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"Promiscuous" is an R&B/Hip Hop song performed by Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland. It was written by Furtado, Mosley, Nate Hills and Timothy "Attitude" Clayton for Furtado's third studio album Loose (2006). It was produced by Timbaland and Danja and received a positive reception from music critics. In North America the song was released as the album's first single on April 25, 2006, and is the most successful release to date of Furtado's career, reaching number one in Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. It has been a comeback hit for Nelly Furtado.

Song information

"Promiscuous" was one of the first records Furtado worked on with Alabama rapper-songwriter and labelmate Timothy Clayton, aka MC Attitude. The singer described their teamwork as something she "had never done before", as she saw the writing process as "extremely freeing" due to the MC's different but characteristic approach and style. After all, he was the one who helped Furtado to experiment with interpreting the character of the "promiscuous girl", the main protagonist in the two-sided relationship that the lyrics of the song deal with.

Because of the preponderant musical influence of artists like Talking Heads, Blondie, Madonna, The Police and Eurythmics, whom producers Timbaland and Danja listened to while writing the album, "Promiscuous" also takes inspiration from popular 1980's music.

"Promiscuous" was officially released as the album's first single on April 25, 2006 in Canada and the United States, before it was made available as a download (via iTunes Music Store) on May 25, 2006. In Europe and Asia, the single will be released around August/September 2006. "Promiscuous" is also featured in the Spring/Summer '06 Verizon VCast Music Phone advertisements.

In most of the live versions of this song, Furtado sings with MC Socrates instead of Timbaland due to Timbaland's absence on most of the promotion.

A reference to basketball player Steve Nash in the song's lyrics led to speculation that he and Furtado were romantically involved, but he said "I'm flattered that she put me in her song, but I'm completely in love with my wife and two little baby girls".

Chart performance

On January 8, 2006, a thirty-second clip of the song leaked onto the internet. By January 17, 2006, the entire track had leaked. Pre-released to digital music stores in the U.S. and Canada on April 25, 2006, "Promiscuous" reached number one in both countries iTunes charts. The song debuted on the Canadian Singles Chart on May 4, 2006, at number two before it reached number one on June 1, 2006. It has since continued its run in the top-twenty and has reached the top-five on the Canadian BDS Airplay Chart.

In the U.S., the song debuted on the Billboard Bubbling Under Singles at number sixteen. It debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 a week later, and proved to be very popular, acquiring airplay and sales gainer status for some weeks. In its eighth week, the single was at the top of the chart. "Promiscuous" became Nelly Furtado's first number-one single in the United States, and had been at the top for 6 weeks as of August 5, 2006, making it currently the longest running United States number one single of the year. After its 6 weeks at the top it was dethroned by Fergie's "London Bridge" due to the latter's high digital sales. "Promiscuous" debuted at number five in Australia, and rose to number two on its third and eighth week in the chart. It has also achieved platinum status (70,000+ units sold).

In the UK, the song is currently gaining much airplay on radio stations after being quickly promoted to Radio 1's A-list. A European release is set for August 18, 2006. "Promiscuous" became one of the few songs, 11th to be exact, to sell over 1,000,000 digital downloads in the U.S., on August 9, 2006.

Music video

The music video for "Promiscuous" was directed by Canadian director Little X. Little X appears as a cameo in the video dancing with Furtado as well as directing. It contains cameo appearances of Justin Timberlake and Keri Hilson dancing in the video with the extras which included Hip hop model Bria Myles.

The video does not follow any substantial plot; per Furtado's request, the focus is on scenes about dancing and flirting, as she wanted to re-create the indicative vibe of the song, taking the opportunity to make a club video for the first time. While filming, Nelly stated: "It's that whole dance that goes on. There's that mystery there, the fun, playful sexiness, the verbal Ping-Pong game. A lot of people can relate to that." The video features Nelly and Timbaland going back and forth over whether they're going to hook up, hitting on others on the dance floor and on the phone to keep their options open. Their single performances are intercut by several shots of the dancing crowd, changing between artificial lighting in either yellow, green, red or blue colors.

The video for "Promiscuous" world-premiered on May 3, 2006 on MTV's Total Request Live. After twenty-one days on the TRL countdown, the video hit number one on June 15. It recently was nominated for 3 Video Music Awards including Best Female Video.

Track listing

Australia

1. "Promiscuous" (radio edit)
2. "Undercover"
3. "Promiscuous" (the Josh Desi remix)
4. "Promiscuous" (video)

UK

1. "Promiscuous" (radio edit)
2. "Crazy" (Radio 1 Live Lounge session)

Cover of the Gnarls Barkley song.

Official versions/remixes

• JoSH Desi Remix
• Ralphi Rosario Radio Edit (3:41)
• Ralphi Rosario Dirty Vox (9:13)
• Ralphi Rosario Dirty Dub (9:11)
• Sean Coughlin Remixes (3:57) and (5:26)
• Axwell Remix (6:01)
• Richard Morel's Pink Noise Vocal Mix (6:41)
• Richard Morel's Pink Noise Dub Mix (7:00)
• Richard Morel's Pink Noise Edit (3:38)
• Richard Humpty Vission ReRub (5:51)
• Margarita Q Reggaeton Mix (4:33)
• SugarDip Sax Something Mix
• Acoustic/Stripped (Feat. DJ Socrates)
• feat. Pitbull & Rick Ross

Credits and personnel

• Lead vocals: Nelly Furtado, Timbaland
• Audio mixing: Marcella Araica, Demacio Castellon
• Vocal production: Jim Beanz
• Background vocals: Nelly Furtado, Jim Beanz
• Engineers: James Roach, Kobla Tetey
• Drums: Danja, Timbaland
• Keyboards: Danja, Timbaland

Charts

Notes

1. Koha, Nui Te. "Songbird sexy and soaring ". The Sunday Herald Sun. July 23 2006. Retrieved September 18 2006.
2. "Australian Top 50 Singles Chart". ARIA. Retrieved August 6. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
3. "Australian Urban Singles Chart". ARIA. Retrieved August 6. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
4. Canadian Singles Chart
5. "New Zealand Top 40 Singles Chart". RIANZ. Retrieved August 23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

• 2006 singles
• 2000s pop songs (first decade)
• Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
• Billboard Pop 100 number-one singles
• Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number-one singles
• Number-one singles in Canada
• RIANZ number-one singles
• Nelly Furtado songs