Whatever happened to one Miss Nelly Furtado? The young Canadian, Portuguese folk songstress burst onto the pop scene with her debut album Woah Nelly! in 2000 and promised a new sound and pop vibe for those of us sick of the Britney’s and Jessica’s; those of us about to start our existential search, also known as first year undergrad.
Admittedly, I often listened to the debut album (copied onto, wait for it, a cassette) whilst driving to and from classes and my casual call centre job. I say what I mean/but I don’t mean what I say generally brought a much needed smile to my face and indeed, sometimes, just sometimes, made me think of the greater purpose of my young life. Yes, yes, I know it’s a lot to take from a song written by someone only a year older than me – in fact, it’s a lot to take from any pop song. By no means am I suggesting that this pretty little songbird changed the world in any profound way, but dagnabit, I liked her. I liked her music, I liked her lyrics, I liked the sing-alongs in my car.
She followed up the Grammy Award nominated album with another in the same vein, Folklore (2003). Okay, so this one wasn’t as good as the first, but it still had some good songs on it. None as memorable as those on the previous album, but still, you had to give it to her – she was sticking to her own sound.
Cut to pregnancy, child and a new album.
Partnering up with Timbaland, producer of the moment, with a stack of special guests on various tracks, Loose, brought to us a new, more sexualised Nelly. I can’t say that I haven’t danced to and enjoyed the songs from the latest offering. In fact, I have enjoyed them thoroughly and danced my little heart out to them; I have even run my big butt off to them. But there was something just so disappointing in seeing someone so talented and promising join the ever growing list of pop stars out to make a buck and shake their booty. Understandably, she now has a child to feed, but seriously was this really the only way? Was there no more of that Nelly, speak my mind and play my guitar to tap into? Did she just not want to fly like the bird that she was? How did her lyrics digress from Paint my face in your magazine/make it look whiter than it seems/paint me over with your dreams/shove away my ethnicity to If you see us in the club/you’ll be watching all night ???
Change is good, change can be very beneficial. It’s good to step out of your box, so to speak and in this instance, make money. But please please please, Nelly just come back! Don’t leave us here with the Taylor Swift’s of the world, strumming hopelessly in their glittering dresses at their acoustic guitars proclaiming ” bad things happen to people”.
Oh this is so sad and yet so true. I remember when promiscuous girl and maneater came out – They were on a totally different tangent. I liked them – still have them on my iTunes playlist. But I miss her. I miss her ‘laying on the grass in a white dress’ kind of songs. Songs that I can listen to on-repeat whilst on a countryside roadtrip.
Great article kudrat!
I like the direction she has gone in – and at some point you have to develop, push yourself, explore new things otherwise any job would become boring.
Sure, Loose features ‘Promiscuous Girl’ and ‘Maneater’ – both crowd pleasers, but don’t forget ‘Say It Right,’ ‘All Good Things (Come to an End),’ ‘Te Busque,’ ‘In God’s Hands’ or ‘Glow’ which are all excellent songs with interesting lyrics (well I don’t actually know what Te Busque is saying since it’s another language, but it sounds beautiful).
The CD is actually a weird mix of latin, reggae, electronic and crowd-pleasing R&B inspired sounds – sounds like Nelly is having fun experimenting with genre rather than bowing to the demands of a consumer driven industry to me.
And we don’t have to settle for the Taylor Swift’s of the world, we have great singer songtresses of our own to fill the “void” like Sia, Kate Miller-Heidke and Sarah Blasko.
Long story short – I loved Nelly before and I love her now.
She’s one of my favourites! I love her willingness to experiment and to do what she pleases – each time she comes out with a new album, I’m always curious to see what she’s come up with.
Loose was probably my least favourite (but I still liked it), and now she’s got a Spanish album about to or has come out (?). But my most favourite has to be Folklore – I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of it.
To quote Therese, I loved Nelly before and I love her now too.
Yes!!! It’s 2011 now and I still listen to some of the songs off the album Loose. But what is really disappointing to me is that the album was famous with “Promiscuous”, Maneater, and then “Say It Right” which was probably the most popular song off the album. After that in 2008 everyone was exited for her comeback album and saying “oh its gonna be great!”. But then everyone waiting for too long forgot about her. Finally in 2009 about 2 years later she released Mi Plan. By then everyone forgot about her and there were already new artists like Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Kesha, and Lady Gaga. Nelly would have had a great opportunity with Mi Plan if it was not bad. Like the song “Manos Al Aire” really bothers me. And plus that song is only famous in the Latin community since it is a Latin song. I only knew that song because I was like the only one still waiting for her comeback. Nelly had an opportunity for a great album after loose but somehow just messed it up with Mi Plan. She was 2000-2007 popular artist and will sadly probably never comeback with something good