Anybody heard/have an opinion on the new album by Nelly Furtado ?

I was skulking around the local CD shop today and they played a track from this album ("Whoa, Nelly!") over the shop system. The track I heard was sort of HipHop/Rap, perhaps a touch of latin with a voice that sounded like a sweeter Missy Elliot. Anyway, I was really impressed and had to ask behind the counter who it was. Apparently its from a new album thats not out until Monday (12th March).

Had a quick look at the Nelly Furtado web-site and out of curiosity went to the Nelly Furtado forum. The forum format is a bit like this one - but amazingly busy. Page after page of topics that have todays date as last post date. And each topic with many replies. I would estimate something like 300 to 400 posts a day. All hugely enthusiastic about this woman. I don't think it was powered by Infopoop though - it would probably crumble within minutes if it was.

Allan

[This message was edited by Allan Probin on SATURDAY 10 March 2001 at 22:44.]

It's a great album, and seriously impressive for a debut performance. It's got a great blend of different styles, yet it makes sense as a cohesive expression. The songs are fun, and the production is excellent (especially for a pop album). In fact, if all pop were this enjoyable, I might actually start listening to pop radio.

Oh yeah: she just won a bunch of awards (Best New Artist, Best Songwriter, Best Production, and something else) at the recent Juno awards. The Junos are Canada's equivalent to the Grammys. BTW, the Barenaked ladies one three awards at the same ceremony (Best Album, Best Pop Album, and possibly Best Group). Finally, they inducted Bruce Cockburn into the Hall of Fame.

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Thanks Mike,

Thats re-assuring 'cos when I was out this lunch-time I bought a copy. I was a bit worried because she seems to be packaged and aimed at a young audience, however my instinct was telling me that despite this, there was some substance there.

Allan

Nellie performed in Seattle on the 11th so we may hear from others who saw her live performance. She will be at the Vogue in Vancouver April 18th. Nellie is highly likely to be Canada's next major female vocalist. Let's hope that she doesn't get overly packaged by the marketing folks.

Her first album is clearly aimed at the younger market however given the right material she would appeal to many others. She has a wonderfully rich voice. My son, in his 20s, loves the music, I love her voice.

Her lyrics are really very good which gives hope that she will be more than a one album wonder. I don't know what category label to put on her album as I don't know what separates hip hop from all the other variants. Anyone care to enlarge my musical vocabulary by providing definitions, with examples, which spell out the differences?

Nellie, from Victoria BC, is from a family of Portugese immigrants. This past Saturday I heard her Aunt being interviewed on national radio. Nellie is certainly inspiring a lot of very excited support from her extended family.

Sorry to crash the party, but I consulted with a friend of mine (who is a respected musical authority in this country) and we both agree that Furtado, although very attractive, is a lightweight singer who is producing for (being marketed to) the 14 to 17 year-old girl audience just graduating from Ricky Martin and Back Street Boys. There's the old-farters too as a secondary target: pretty obvious if you live here and, while flipping channels, spot her video CONSTANTLY on "Much More Music," a TV station specialising in AOR.

Please support genuine musicians by ignoring the sales hype and corporate bullshit.

Fight the power.

Vuk.

I've heard the tune "I'm like a bird", which gets incessant airplay on the top-40 radio station that my children insist on listening to. The first few lines of this song sound to me like somebody doing a bad imitation of late-era Billie Holiday. It doesn't inspire to explore the rest of the album. Then there's the lame pun used for the album title. Whoa, Nelly? Is she horse or a singer?

Cheers,

John Schmidt
"90% of everything is crud" - Theodore Sturgeon

What the marketing types think is irrelavent! The album is impressive and worth a listen by anyone with an open mind who enjoys good music.

"I'm like a bird" is my least favourite track on the album. The rest are much more intriguing. She doesn't have an extremely strong voice compared to "real" singers, but her vocalizations and rythmic intuition are fabulous!

As far as lyrical content goes, I couldn't care less. It's the groove that counts, and "Whoa Nelly" doesn't disappoint.

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Mike.

Glad to see you're still doing your best to hold on to top spot for the Worst Taste in Music Snappy.

BTW--now that you've got the turntable, I'll be glad to pick up a crate of those Alan Parsons and Wings records they're always trying to give away at Dr. Disc: that way you can prepare ahead of time for fusion with the Mana version of bad musical taste once you get the racks.

Vuk.

Actually, I was going for the Widest Taste in Music award.

At least I've heard the album, while you're basing your opinions on hearsay. Tsk! I expected more from you, Vuk. To remedy this, I'll bring it out with me when I visit your place next. Who knows? ... You might just fall in love.

Regarding those cases of oldies-but-goodies, I'm always up for a bit of Wings or Alan Parsons Project. I've also been re-collecting some of my favourite Genesis albums! Catch you later!

-=> Mike Hanson <=-