"Say It Right" is a single released by Canadian singer Nelly
Furtado. It was written by Nelly Furtado, Timothy "Timbaland"
Mosley and Nate "Danja" Hills for Furtado's third album,
Loose(2006). It was co-produced by Timbaland and Danja
and released as the album's third single in North America and
Australia (see 2006 in music). The song served as the album's
fourth single in certain European and Asian countries. It was
released digitally in the United Kingdom in March 2007. It was
the album's fifth single in Latin America.
"Say It Right" received positive reviews from critics
praising its high quality production as well as commenting on
the lyrical content and Furtado's vocal performance. The song
attained worldwide success, topping the charts in more than
thirty countries including the United States, Spain, France,
New Zealand, Canada and many European countries. The
accompanying music video for the song portrays Furtado singing
it in various costumes and various locations. The song has been
performed on a number of live appearances by Furtado including
her third headlining Get Loose tour.
The process of creating the song began in the recording
studio one morning at around 4:00 a.m., when Timbaland
recommended that Furtado go home because she was tired.
Furtado, who had heard that the band U2 (a band she says she
deeply admires) wrote many of their songs in the studio control
room, said "Really? I'll show you", put on her hoodie and began
to "jam". Nate Hills and Timbaland soon joined her, writing and
producing as they went, and according to Furtado, this process
intensified as she sang. The team used four microphones in the
live room and moved them around during recording, about which
Furtado said, "...when you listen to it—there's a lot of
dimension. It kind of sounds like [Timbaland is] in another
country". Afterwards, they picked the best vocals and
"perfected" them, before inserting "reverbs and weird alien
sounds" onto them. "[W]e experimented a lot with depth and
different sounds", Furtado said of the making of the song.
"[It] affected my vocals a whole lot." "Say It Right" is
performed with a moderate techno groove and is written in F
minor. It is set in common time; in 4/4 count. The chord
progression is Fm–E♭–D♭–B♭m. Furtado's vocal range spans from
Ab3 to F5. Furtado has cited the "spooky, keyboard-driven pop
sound" of the band Eurythmics, particularly their 1983 song
"Here Comes the Rain Again", as an influence on "Say It Right"
and other tracks on
Loose. "I'm not 100 percent sure what ["Here Comes the
Rain Again" is] about, but it always takes me away to another
place, and I love it", she said.
In fact the song deals with mystic or transcendental
experiences as she explains in an interview in 2007. "It is a
kind of a magical song. It has a mystery to it, that I have not
quite figured out. It has a haunting twist to it." In other
interviews she said that she does not really know what "Say It
Right" is about, "but it captures the feeling I had when I
wrote it, and it taps into this other sphere." In an interview
for
The Sunday Times, it was mentioned that it is about her
breakup with DJ Jasper Gahunia, the father of her daughter.
Bloc Party covered the song on Jo Whiley's radio show on
April 11, 2007. The song was played during the Miss Universe
2007 Introductory Ceremony, the 2006 American Music Awards, and
Concert for Diana.
Dummies, Friscia & Lamboy, Menage Music and Peter
Rauhofer produced dance remixes of "Say It Right". Juan
Martinez of Universal Music Group, the A&R person who
enlisted the producers of the remixes for each single from
Loose, said that the "Say It Right" remixes had received
"the strongest reaction".
Marie Digby did an acoustic version of "Say It Right", along
with "All Good Things (Come to an End)". The videos are posted
in YouTube. Bloc Party also did a cover version for "Say It
Right". "Strictly Physical", a 2007 single by German pop group
Monrose, has been compared to "Say It Right" and there have
been countless mash-ups that successfully mix the two songs
together. There is also a 'Reggae Main Mix' of "Say It Right",
featuring reggae singer Courtney John. MTV Mash-Ups Volume 1
features a mash-up of Robert Miles' Children with the Furtado's
Say It Right lyrics, produced my Martinn. The track is titled
"Robert Miles vs. Nelly Furtado - Children Say It Right
[Martinn]"
The music video for "Say It Right" was directed by British
duo Rankin & Chris and filmed in Los Angeles, California in
late October 2006. It was shot back-to-back with the video for
"All Good Things (Come to an End)", the album's third single in
Europe. Furtado called the video her "first action thing" since
the video for her 2000 single, "I'm like a Bird", and said that
it featured her experiencing what she called "a total rock-star
moment. It's so iconic." The mini-feathered cocktail dress
Furtado wears at the opening of the video was designed
specifically for her by Australian designer Alex Perry, who
said, "It's so cool because she's just undergone a bit of a
revamp from what her previous image was; she's become a little
more sexy and glamorous."
