Where's The Other Nelly?

29 October 2003

Nelly Furtado was everywhere in 2001, you couldn't escape the music from her debut CD, 'Whoa! Nelly'. In the last year or so she has been hard at work finishing off her follow up album, but plans got waylaid when she gave birth to a little girl named 'Nevis' in September.

Nelly Furtado's first CD was influenced by all sorts of music, hip-hop, pop, soul, Brazilian and dance music, and the singer continues mixing things up on her new album, while at the same time exploring her Portuguese roots.

Nelly says, 'It was summertime and I was in The Azores, hanging around the small village my parents are from. I was looking out on this very rural setting, on a road going up a hill. There was an old man coming down the hill with a pitchfork on his shoulder. He was wearing gum boots, work pants - and a Coca-Cola T-shirt. I saw that and thought, 'That's my album!'

Her first single, "Powerless (Say What You Want)," mixes the hillbilly plucking of a banjo with the old-school beats from Malcolm McLaren's 'Buffalo Gals.' Nelly's new album 'Folklore' comes out next month.