Loose Lips
Nelly Furtado spills the beans on the ABCs of her life — her hot new Album, all the Buzz she’s generating with her sexy new reinvention and her adorable Child
There’s no doubt Nelly Furtado is back on top. Her album Loose debuted at No. 1 in the summer and she had two simultaneous hit singles, “Promiscuous” in North America and “Maneater” overseas. Loose showcases her musical diversity, as well as her personal diversity — sexy, confident, deep and vulnerable. And unlike her last album, 2003’s more conservative Folklore, Nelly’s new album is generating a lot of hype! Looks like motherhood suits this 27-year-old artist just fine!
Journalist Karen Bliss caught up with the Canadian-born b-girl in LA
Zeeks: Loose is pretty fun and youthful. What inspired this album?
N: “It was a really fun album. I was in a youthful state of mind. I had my two-year-old with me, so I had a good life last year. I was basically waking up and playing with my daughter all day, taking her to the park or to the beach or whatnot. I’m taking my toddler to SeaWorld by day and recording club tracks with Timbaland by night. It was pretty good. And I was in that youthful state of mind, where I was like, ‘Why not?’ That’s why it’s called Loose — let go of all your preconceived notions of what ‘good musical music’ is.”
Zeeks: A lot of people wouldn’t recognize you on some of your new songs. Your vocals are quite different. Even on “Promiscuous” your vocals are rather conversational.
Nelly: “I think sometimes as an artist you are so sensitive you think (about) little subtle differences people are gonna hear (in songs), but they’re don’t. In the pop world, Avril is Avril; Peaches is Peaches, you know, so you kind of gotta push it a little. In the studio, even with “Promiscuous,” initially I didn’t know if I could do it ’cause (the producer) Timbaland wrote that chorus. He’s like, ‘Hey, check that out,’ and I’m like, ‘That’s cool, but I don’t know if I’m ready to do full-out club.’”
Zeeks: Did you ever think you’d write a song called “Maneater”?
Nelly: “No! The funny thing about “Maneater” is the day we did that (song), the volume was so loud in the (the studio) that the speaker not only started to smoke, but a flame shot out. I’m serious. The speaker caught fire because the song was so long. It was like an omen. We were scared of the track. We put it away for two weeks because we didn’t know what to do with it because it’s so vicious!”
Zeeks: Sounds like the song was HOOOOTTT!
Nelly: “Yeah, isn’t that funny? It’s like some real chemistry. I’d just seen (the Canadian groups) Controller.Controller and Death From Above (1979) three months before (recording “Maneater”) in Victoria, British Columbia with my brother and I was like, ‘Wow, I love the whole indie, new rock sound.’ I like Bloc Party, Death From Above, Arcade Fire, the whole rhythmic rock thing. I’m kind of bananas over it because I think rock finally caught up with hip hop where it’s kind of rhythmic again, so I guess “Maneater” has something going on there.”
