In the day, in the night, say it right, say it all
You either got it or you don't, you either stand or you fall
When your will is broken, when it slips from your hand
When there's no time for joking, there's a hole in the plan
ChorusOh, you don't mean nothing at all to me
No, you don't mean nothing at all to me
Do you got what it takes to set me free
Oh, you could mean everything to me
I can't say that I'm not lost and at fault
I can't say that I don't love the light and the dark
I can't say that I don't know that I am alive
And all of what I feel I could show you tonite, you tonite
Chorus
From my hands I could give you something that I made
From my mouth I could sing you another brick that I laid
From my body I could show you a place God knows
You should know the space is holy, do you really want to go?
Lyrics by Nelly Furtado
"Say It Right" is a song 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 Europe and Asia, and it was released digitally in the United Kingdom in March 2007. It was the album's fifth single in Latin America.
The song is nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards.
Background, style and subject matter
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 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. "We 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 melody follows the major chord Fm–E?/F–D?/F–B?m/F. 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. 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.
The song is featured on the U.S. compilation album Now 24 and the UK compilation album Now 66. 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".
Critical reception
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". All Music Guide's Stephen Thomas Erlewine considered the song "a dark meditative piece that would have fit on (Furtado's) previous records".
The song is nominated in the category of Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards
"Loose" is the third album by Canadian pop singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado, released by Geffen Records on June 9, 2006 (see 2006 in music) outside North America, on June 12, 2006 in the United Kingdom and on June 20, 2006 in North America. Timbaland and his then-protégé Danja produced the bulk of the album, which incorporates influences of R&B, hip hop, rock and 1980s music. Loose reached high positions on charts across the world, and according to a November 2007 press release, it had sold more than seven million copies worldwide.
The album was released in several editions and supported by the Get Loose Tour, which is the subject of the concert DVD Loose the Concert. Eight singles were released from the album, including the U.S. number-one singles "Promiscuous" and "Say It Right", which received Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, respectively
Nelly Kim Furtado (born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and instrumentalist, who also holds Portuguese citizenship.
Furtado came to fame in 2000 with the release of her debut album Whoa, Nelly!, which featured her breakthrough Grammy Award-winning single "I'm like a Bird". After becoming a mother and releasing the less commercially successful Folklore (2003), she returned to prominence in 2006 with the release of Loose and its hit singles "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "Say It Right", and "All Good Things (Come to an End)".
Furtado is known for experimenting with different instruments, sounds, genres, languages, and vocal styles. This diversity has been influenced by her wide-ranging musical taste and her interest in different cultures
NellyFurtado.com
Updated: Jun 8, 2014
Toronto