Maneater (4:18)

“Maneater” is a song written by Nelly Furtado, Timothy “Timbaland” Mosley, Jim Beanz and Nate “Danja” Hills for Furtado’s third album, Loose. It was co-produced by Timbaland and Danja and includes influences of 1980s music by artists such as Eurythmics and Hall & Oates. Furtado stated that Hall & Oates’ song of the same name was an influence during the writing and recording of the song.

Released as the album’s first single in Europe in May 2006, “Maneater” became one of Nelly Furtado’s most popular singles, topping the singles charts in Poland and the UK, and reaching the top ten across much of Continental Europe. It served as the album’s second single in Australia, where it reached the top five, and in North America, where it became a club hit but was less commercially successful than the lead single, “Promiscuous”. It received favorable reviews from many music critics.

“Maneater” was one of the first songs Furtado and Timbaland worked on in the Hit Factory Criteria recording studios in Miami, Florida. She has described the song as an analogy of how she incorporated the “creative energy” of Timbaland and his production crew into Loose. When making the album, Furtado and Timbaland were influenced by the work of musicians from the 1980s such as Talking Heads, Blondie, Madonna, The Police and Eurythmics. “Eurythmics had this spooky, keyboard-driven pop sound”, Furtado said. Final production of the track was delayed after a speaker caught fire in the studio control room.