:: Whoa Nelly

Nelly Furtado

She has stepped right into the spotlight with a beautiful single “I’m Like A Bird”. It was always going to be a big hit. In listening to her other songs in this debut album, the potential superstardom is apparent. “Hey, Man!” is a smashing opening track while she moves into various moods and styles. She is young, vibrant and multi-lingual – all endearing qualities that can set her up with a wide range of producers in the future. Many influences are evident – presumably of the various styles that Nelly has grown up with. Though raised in Canada, Nelly is of Portuguese descent and a bossanova beat shows out, together with slick, classy beats. Such unpredictability throughout the album has lent itself to obvious curiosity. Already, “I’m Like A Bird” has received massive attention in Australia and is still high on the singles charts after many weeks. It contains a sublime chorus and standouts immediately. But the remaining tracks are similarly captivating. She has a free reign in fusing hip-hop and layered folk in the song “Turn Off The Light”, and shows all-round talent in other songs such as “I Will Make U Cry” and “Scared Of You”. Nelly closes the CD with a gorgeous Portuguese song “Onde Estas”, just to demonstrate her proficient ability. It is simply a very honest and natural singing style that is engaging, therefore easy to be entranced – you get a mix of alternative folk, soul and samba reverberating in your mind. It’s very skilful and divine, promising much more from a talented artist. It will be interesting to gauge whether Nelly settles on a particular style and not go for traversing styles. Whatever she does will create interest. This is a beautiful set of tracks.