Trainwreckords Suggestion: 'Shock Value II' - Timbaland

Hey, all! This is my first post...anywhere, on Reddit. Happy to be here!

I figure Todd takes suggestions for Trainwreckords via Patreon, but I thought I'd float it here, just as a point of interest; one I've had in mind for years (alongside 'Man of the Woods', though that's now been resolved). I can't quite recall off the top of my head which video it was ('Man of the Woods' Trainwreckords?) but Todd said something about Timbaland's later career being worth a look in future. To which, I heartily agree, and present to you: 'Shock Value II'.

I would argue that Timbaland's career was on a high with the first 'Shock Value': he'd established himself producing for Missy Elliott in particular and brought about a golden age for himself, Nelly Furtado ('Loose') and Justin Timberlake ('FutureSex/LoveSounds'). But after 2005, 2006...things fell off. While he's never stopped working since (down to those NFT anthems he's been working on of late), and even produced for Missy again after her untimely absence from the charts, it's just not been the same. Which is to say, it wasn't so much a matter that he wasn't anchored to a particular star that led to his failure to be quite as big again. For 'Shock Value II' has plenty of stars – Katy Perry, circa 'One of the Boys' in 2009; the aforementioned Timberlake and Furtado; an early appearance of Drake on a big project; pre-'Bangerz' Miley Cyrus and Chad Kroeger of Nickelback (yes, really). You may even remember 'If We Ever Meet Again' with Katy Perry.

But Timbaland hasn't released a true album since this one. And it fascinates me.

That album was a massive disappointment to early adult me. I really enjoyed 'Shock Value' ('The Way I Are', 'Give It To Me', 'Scream', those were great to me in my teen years). So when 'SVII' was announced, I was really excited. But the album is so...flat. Gone are the instantaneously compelling earworms. The first single, 'Morning After Dark', may be the best-sounding...and yet, in another bizarre choice, the song and video were apparently inspired by the vampire phenomenon in pop culture of the time. Which, cool, but...why?! There's a 'Hannah Montana'-esque bubblegum pop song with Miley Cyrus (on a Timbaland album). There's the infamous 'Carry Out', where Timbo and JT try to pick up women with a string of fast food metaphors. There's also a bunch of collaborations with alternative rock musicians (which, good for Tim for expanding his reach, but he does so little with them, literally and figuratively). And the choices...The Fray, Jet and Chad Kroeger each show up on separate tracks - on an album that was slated to also feature the Jonas Brothers, Linkin Park, The All-American Rejects and Paramore, according to some sources. Some of these are good acts. Under Timbaland, though, you'd probably never know.

How did this happen? How did Timbaland just...lose his ear for this? Which I don't entirely believe – his tracks with Missy around 2012 ('9th Inning' and 'Triple Threat') are great, and not just for Missy's contributions – but I don't know. Maybe he was never that good to begin with? But I can't believe that, either – I've heard Missy's stuff, I know he has talent as a producer. I just...there's so little I can figure out, that I feel a guy like Todd could parse out incisively in a video. Not a request, by the way - I just felt like sharing something of interest relative to Todd's series.

Bonus nomination: One Hit Wonderland for 'Shake It' by Metro Station. It's infuriatingly catchy. Also, Miley Cyrus's brother, Trace, was in the band. I remember a lot of really weird lyrics about young girls in their stuff (would be a good opportunity to tackle the misogyny in late-2000s-era scene pop). And then they broke up rather acrimoniously and, last I heard, Cyrus went on a tirade at OnlyFans creators on Twitter, talking about how 'men don't want to wife them'. Lots of material there, is what I mean.