Whoa, Nelly!

by

Nelly Furtado

Edit

For those of us who had heard much about Nelly but hadnt actually heard her music or her wonderful voice, her recent appearance on Jay Leno's show singing her beautiful first single 'Im like a bird' was introduction enough.

Nelly's music is arresting. From the opening numbers to the closing song, what strikes the listener most is that each of the songs could be a potential hit single, something last witnessed only on Alanis Morissette's 'Jagged little pill'. Nelly sounds nothing like Alanis, but what she manages is nothing short of extraordinary.

'Whoa, Nelly' seems like a careless album title, but its not. Once you listen to the album, you know that it captures the singer's spirit and her vibrancy perfectly. It also indicates that this is a fun album - no soulful dirges a la Sarah McLachlan and no pointless poetry like Jewel's.

This album is one of those that will set a trend - Nelly has bridged the gap between pop music and folk culture, Spanish dance and tribal chants. While there are traces of Lauryn Hill influenced hip-hop, the album remains fresh and original throughout, and evokes Joni Mitchell in patches.

One thing is certain : 'Whoa, Nelly' brings to the fore a beautiful and remarkably gifted new songstress, and I can't wait for more of her work. In the meantime, you sure will be listening to this one for much of this year. Yes, its that addictive.

Kabir Ahamed.

It's very hard to describe new talent Nelly Furtado without using the phrase "melting pot." Here we have an exotically attractive Canadian singer of Portuguese descent raised with a healthy appreciation of hip-hop and a penchant for trippy beats and clean production singing plain-clothes, anti-diva pop songs. Her music is energetic without being in-your-face and might be just as at home on any international music mix CD as it is on MTV2.

Whoa, Nelly! starts out strong, even without the aid of her lead single, "I'm Like a Bird." The opening tracks, especially "On the Radio (Remember the Days)" and "Baby Girl" present Furtado as feasibly street-savvy with a dash of early 90's dance soul and a healthy appreciation for her ancestral culture, which is especially evidenced in the chanting on "Baby Girl." This same attitude carries into several of the songs after "I'm Like a Bird," including "Turn off the Light" and "Trynna Finda Way," which actually includes an attempt by Furtado at rhyming. "I'm Like a Bird" works as the perfect centerpiece for the first seven tracks; however, it doesn't stand out as a single because it's surrounded by songs of equal caliber.

The album does start to dip a little with track eight, "Party." The tempo doesn't slow, but the subtleties that make the first half of the album what it is become more prevalent and perhaps even a bit much. The tripped-out staccato drum machine beats on "Party," combined with an over-repetition of the refrain "Party's just begun" do not match as well with poetic lyrics like "I'm cleaning my mind like a dirty toilet but it won't give in." The succeeding song, "Well, Well," has more of an annoying beat than anything else, reminding the listener more of video game music than anything else, which does little to save the song's somewhat cheesed lyrics, which seem a bit more forced as the remaining songs tick by.

VERDICT: At its core, Whoa, Nelly! is an accessible trip-hop album with a world beat and pop sensibility. For an artist's debut, it's rather well-produced and very clean-sounding. Of course, most drum machine work is. Furtado has made an impression with her unique musical style and influences, now she just needs to work on not overdoing herself. However, that shouldn't take much more than a couple of years' maturity. Furtado attacks her backing beats like a child who just learned a second language, very eager and perhaps at times a little overzealous. However, on the whole she should be counted as one of the best new female talents of 2001 and has put out an album that reflects that.