FEATURE: Second Spin: Nelly Furtado - Folklore

FEATURE:

 

 

Second Spin

  

Nelly Furtado - Folklore

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FOLLOWING her spectacular…

 IN THIS PHOTO: Nelly Furtado in 2023/PHOTO CREDIT: Hope Glassel for LADYGUNN

debut album, Whoa, Nelly! That arrived in 2000. On 5th November, 2003 – it has just celebrated its twentieth anniversary -, Nelly Furtado released Folklore. Perhaps people more commonly associate that title with Taylor Swift now. I remember getting Furtado’s debut album, so I was excited to see what its follow-up would offer. Not as acclaimed as her debut, Folklore does have some brilliant moments. It is not as played and explored as Whoa, Nelly! or 2006’s Loose. Furtado turns forty-five next month, so I wanted to use this feature as a double celebration. I might put together a career-spanning playlist closer to the date (2nd December). Now, I will bring in reviews that shine a light on the strength of Folklore. If some were mixed and felt that Folklore was not as strong as Whoa, Nelly!, I feel that they were missing a lot. An album that should be played more, you can buy it here. If that is a bit expensive, go and stream Folklore. Reaching the top forty in many nations, it is a shame that more did not provide an effusive and positive review! Twenty years later, I think that Folklore still sounds amazing. I am going to get to a couple of reviews for Nelly Furtado’s second studio album. First, Windy City Times spoke with Furtado about an amazing release:

Folklore (DreamWorks), Nelly Furtado's eagerly anticipated second album, displays a wisdom that belies her youth, setting her apart from most of her contemporaries. Opening track, 'One-Trick Pony,' begins with a stunning string arrangement performed by the Kronos Quartet. Other guest performers, including Bela Fleck and Caetano Veloso, augment Furtado's exotic but welcoming tunes, allowing the young singer/songwriter to perpetuate her legend and develop her skills as a folklorist.

I recently spoke to Nelly while she was taking a break from filming a music video.

Gregg Shapiro: I want to begin by congratulating you on recently becoming a mother. Your daughter was born in September, and I was wondering if you think that motherhood has had or will have any effect on your songwriting?

Nelly Furtado: I think so. I think it gives me a different perspective on life, kind of shifts things around a little bit. You become a lot less selfish because you have to provide for somebody else, and you also take better care of yourself. In the future I think it's going to be there.

GS: The songs on Folklore were written in 2002—following the success of Whoa, Nelly and your tour. Like many songwriters do on their second albums, you have written songs in which you address your critics, the public, the media and other trappings of success. Do you feel as if you got that out of your system on songs such as 'One-Trick Pony' and 'Powerless (Say What You Will)'?

NF: Albums, for me, are like when an architect builds a house. You build a house and then move on to the next one. With writing, it's the same way. You just have to comment on your life and move on from your life and talk about other things.

GS: 'Powerless (Say What You Want)' sounds like it addresses the marketing techniques used to promote an image that someone else wanted for you. Did that motivate you to want to reclaim the heritage that those marketing your image were trying to conceal?

NF: It's not something that happened to me directly in the music business. The song is more about the sense of feeling of displacement or lack of connection that people get with images around us from looking at television and magazines and billboards. I think that's always been a motivating factor for me—to share my heritage and my identity.

GS: 'Fresh Off The Boat' combines a number of elements including dance, hip-hop and a Latin influence. What can you tell me about this track?

NF: That song is one of my favorites. It's a fun track. I've grown up watching my relatives live with one foot in Europe and one foot in Canada. They are different lifestyles, a different humility and modesty. But it's proud at the same time and it has a lot of integrity. I wanted it to be the basis for the song. Musically, it could be taken right out of an old church book from Portugal. I grew up listening to choir songs and stuff like that—they had a certain melodic strength. We also used this great bass player, Justin Meldal-Johnson, from the band I Am Robot, who used to play with Beck a lot, and built the track around that, too.