The clip starts with a helicopter landing on a black helipad
bearing Furtado's name on top of a building, and Furtado
getting out. She is shown on the roof of the building
throughout the video, with the Los Angeles skyline in the
background. The video features mostly face shots of her and
Timbaland intercut with shots of dancers, under the careful
guidance of internationally acclaimed Puerto Rican
choreographer Gabriel Rivera. Furtado described the clip as "a
throwback to the '80s ... the more surreal side" because the
shots of her and Timbaland reminded her much of those of Annie
Lennox and Dave Stewart in videos for Eurythmics' singles, and
"the strange relationship [they] had, where ... you get this
intense vibe from it. And Tim and me, we're partners, we vibe
on a serious creative level, so the video captures that
energy." The video ends with Furtado climbing back into the
helicopter, which flies off.
The video debuted on MTV's
Total Request Livein the U.S. on November 6 and on
Canada's MuchMusic in the week ending November 16. It reached
number nine on the
Total Request Livetop ten video countdown on November 8,
its first day on the countdown; it returned to the countdown on
December 14 and peaked at number one twice. The video reached
number one on the MuchMusic series
Countdownfor the week ending February 16. The "Say It
Right" video was retired from
TRLafter spending forty days on the countdown. At the
2007 MTV Video Music Awards, Furtado was nominated in the
category of Female Artist of the Year for "Say It Right" and
"Maneater". "Say It Right" was nominated for the MuchMoreMusic
Award and in the Best International Video by a Canadian
category at the 2007 MuchMusic Video Awards. MTV International
certified the "Say It Right" video platinum for more than 6,000
plays on the MTV network.
"Say It Right" received positive reviews from critics
praising its high quality production as well as commenting on
the lyrical content and Furtado's vocal performance. Billboard
magazine called the song "a Pussycat Dolls-inspired contempo
jam, high on hooks and of-the-moment production. Well done, if
in the most generic sense." About.com's Bill Lamb gave the song
4/5 stars, saying that with "Say It Right", "many pop music
fans are likely to take a second look at purchasing [
Loose]". He described the song as "the foundation of
Loose" and "a welcomed presence in the pop top 40". IGN
Music calls the song "...one of the brightest moments on the
album" and "another throwback to the '80s" which "...lets loose
with the most hypnotic chorus". Allmusic's Stephen Thomas
Erlewine considered the song "a dark meditative piece that
would have fit on [Furtado's] previous records".
The New York Timesdescribed the song as "building a
groove from hard drums and ghostly, multitracked voices, and
Ms. Furtado sings a melancholy chorus she doesn't quite
believe", comparing the coda, with music getting louder and
then slowly fading, "the way the best — and worst — nights out
often do". John Jobling of Mansize.com suggests that "[I]t
would take a man of stone to resist the song’s hypnotic pull,
with the alien like synths, spooky reverb effects and
Timbaland’s signature space hop percussion creating a
gloriously atmospheric soundscape where the carnal and
spiritual coexist in perfect harmony." Also, DJ Z's reviewed
the song as "the only single in the world to work at both a
club in Manhattan, and on an safari through the natives land of
(fill in the blank)." UK music.com described the track as "an
expectional track, that is filled with addictive beats and
atmospheric synths."
The song received a nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal
Performance at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, losing to Amy
Winehouse's "Rehab". It was also nominated for and two
MuchMusic Video Awards.
