{"id":66642,"date":"2025-10-09T00:15:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T00:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/66642\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T00:15:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T00:15:06","slug":"missy-elliott-on-making-get-ur-freak-on-the-centurys-best-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/66642\/","title":{"rendered":"Missy Elliott on Making ‘Get Ur Freak On’ \u2014 the Century’s Best Song"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMissy Elliott<\/a> is \u201csuper-excited and thankful\u201d that Rolling Stone just named 2001\u2019s \u201cGet Ur Freak On<\/a>\u201d the greatest song of the 21st century so far<\/a> \u2014 and as the legendary artist reveals on our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, she\u2019s also looking toward the future. For the first time since the 2019 EP Iconology, Elliott is working on new music, and is hoping to get back on the road again soon as well. \u201cI have something in the works,\u201d she says of her recent time in the studio. \u201cIt\u2019s just different. It\u2019s me being experimental again\u2026 I got some stuff coming. Some fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\n\tShe\u2019s also eager to follow up the success of her belated first-ever headlining tour, 2024\u2019s Out of This World \u2014 The Missy Elliott Experience, a 30-date arena run. \u201cHopefully the spaceship will go back out again,\u201d she says. \u201cI remember when I first said it, everybody thought that I was playing and I was like, \u2018No, I\u2019m really gonna go out.\u2019\u2026 And I really went out. So hopefully that happens again soon.\u201d To hear our entire interview with Elliott, which goes deep on the making of \u201cGet Ur Freak On,\u201d go here<\/a> for the podcast provider of your choice, listen on Apple Podcasts<\/a> or Spotify<\/a>, or just press play above. Some highlights follow.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cGet Ur Freak On\u201d nearly didn\u2019t happen \u2014 Timbaland<\/a> was exhausted and ready to leave the studio when Elliott insisted her album needed one more song. \u201cHe just started hitting anything,\u201d she says. \u201cHe was bamming on the keyboard \u2019cause he was ready to go. And he hit something and I was like, \u2018That\u2019s it right there.\u2019 And he was like, \u2018What? What you talking about?\u2019 I just went in the booth and did the record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elliott, who grew up in Virginia, got the idea for the chant-like hook from the go-go scene in Washington, D.C. \u201cI feel like I was at one of those go-go jams,\u201d Elliott says, \u201cand they\u2019re always chanting something, and I was like, \u2018Oh man, I need to do a song like this.\u2019 \u2026\u00a0 If you keep it simple, then people are gonna be able to [sing along].\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was picturing choreography as she wrote the song. \u201cI\u2019ve spent so much time around dancers,\u201d she explains. \u201cFrom my first time on tour, I had 22 dancers\u2026. When I\u2019m doing that record, I\u2019m thinking of my dancers. I could just see them moving to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tShe heard something almost gothic in Timbaland\u2019s beat, which is reflected in the song\u2019s video. \u201cWhen I\u2019m creating records\u2026 I\u2019m already visually seeing what that video could be,\u201d Elliott says. \u201cIf I don\u2019t see it visually, then the record never comes out. It was like listening to a hip-hop thriller \u2014 like, not Michael Jackson Thriller, \u2019cause that\u2019s just unbeatable, but just a hip-hop scary movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tDownload and subscribe to Rolling Stone\u2018s weekly podcast, Rolling Stone Music Now, hosted by Brian Hiatt, on Apple Podcasts<\/a> or Spotify<\/a> (or wherever<\/a> you get your podcasts). Check out six years\u2019 worth of episodes in the archive, including in-depth interviews with Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, Questlove, Halsey, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, Brandi Carlile, John Fogerty, Phoebe Bridgers, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, the National, Ice Cube, Taylor Hawkins, Willow, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Dua Lipa, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Charlie Puth, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle, Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob Seger, the Zombies, and Gary Clark Jr. And look for dozens of episodes featuring genre-spanning discussions, debates, and explainers with Rolling Stone\u2019s critics and reporters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Missy Elliott is \u201csuper-excited and thankful\u201d that Rolling Stone just named 2001\u2019s \u201cGet Ur Freak On\u201d the greatest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,53770,53771,157,111,139,69,53772],"class_list":{"0":"post-66642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-get-ur-freak-on","10":"tag-missy-elliott","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-timbaland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}