Not that anyone should be surprised by more crazy things from Ke$ha, but the glitter-donned pop queen was featured on rapper Pitbull’s latest single “Timber.” The two toured together this past summer, during which time they must have decided to collaborate on a new hit. Pitbull and Ke$ha have previously teamed together on such tracks as “Girls” back in 2009 and as recently as the official remix to the latter’s “Crazy Kids.”
While there are signature elements from both artists throughout their latest track, there is also a country twist – or twang, if you will. Neither Ke$ha nor “Mr. 305” are exactly known for dabbling in the world of pickup trucks and southern drawls in their own music so the opening sequence came as a bit of a pleasant surprise.
One has to wonder if the country influence came from the Ke$ha side of the duo however, considering the fact she’s a native of one of the South’s biggest music factories in Nashville, Tenn. Her mother also wrote country songs for the likes of Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton back in the day.
After the harmonica-based intro, one quickly learns that the title of the track comes from Ke$ha’s clever chorus line “It’s going down/I’m yelling timber,” obviously playing on the popular phrase used when chopping down a tree.
It’s clear after the opening chorus that this song is not exactly supposed to be a thought-provoking ballad. “Timber” is about having a phenomenal night that you may or may not remember, according to Ke$ha’s part of the lyrics. It is supposed to be a fun, upbeat party song and it comes across as a decent option to listen to in that genre.
Pitbull starts off his first verse of the song by doing his typical Pitbull thing. He raps about having a good time while throwing a rather direct reference to Miley Cyrus. The lyric starts with Pitbull claiming, “This biggity boy’s a diggity dog/I have ‘em like Miley Cyrus, clothes off/Twerking in their bras and thongs.” This is easily the song’s most eye-popping lyric but it comes off as a little forced. If Pitbull had stopped with just the one-liner and dropped the twerking reference, it would have been a more effective lyric.
Ke$ha doesn’t get to go off on any verses outside of the chorus in the rapper’s first track since Global Warming dropped. This is not surprising since it is Pitbull’s track and Ke$ha is merely featured but letting her go off on her own verse might have given the song a little more pop.
In Pitbull’s biggest verse, he attempts to paint a picture of an epic night. He starts by explaining how he’s “club jumping like Lebron [James],” and by the end of the night is taking shots and swinging his dance partner around and around. All the Pitbull verses do not bring anything new to the table as far as the type of songs he usually comes out with. That is not necessarily a bad thing though, as both artists understand how to write a good party ballad if you look back at their careers. Overall, the song achieves the goals it set out to do in giving fans something new to dance to and have a good time with. It certainly could have been done better, but it is a track that will help Pitbull and Ke$ha fans cope until either releases a new album.