In the United States, the song was made available for
airplay at mainstream contemporary hit radio stations on
October 30, 2006. Geffen Records withdrew from radio the second
single from
Loose, "Maneater", before promoting "Say It Right". The
song debuted on the
BillboardBubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart at number
twenty-two in the issue dated November 18. It entered the Hot
100 in late-November at number ninety-three, and it reached
number one in its fourteenth week, becoming Furtado's second
number-one single after "Promiscuous" (2006). The song stayed
at number one for one week, in the top ten for fourteen weeks
and on the Hot 100 for thirty weeks. "Say It Right" contributed
to sales of the album
Loose, and was credited as being responsible for its
return to the top ten on the U.S. 200. According to Nielsen
Broadcast Data Systems, "Say It Right" was the second
most-played song on U.S. radio in 2007 with 364,000 plays
through December 2, and it was at number four on
R&Rmagazine's 2007 year-end all-format top 100 songs
list. On the
BillboardHot 100 year-end chart, it was ranked ninth.
The RIAA certified "Say It Right" platinum in December 2007. To
date, "Say It Right" has been listened to more than 4 billion
times in the U.S alone.
"Say It Right" peaked at number one for ten weeks on the
Canadian BDS Airplay Chart, which it entered in early December,
becoming Furtado's second Canadian number-one single. According
to BDS, it was the fourth most-played song of 2007 on Canadian
radio, amassing around 56,900 detections. The song charted on
the BDS Airplay Chart for sixty-two weeks. In April 2007, it
became Furtado's second number-one single on the Canadian Dance
Chart (after "Maneater"). "Say It Right" peaked at number two
for three consecutive weeks on the Australian ARIA Singles
Chart, giving
Loosea "second wind" on the albums chart, according to
the
Herald Sun; ARIA accredited it as a platinum single.
In the United Kingdom, "Say It Right" was issued as a
digital download without the accompaniment of a physical
release.
Music Weekwrote that the concurrent download-only
releases of "Say It Right" and Pink's "Leave Me Alone (I'm
Lonely)" "[suggest] a trend of singles far into an album
campaign being released digital-only", noting that "Say It
Right" was the fourth single from
Looseand Pink's single was the fifth from its parent
album. According to Universal Music Group commercial director
Brian Rose, "Say It Right" was not released as a physical
single because it was the fourth single from
Looseand there was not high demand from retailers for a
physical release, but both parties were aiming for album sales.
The single reached number ten on the UK Singles Chart in March
2007, and by doing so, it broke the record for the highest
chart placing for a download-only single, after chart
regulations were changed to allow songs not accompanied by a
physical format to chart. Since then, the record was broken by
the Coldplay with their number-one hit "Viva la Vida". The
popularity of "Say It Right" contributed to sales of
Loosein the UK, according to
Music Week, helping the album reach its highest chart
position since its first week of release. The song was the
twenty-ninth best-selling single of 2007 in the UK. The song
also spent 37 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, which is twice as
long as any other of Furtado's songs (23 of those in the top
40).
In France, the song debuted at number one with 8,100 copies
sold on its release, becoming the lowest selling number-one in
a week. In Germany, it debuted at number two, where it stayed
for nine non-consecutive weeks, behind DJ Ötzi and Nik P.'s Ein
Stern (...der deinen Namen trägt) which topped the German chart
for several months. It became the fifth most successful song of
2007 in Germany. In Russia, it peaked at number six on Russian
Airplay Chart, remained in the chart for 80 weeks and have
494,714 total plays. It was the most successful single of 2007
in the European Hit Radio. In Spain, the song enjoyed a great
success, reaching number one on the singles chart for
two-consecutive weeks. The song became her fourth number one
hit on the country after "Fotografía, "Te Busqué" and "All Good
Things (Come to an End)".
"Say It Right" is Nelly Furtado's most successful song in
Australia, Austria, Romania, Russia, Switzerland and Sweden. It
is Furtado's second most successful single in Norway, the
Netherlands, France (after "All Good Things (Come to an End)").
New Zealand (after "Turn Off the Light"), and United States
(after "Promiscuous").