Nelly Furtado: Timbaland And Chris Martin "Love Each Other's Music"

It sounds like a surreal dream or the beginnings of a corny joke: Portuguese-Canadian singer Nelly Furtado, hip-hop producer Timbaland and Coldplay main man Chris Martin walk into a studio in the middle of the night. They jam together for hours, Martin provides some comic relief with a James Brown impression, and by the time dawn breaks they've finished an amazing new song.

But sometimes the strangest of bedfellows can make for great musical collaborations, and fans of both urban beats and English wisp rock can hear the results of the unlikely trio's session later this month when Furtado releases her new studio album, Loose.

Now, the Furtado/Timbaland union is old news — the two have worked on remix projects in the past, and Furtado watchers already know that she tapped Timbaland to produce and play on the majority of Loose. But how does a guy like Martin come into the mix?

"Chris, I've known for four or five years. We met at this festival T In The Park in Scotland," explains Furtado. "I was in Miami at the MTV Awards in August and I saw him and he was like [affects terrible English accent], 'Oh, I love Timbaland, can I come by the studio tomorrow?' And I'm like, 'Of course, we'd love to have you.'"

While it's a little surprising that Timbaland was even on Martin's radar, it turns out that the producer was equally enamoured of the latest Coldplay album. Capitalizing on her opportunity to play matchmaker, Furtado set up the session, but admits that she had to help the two musical giants get over a bout of shyness.

"All Tim would talk about all month [while we were recording the album] was Coldplay, and he would play their songs and sing all the melodies," she recalls. "It was hilarious because they were both so humbled by each other's presence.

"I had to be like, 'Guys, sit down, let's play music.' I had to shove a guitar in Chris' hand. And slowly all the inhibitions melted away and they were like two kids in a candy store."

The resulting song, "All Good Things," is Loose's closing track and one of the album's best songs. Despite the trio's diverse musical styles, they come together perfectly. Furtado and Martin sing sweetly, he plays a guitar part that isn't out of his familiar range, and Timbaland keeps things interesting by backing it up with his trademark beats.

"It was pretty amazing, it was one of those magical moments," says Furtado. "And to me, it shows that music has no boundaries.

"Those were two people who just loved each other's music. So why can't two people who love each other's music make music together?"