GS: I'm glad you mentioned Justin, because there is an amazing array of guest musicians on Folklore, including the Kronos Quartet ('One-Trick Pony'), Bela Fleck ('Forca'), Caetano Veloso (Island Of Wonder') and Jarvis Church ('Saturdays'). What was it like to work with these artists?

NF: Having a song with Caetano was amazing. He's one of my idols. I'm reading his book, Tropical Truth, right now. I think his music is kind of the best music out there in a lot of ways. I wanted to showcase some diversity on my album, maybe shed some light on artists that some of my fans may not have heard of. Working with Bela Fleck was really fun. He's a really nice. We like musicians who can take us to another level and make us feel a certain way. There are so many talented musicians out there.

GS: The use of the strings on 'One-Trick Pony' reminded me of another Canadian musician, Ashley MacIsaac.

NF: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

GS: I also read that you are an admirer of label-mate Rufus Wainwright. What do you think it is about Canada that produces such exceptional musicians?

NF: Rufus is in his own category. He's just incredible. I think that in Canada, we have perspective, because we're close to America, but we're far enough away to have our own spin on the world. We get influences from everywhere. We get the U.K. influence, the European influence, the French influence and a lot of Asian influence. We're not closed off from the rest of the world. We have our own identity. It's basically a bunch of cosmopolitan cities thrown about this vast country (laughs).

GS: Speaking of musicians from Canada, I detected a bit of Joni Mitchell in your phrasing on 'Childhood Dreams.' Would you consider her to be an influence on your work?

 NF: Yeah. I kind of rediscovered her last winter or last spring, just before going into the studio. I think she's amazing. The texture and the energy of her songwriting are great.

GS: As a resident of Toronto, have you ever had occasion to stroll down Church Street and stop into any of the clubs there and maybe pay a visit to some of your gay fans?

NF: Yeah, one of my best friends lives down there. There are lots of great theaters and dance studios down there. I always wanted to participate in Pride week. I've been there before, but I've never really been a part of the floats or anything. I've always thought that would be fun.

GS: Finally, as a folklorist, an observer of the world, what would you like to see happen in the world to make it a better place?

NF: Oh, wow! I always talk about diversity. I always feel like if everyone in the world knew a little bit more about another culture, another way of life, another lifestyle. In general, I think that ignorance is the evil of the world. If people just stick to what they know, it breeds fear. I feel like if everyone knew just a little more about other cultures and other ways of life we'd be able to live a little more harmoniously”.

SLANT provided their thoughts on Nelly Furtado’s Folklore. Her most recent album, 2017 The Ride, is exceptional. I hope we get another album from the remarkable Canadian-born artist. I have been a fan since her debut arrived, so any good news regarding new music would be amazing:

On her sophomore effort, Folklore, Nelly Furtado’s self-described “ear candy” is less animated than the bubbly trip-pop of her debut, Whoa, Nelly!, an album that was so exuberant that—even if you cringed at the sound of Furtado’s nasal twang, which is best taken in small doses—you couldn’t help but appreciate its freshness in the midst of the teen-pop boom. There’s also little of the hip-hop influence that was hinted at in her post-Whoa, Nelly! work. She could have gone whole-hog and enlisted Timbaland and Missy or, hell, even Dr. Dre, for a predictably (but undoubtedly fascinating) urban-leaning release. Instead, Folklore is steeped in earthy, more organic textures, heightening the influence of Furtado’s multi-cultural background and taking the sound of her primary collaborators, production team Track & Field, into grittier, darker territories.

Once again, Furtado and her crew artfully mix the traditional with the modern, and there’s no better example of this than the magical “Island Of Wonder,” which features both vocals by living Afro-Brazilian legend Caetano Veloso and samples of his song “Tonada De Luna Llena.” Brazilian Martial Arts chants highlight the embattled teenage angst of “Explode,” a track that exposes the dark, yet all-too-common side of Furtado’s youth, while the bouncy “Fresh Off The Boat” and the celebratory “Forca,” which can be filed under “Future Football Anthems,” feature Portuguese-language hooks that are nothing less than infectious. Mellower than her debut, the album includes a number of restrained yet evocative pop ballads: the understated “Picture Perfect,” the lovely and hit-worthy “Try,” and the stunning “Childhood Dreams,” a lilting “super-ballad” about Furtado’s unborn child that was recorded inside a church—and it shows.

