Nelly Furtado
Loose

THE REVIEW

"Loose" or how to kiss up to the Americans (excuse me, United States citizens) to sell more and reach the top of the charts.

Nelly Furtado was the one who composed the splendid "Try", the one who saw a farmer in Portugal descending a hill wearing a Coca-Cola t-shirt and used such a contrast as inspiration for her writing of "Folklore," the one who struggled to sell half a million copies and only appeared in the charts for a week or two (and in low positions), the one who in videos didn’t dance suggestively or dress scantily but preferred to dress as a 19th-century farmer, the one who composed both in English and Portuguese (Furtado is a Canadian daughter of Portuguese immigrants).

So, at the news that in 2006 her third album would be released, anticipation was high. Instead, Furtado chose Timbaland as producer (the one who produces the musical rubbish of Justin Timberlake, for clarification, and one of the trendy producers in the States at that moment) to launch "Promiscuous Girl" in the US market, which would turn out to be a huge success, staying number 1 for seven weeks. The song isn’t terrible, but it’s nothing original; it reeks of déjà vu, a recycling of things that have dominated across the ocean for years.

Kissing up, in short, just to please. Other similar things stand out, but we’ll leave out further reflection as the disappointment is so great.
In the second part of the album, the old Nelly re-emerges, using modern sounds to rejuvenate her old musical attitude; we refer to gems like "Say it Right", "In God's Hands" (composed with Chris Martin, the singer of Coldplay), and "All Good Things Come to an End".

In them, the typical intimacy of Furtado returns, and this time it benefits from Timbaland’s sound, which envelops it with a certain modernity to her typically European sound.

The stars are only two though, for two reasons:

1) The good things are fewer than the not-so-good ones;

2) The disappointment for "Promiscuous Girl" (in which the video features a stunning Nelly Furtado performing sensual dance moves to make American teenagers drool and conform to the prevailing production in the States) and similar is so great that it overshadows even the good things in the work.

We miss the times when Nelly sang "Try", but we acknowledge the new attitude.

P.S.: Fortunately, acoustic versions of the "Loose" tracks circulate online, partially relieving the disappointment, as at least one can still appreciate the talented interpreter and musician.