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"Promiscuous" is a pop-hip hop song recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado featuring Tim "Timbaland" Mosley. The song 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, eventually becoming Furtado's most successful single to date with a chart peak of #2 in the United States and #1 in Canada.

Song information

"Promiscuous" was one of the first records Furtado worked on with Alabama rapper-songwriter and label mate 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 complex 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 The Eurythmics, which producers Timbaland and Danja listened to while writing the album, "Promiscuous" also takes inspiration from popular 1980's music.

On January 8, 2006, a thirty-second clip of the song leaked onto the Internet. By January 17, 2006 the entire track had leaked. It was officially released as the album's first single on April 30, 2006 in Canada and the United States, before it was made available as a download (via Apple iTunes) 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 advertisments.

Chart performance

Pre-released to digital music stores in the U.S. and Canada on April 25 2006, "Promiscuous" reached number 1 in both countries iTunes Top 100 charts. The song was officially released in Canada on April 30 2006; it debuted at #2 on the Canadian Singles Chart. In the U.S., the song debuted on the Billboard Bubbling Under Singles at #16 but a week later, it debuted on Hot 100 at #64. Three weeks later, it was already at #3--making it Furtado's first single in more than five years to make the top 10 of Billboard Hot 100 and her highest charting single in the U.S. It has since reached a peak position of #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Music video

The music video for "Promiscuous" was directed by Canadian director Little X. It contains cameo appearances of Justin Timberlake and Keri Hilson dancing in the video with the extras.

The video does not follow any substantial plot; but per Furtados's request, 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 intercutted 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 21 days on the TRL countdown, the video launched itself to #1 on June 15.

Official versions/remixes

• JoSH Desi Remix
• Ralphi Rosario Dirty Vox
• Ralphi Rosario Dirty Dub

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

Chart trajectories

• 2006 singles
• Canadian number one singles
• Nelly Furtado songs