Too often, though, Furtado falls into the trap of so many other seemingly overnight pop successes by writing in a hermetically sealed, pop-stardom-induced vacuum. (“For you I will not dance/And for you I will not prance,” she sings on the otherwise magnificent opening track “One-Trick Pony.”) Write about what you know, for sure, but Furtado’s audience is unlikely to relate to the rigors of sudden fame or the personal anguish of having their ethnicity painted over in magazines. Still, Furtado’s insight remains beyond her years: “They took her passion and her gaze and made a poster…We take the culture and contort/Perhaps only to distort what we are hiding,” she proclaims on the album’s exhilarating breakbeats-meet-banjos lead single, “Powerless (Say What You Want).” If Whoa, Nelly! was the introduction of a promising new talent, Folklore is the transition that builds on that promise and brims with life, even if it does include a misstep or two”.

 IN THIS PHOTO: Nelly Furtado in 2023/PHOTO CREDIT: Hope Glassel for LADYGUNN

I am going to finish off with the review from BBC. If some were thinking Nelly Furtado would stick closely to her debut for 2003’s Folklore, there were those who saw the similarities but also appreciated the evolution and new musical elements. There is more mellowness to Folklore than there was to Whoa, Nelly! Pregnant during most of the second album’s recording, it is understandable it would have as different feel and dynamic to her 2000 debut:

Folklore sees Nelly Furtado well and truly re-discovering her roots. There isn't a frothy pop song to be found on this album, which isn't to say there aren't any hooks. Here is something really rather special; Nelly exploring the capabilities of her voice and trying outa remarkablyeclectic range of styles.

Undeniably influenced by her Portugese roots and a range of folk and world music, the diversity of instruments and vocal styles on this album is breathtaking. Enlisting Brazillian legend Caetano Veloso on guest vocals and the mighty Kronos Quartet on strings has injected this album with an eclectic feel altogether different to her debut Whoa Nelly.

This mixture kept me riveted from start to finish. The single, "Powerless", is joyful and defiant; the upbeat, insistent African percussion and Bela Fleck's banjo produce a quite wonderful song.

"Forca" opens with an irresistable tabla and talking-drum riff and builds to a chorus which would be comfortably at home on an Orchestra Baobab album. Whereas "Saturdays", inspired by Nelly's experience of cleaning hotel rooms with her mother, is a simple but forceful acoustic guitar/vocal track which sounds as if it were recorded in her bathroom. Nelly gets the giggles half way through, which does nothing to dimiinish the power of her vocal delivery and only adds to the one-take feel of the song. I'm breathless with admiration!

"Picture perfect" is different again. A lazy, 6/8 rhythm and delicious bluesy electric guitar riffs build to a memorable, anthemic chorus which will have you holding your lighter in the air and swaying. 'I want to show you all I have to offer' she sings. She achieves her aim and then some!

It is Nelly's vocals which really show how much she has grown as an artist. The deeper, warmer soul feel of her voice on "Forca" and "Picture Perfect" is a welcome departure from that trademark, grassy, R'n'B sound.

No question, Nelly has taken things to another level. Whoa Nelly went platinum on the basis of some wonderfully catchy tunes and a fresh new sound. Folklore has twice the originality and has real staying power. 'Nobody can ignore me' sings Nelly. And I'm not arguing with her. Buy!”.

I wonder what the future holds for Nelly Furtado and her music. A recent Lady Gunn interview suggests that we may get something soon. Ahead of her forty-fifth birthday next month, I will check back in and write about the sensational Nelly Furtado. Folklore, her brilliant second album, recently turned twenty. It warrants more love and airplay. It is an album that is…

WELL worth checking out.