Greg Dona
07/03/06, 03:18 PM
Nelly Furtado - Loose
Release Date: June 20, 2006
Record Label: Geffen Records
Overall Score: 7.7/10
In this day and age persons worldwide pronounce a need for change on every street corner while others shun and stall it with each of their strained actions. Changes take shape daily, yet very few go noticed. In the musical world emo fans abound fell paralytic, shocked at the seemingly dumbfounding shift scene heavyweights Brandtson threw at them on their 2006 release Hello, Control. Just imagine the shock Nelly Furtado’s Loose should smack them with.
From the dawn of the disc anyone even sparsely versed in the work of early Furtado detects abundant changes in her overall sound. Fans grew nursed on the Nelly classics “I’m Like a Bird” and “Turn off the Light;” both of these tracks thrives on Nelly’s free-flowing, beautiful voice which magically wraps warmly about tame beats. That, however, is largely a thing of the past, as album opener “Afraid” breaks listeners in with a whispering vocal piece in which she fragmentally seduces more often than sings. Here too emerges Timbaland, producer and contributor, who bobs and weaves his rhymes through the vast majority of the record’s songs.
The singles too take a complete 180º spin from those of Nelly past. “Maneater,” the second track and first single of the album when played through from start to finish, runs more like a straight up pop song than it does a genre-bending work as did those of Whoa, Nelly! and Folklore. She vastly overshadows Timbaland as he reduces his role to that of an accessory. Such is not the case on what is thus far the most pimped track of Loose within the United States: “Promiscuous.” Here he and Nelly flow with one another with sexual banter that proves both conversational musically and lyrically. Furtado lends a hip-hop spin to her disc with rhythm and beat thriving, taking over the track and leaving vocal creativity and prominence relative spectators. Finally, “No Hay Igual” produces the closest thing we’ve seen to a Nelly Furtado reggaeton track as the artist rambles in Spanish (seemingly the defining characteristic of a reggaeton song in the eyes of the American public) and bouncing rhythmic pounds flashing a splash of Latin flair about the song. Not only do none of the singles of Loose match stylistically with those of early Nelly Furtado singles, but the three clash to bring outstanding diversity within the CD.
“Glow,” perhaps the final track of notoriety produced, boasts yet another pop-based sound which here thrives from a buzzing, unclear baseline. To this Furtado credits influential artists Death From Above 1979, showing not only do wide ranges of sounds leave the young artist's mouth but they infiltrate her ears as well. When she returns to a more Whoa, Nelly! oriented style on such pieces as “In God’s Hands” and “All Good Things” interest wanes quickly, for such tracks here come off as halfhearted, almost insincere. Nelly dished out a curveball in focusing her energies in more upbeat arenas and somehow relocating her prowess in said areas.
The main shock though comes not in the reversal of her sound, but rather in that of her lyrics. Furtado has gone from crooning “I’m like a bird I wanna fly away” to demanding “move your body around like a nympho” to menial underlings and hinting “I can see you with nothing on feeling on me before you bring that on” in the most sexual of manners to the impressionable Timbaland.
It’s not as if Nelly Furtado was ever an easily pigeonholed artist. She always existed as a singer/songwriter/pop-star hybrid, just to name a few. Unfortunately, Folklore developed as a cog in her blossoming career. But it is on Loose that she entirely frees herself from the confining shackles of generalizations. And it is here that she begins to thrive yet again.
Release Date: June 20, 2006
Record Label: Geffen Records
Overall Score: 7.7/10
In this day and age persons worldwide pronounce a need for change on every street corner while others shun and stall it with each of their strained actions. Changes take shape daily, yet very few go noticed. In the musical world emo fans abound fell paralytic, shocked at the seemingly dumbfounding shift scene heavyweights Brandtson threw at them on their 2006 release Hello, Control. Just imagine the shock Nelly Furtado’s Loose should smack them with.
From the dawn of the disc anyone even sparsely versed in the work of early Furtado detects abundant changes in her overall sound. Fans grew nursed on the Nelly classics “I’m Like a Bird” and “Turn off the Light;” both of these tracks thrives on Nelly’s free-flowing, beautiful voice which magically wraps warmly about tame beats. That, however, is largely a thing of the past, as album opener “Afraid” breaks listeners in with a whispering vocal piece in which she fragmentally seduces more often than sings. Here too emerges Timbaland, producer and contributor, who bobs and weaves his rhymes through the vast majority of the record’s songs.
The singles too take a complete 180º spin from those of Nelly past. “Maneater,” the second track and first single of the album when played through from start to finish, runs more like a straight up pop song than it does a genre-bending work as did those of Whoa, Nelly! and Folklore. She vastly overshadows Timbaland as he reduces his role to that of an accessory. Such is not the case on what is thus far the most pimped track of Loose within the United States: “Promiscuous.” Here he and Nelly flow with one another with sexual banter that proves both conversational musically and lyrically. Furtado lends a hip-hop spin to her disc with rhythm and beat thriving, taking over the track and leaving vocal creativity and prominence relative spectators. Finally, “No Hay Igual” produces the closest thing we’ve seen to a Nelly Furtado reggaeton track as the artist rambles in Spanish (seemingly the defining characteristic of a reggaeton song in the eyes of the American public) and bouncing rhythmic pounds flashing a splash of Latin flair about the song. Not only do none of the singles of Loose match stylistically with those of early Nelly Furtado singles, but the three clash to bring outstanding diversity within the CD.
“Glow,” perhaps the final track of notoriety produced, boasts yet another pop-based sound which here thrives from a buzzing, unclear baseline. To this Furtado credits influential artists Death From Above 1979, showing not only do wide ranges of sounds leave the young artist's mouth but they infiltrate her ears as well. When she returns to a more Whoa, Nelly! oriented style on such pieces as “In God’s Hands” and “All Good Things” interest wanes quickly, for such tracks here come off as halfhearted, almost insincere. Nelly dished out a curveball in focusing her energies in more upbeat arenas and somehow relocating her prowess in said areas.
The main shock though comes not in the reversal of her sound, but rather in that of her lyrics. Furtado has gone from crooning “I’m like a bird I wanna fly away” to demanding “move your body around like a nympho” to menial underlings and hinting “I can see you with nothing on feeling on me before you bring that on” in the most sexual of manners to the impressionable Timbaland.
It’s not as if Nelly Furtado was ever an easily pigeonholed artist. She always existed as a singer/songwriter/pop-star hybrid, just to name a few. Unfortunately, Folklore developed as a cog in her blossoming career. But it is on Loose that she entirely frees herself from the confining shackles of generalizations. And it is here that she begins to thrive yet again.