NEW YORK — One day before her first VMA performance, Nelly Furtado was still like a bird, albeit a very anxious one.

The genre-hopping singer/songwriter was all nervous giggles Wednesday afternoon as she contemplated her scheduled Thursday-night (September 6) performance with Missy Elliott, which will recreate their duet on the remix of Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On" (see [article id="1442662"]"Missy Elliott, Nelly Furtado Get Freaky"[/article]).

"I'm very nervous because I have to do this stunt where there's a nanosecond for error, and if we screw it up, the whole song is, like, lost," she said at Lincoln Center after rehearsals. "So I'm a little nervous — 80 million people live, y'know, ain't no thang."

Furtado's anxiety was enhanced by her pessimism.

"I can say it was messed up a bit in rehearsal, and it's 50/50 that it's gonna go OK," she said, giggling again. "So I gotta do a little prayer before I go onstage."

Potential disaster aside, Furtado and Elliott will see support from at least one of their fellow artists.

Alicia Keys picked their performance as the highlight of this year's VMAs. "I look forward to seeing Missy and Nelly Furtado do their little remix thing. That's going to be hot," she said.

Furtado said she'll release "Sh-- on the Radio (Remember the Days)" — the third single from her debut album, Whoa, Nelly! — in November.

Catch all the sizzlin', star-packed VMA action direct from Miami on August 28. MTV News' preshow kicks things off at 6:30 p.m. ET/PT, followed by big show at 8 p.m.

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