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Nelly Furtado: Back and ready to take on the world
After taking a break from the English music scene, the hippie returns with renewed vigour with her fifth album, The Spirit Indestructible
After taking a break from the English music scene, the hippie returns with renewed vigour with her fifth album, The Spirit Indestructible
Guess which hippie Canadian musician surprised reporters when she name-dropped 'Oppa Gangnam Style' (a Korean viral hit by PSY) and 'a guy doing the horse move' that's raging all over the airwaves right now?
In Singapore for an exclusive music showcase and to promote her upcoming fifth English music album, The Spirit Indestructible, Nelly Furtado may have been out of sight for the past six years, but the chirpy singer's clearly not out of touch with what's popular on the airwaves.
A music artiste who bravely dabbles in all sorts of genres ranging from pop to folk, and even R&B and aboriginal tunes, Nelly takes pride in her eclectic sound and tries to keep herself abreast with all music styles. That probably explains why she decided to call The Spirit Indestructible, 'world music in one album' when asked to describe her newest project.
Back with renewed vigour, at the press conference in Hard Rock Hotel yesterday, the self-dubbed 'international artiste' also shared her desires to collaborate with Big Bang's TOP on her new song 'Big Hoops and admitted that 'the average K-Pop artiste is not so easy to phone up on the phone.'
Though she didn't reveal further details on it, Nelly promised that something is 'in the works'. 'We'll see what happens. But I do foresee a collaboration of some kind with K-Pop or J-Pop. I definitely do love what they're doing.'
In a separate interview, the 33-year-old told xinmsn she spent three years toiling on this album and produced a total of 40 tracks, which will be whittled down to 12 on the studio edition and 18 on the deluxe album for The Spirit Indestructible.
Nelly shares how her daughter helps decide what goes in and out of the album. In case you're wondering how Nelly cherry-picked what went in and out of her album, the songwriter revealed that she turned to her young daughter for help. 'Children are very honest when they listen to music. So you know right away if they like it or not. In the car, I'd put on my music and then I see which one my daughter likes... and I put those on the album! (laughs)
'She's the 'secret swing ally' behind my album!' the mother-of-one cheekily quipped.
Rejuvenated from her six-year-long hiatus from the music scene which was brought about by a 'burnout from making English music', Nelly also spoke fondly of juggling between mummy duties and album commitments.
Like all 21st century mummies with day jobs and young ones to care for, the singer-songwriter spent weekends in the studio, immersed in her 'alien musician zone' and 'crazy world' with the lights off, jumping up and down the sofa.
'It's kinda like the twilight zone; it's like weird culture shock,' said Nelly, as she compared between work and mummy duties such as driving her kid to school and 'making soup'.
'It made me stronger as an individual, almost like samurai stealth-ness to find yourself and juggle between two things (Chuckles).'
Looking every bit the hippie mum in her knit floor-length dress and pink feathered earrings, the 'family-oriented' songstress was bubbling with excitement when she spoke about promoting The Spirit Indestructible on-the-road for two years.
'Now that I'm touring again, it's kind of exciting, I think we're gonna take the whole family show on the road. It's gonna be interesting, educational, and I'm looking forward to it!'
The Spirit Indestructible will be released in Sept 2012.