No surprises on Timbaland’s ‘Shock Value II’

Timbaland

Shock Value II

Label: Blackground/Mosley Music

Grade: B-

Rocks like: The Billboard… Timbaland

Shock Value II

Label: Blackground/Mosley Music

Grade: B-

Rocks like: The Billboard Hot 100 smashed onto one album

Timbaland’s third solo effort, Shock Value II, is an album for the attention-deficit-disorder generation. When it comes to collaborations, the producer extraordinaire, born as Timothy Mosley, is the go-to guy — there’s a guest appearance on all 17 tracks. Sick of one artist? Move on to the next track.

Timbaland has the phonebook a crazed teenage fan would kill for. He lets no connection go to waste and the gang’s all here. To name a few: One Republic, Daughtry, Keri Hilson, Katy Perry, JoJo and everyone’s new favorite guest R & B star, Drake.

Unfortunately, all the collaborations in the world can’t seem to save Shock Value II. While there are certainly some great tracks, Timbaland’s second album, Shock Value, was simply better. His junior effort lacks edge and originality.

Perhaps if this album had come out a few years ago it would’ve been great. But with the rate of pop/hip-hop releases exponentially rising, Timbaland should’ve brought out the big guns. Even the biggest Timbo fans will admit with a heavy heart that this could’ve been better.

The album’s first single, “Morning after Dark,” a catchy track featuring SoShy and Nelly Furtado, tricked eager fans into thinking Shock Value II would amount to far more than it does.

In case The Fray doesn’t make you groan enough already, the group makes an annoying little cameo in the lackluster track “Undertow,” a song so boring it’s hard to believe the same Timbaland that has delivered repeated Billboard hits had anything to do with it.

As to be expected, Justin Timberlake and Timbaland are a lethal duo. Their fast-food-infused euphemisms (something that, let’s be honest, could only be construed as sexy in America) on “Carry Out,” make the track a guaranteed seller.

Against everything you want to admit, the Miley Cyrus song, “We Belong to Music” is actually pretty good. Cyrus’ voice is just as grating as ever, but the song has a fast tempo that other tracks would’ve benefited from if they ever wanted a shot at becoming hits.

Ultimately, Shock Value II suffers from an unfortunate case of Auto-Tune overdose. Side effects include overall homogeneity and a sense of production laziness. Nice try, Timbaland, but get some rest and drink plenty of fluids. Better luck next time.

Timbaland with Miley Cyrus: “We Belong to the Music”