the hook was amazing and I thought ‘I could restructure it.’ There was something there. They're special."

That song evolved into "Keep Going Up," a promising sign for Beatclub's future. The company is still in the beta stage and Timbo says they "have a long way to go" but with more than 50k users, it's growing.

"I’ve put over $5m in creators’ pockets from sync fees," he says. "I’m like a high-end concierge service!”

Timbaland and Timberlake, meanwhile, will curate music for select Monday Night Football games throughout the 2023-24 season. The selections will be heard in promotional spots, live telecasts and pre-game shows for seven weeks.

For more information on Beatclub, head here. We've been politely asked not to sign up.