Nelly Furtado on the Music That Terrified and Changed Her
Plus, her favorite bird: “Thank you for asking.”
Before her debut album, 2000’s Whoa, Nelly!, grabbed the world by its talons, Nelly Furtado spent months petitioning radio stations to play her songs, sweetening the deal with a free pizza pie. Most of the DJs she tried to persuade were confounded not only by the pizza but by Furtado’s music: a mix of trip-hop, pop, bossa nova, and fado. But those who put her soon-to-be breakout singles on the air — “I’m Like a Bird,” “Turn Out the Lights” — quickly found a receptive audience. By the time Furtado teamed up with Timbaland for 2006’s glossy, diamond-selling Loose, she was literally everywhere; you couldn’t leave the house that summer without hearing “Maneater” or “Promiscuous.”
“It’s like we saw the beautiful freak in one another,” she says of her work with the producer. “It was a rare thing, to be with somebody who really vibes with you on that frequency.”
But Furtado soon became uncomfortable with the level of fame she had achieved, and by 2017, she had gone on hiatus. It was only when she began scrolling through TikTok — where fans were remixing her hits — and hearing her old songs played at the grocery store again that she felt some peace with her renown. Last year, she performed “I’m Like a Bird” to over 35,000 fans at Drake’s OVO Fest, where the rapper said she was one of his “favorite artists of all time.”
Now, Furtado is taking full advantage of her second coming, with a new album, 7 — her first full-length in, yes, seven years — dropping in September. Whittled down from around 500 songs, the record is a mix of up-tempo dance tracks and salsa-inspired rhythms.
“I don’t second-guess myself now,” she says while revisiting some of the highlights from her more than two-decade-long career. “Everything is shooting from the hip and tripping out in the unconscious and subconscious places when you make music.”
Song that shifted her artistic trajectory
In 2001, I was asked by Missy Elliott to do an official remix for her song “Get Ur Freak On.” It’s not available on DSPs because the remix was just for radio. I was 22 years old, and I was being asked by Missy to do this because she saw the video for “Like a Bird.” And so it was just me, her, and an engineer in a studio. I was thinking that I had to hit this out of the park. I ended up kind of doing my signature sing-rap. I had begun cultivating that in the late ’90s, just experimenting with this vocal style. And then after, I got invited by so many different rappers to do remixes. That really changed my career trajectory.
Biggest change in the music industry
Starting out, I had a little trip-hop band in Toronto. I moved there specifically for the music scene. I was that kid who went to the studio late at night, spending every dime I had on a session. At the time, the Toronto scene was like the best-kept secret. Everyone was making fabulous music here. This burgeoning electronic and urban scene was happening, and it very much felt like catching a seed before it hatched. But now everybody knows about Toronto, and that’s why I still make music here because you really can just find the best musician down the block playing at a bar.
I love the music business right now because I think it really caters to my personality. I’m very social and love making music with a community, jamming ideas at a rapid pace because I have inattentive ADHD, so anything exciting is perfect for me. And the way things work with social media now — you can have artist-to-artist relationships quite easily and therefore, you get more work done more quickly. It just really allows you to be in the moment, to be spontaneous and go with it.
Favorite unofficial TikTok remix
I’ve loved finding so many remixes of my songs on socials. At the Junos recently, which is like the Canadian version of the Grammys, I opened the show with the TikTok remix of “Say It Right.” I’d been exchanging messages with the DJ behind it, and he was really lovely and excited about it. I also love all Altégo’s remixes. They’ve remixed a lot of my records, and I want to explore remixing more.
Moment she knew Whoa, Nelly! was a hit
There used to be this show on the BBC called Top of the Pops. Really iconic show. And I remember being in London doing it. I think that’s when I was like, Okay, now this is a big deal. Also, getting asked to do Saturday Night Live when I had hardly done any TV. I was so nervous, but also in awe that they even asked me.
Best lesson from touring with U2
The gratitude. I was 21 or 22 playing Slane Castle in Dublin. Literally, I felt like that moment was what I manifested as a 4-year-old the very first time I performed at my church hall for 300 people. I had a vision of performing in front of thousands of people for the very first time on that stage. And when I was at Slane Castle, that was the vision. That was what I’d been dreaming of. And touring with Bono was special because he’d write handwritten notes to the artists and drop them in our dressing rooms with a flower. That’s so meaningful when you’re a young artist. I was really grateful for that. Actually, I’ve kept those notes somewhere. I’ll have to find them.
Song that should have flown as high as “I’m Like a Bird”
Well, I’m cool with songs that happen to take off years later. There’s a DJ from the U.K. called Rain Radio. They remixed a song called “Big Hoops” from my 2013 album Spirit Indestructible and made it into this amazing U.K. dance track. It was like a top-40 hit in the U.K. So that’s a best-case scenario, when you release a song that had an audience originally but wasn’t a hit by any measure, but then other people come and make a hit out of it. I love remix culture for that reason. Take it and breathe new life into it. It’s almost like one of your children got rescued from an orphanage.
Moment that showcases Timbaland’s genius
I guess the most genius thing I’ve seen in him is that the music is literally inside of his body. If it made him want to move his body a certain way, he would add another percussive element. You see that music is in his bones. I think that’s why we relate. It’s like the music’s in our ribs. It’s part of us.
Song that caused the most disagreements
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to release “Promiscuous” because it was so different from anything I’d released. It was really a departure. But Timbaland had vocal producer Jim BEANZ, who I still work with to this day. Tim knew I trusted Jim a lot. And so he had him talk to me in a little room in the studio and tell me all the reasons why I should release “Promiscuous,” and how he thought it was authentic to me and where I was at. I expressed my fears about it and he kind of pushed me over the line. I think sometimes we fear whatever reveals the most about us.
Strangest reaction to “Promiscuous”
There were college theses written about my sexuality and the “safe exoticism” of my image. I guess promiscuous is just a hot, hot word. But for the girls, it was nothing new. I mean, I grew up on Salt-N-Pepa, TLC. “Promiscuous” just had my influences in there, and in that song and the whole album, I was critiquing gender. But what I found surprising was that people felt like it was not authentic. It’s interesting. Now, years later, I see people dancing in the club to it and sharing their stories of it. I’m proud of that, and the liberation of sorts that people get to express when they’re dancing to it.
Deepest song
Oh, I would say the song about my father on Folklore. It’s called “Picture Perfect.” It’s about his immigration to Canada in the late ’60s and me looking at photo albums of him from the ’70s — how cool he looked and the idea of somebody chasing a new dream in another country and all the things that come with that. It’s a super-personal song. It goes pretty deep.
Album she’s proudest of
I’d definitely say my Spanish album Mi Plan, because it’s all in Spanish and I co-wrote all the songs. I’d learned Spanish in high school, and obviously coming from Portuguese made it easier, but I did full press tours and interviews in Spanish, so I’m proud of that.
Most surprising hit
“Say It Right,” because it was so weird. Days before it was released, I remember putting it on in my car on Queen Street in Toronto, somewhere outside the studio, and being put in a trance. I really have no idea what that song is about. It’s like, you get it when you hear it, but to describe it in words is so difficult, you know? But I really think it’s almost an epic. It’s on some hero’s-journey vibe. There’s some type of pathos in the song that I can’t quite articulate.
Song she’d most like to be remembered for
Only one song?! Well, I want to say “I’m Like a Bird.” It’s just happy and positive; it’s joyful. I’d be happy to just have that one.
Favorite bird
Thank you for asking. It’s really strange and kooky, but I do really love birds. I feel like I have a special connection to eagles. The eagle is definitely, without question, my favorite bird. Strong and rare.
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