Nelly Furtado is a name everybody reading surely remembers, but one which the masses haven’t heard for a while. The Canadian pop singer rose to prominence in the early aughts with songs like “I’m Like A Bird” and “Turn Off The Light,” and then a few years later she truly struck gold with her album Loose, which spun off the No. 1 smashes “Promiscuous” and “Say It Right.” Since the promotion of that Earth-shattering record died down, not much has been heard from Furtado, even though she has been releasing music (her 2012 album The Spirit Indestructible was a commercial flop almost everywhere).
Now, the singer is back, and this time, she’s doing things her way. Furtado’s sixth full-length The Ride comes out this Friday (March 31), and while its songs didn’t hit the charting highs she’s experienced before, the newly-independent pop star seems happier than ever, because she’s making the music she wants to make with the people she wants to work with and entirely on her own terms.
We spoke with the singer about her new beginnings. Hop to the next page to read the full interview.
I have spoken to a number of pop singers across the spectrum, and some people are really interested in simply creating the art of the moment, while others focus on the fact that it’s a product they're putting out into the world. When you were coming into this album, did you think at all about crafting a "hit," or did you just want to create?
That's a great question. I've had a lot of highs and lows in my career commercially, so I've seen both sides. I've seen the power of a ubiquitous hit, but I've also seen the power of a longer-lasting hit that stays with fans and resonates when you sing it live, and I think both are valuable. When I was writing this album, I was writing with what you could call "hitmakers." I wrote a song with two of the ladies that co-wrote "You Belong with Me" by Taylor Swift — Liz Rose, and Natalie Hemby — but it was an organic experience. I also wrote "Phoenix" with Mark Taylor and Paul Barry, and Paul Barry co-wrote "Let it Go" for James Bay, so these are big songwriters.
It's hard when you classify it as pop music to never think about the "hit song." I have to say, it's definitely a presence, but that kind of melted away when I chose the producer John Congleton, because John Congleton had never worked with pop artists, and I met him through the alternative artist St. Vincent, and he works out of Dallas, so I flew alone and I found myself in his studio, which is literally a converted funeral home. This already didn’t feel very commercial or corporate. It felt very unhinged, very artistic, and he's only worked with alternative and punk artists, and nothing he does is for commercial gain.
He really focuses on the art. Sometimes there are happy accidents, and something will also do well commercially, but he's really quite focused on making sure... He really wanted to make sure that this album made a mark for me, artistically. That was our number one goal. He said, "You know, if we do this right, this could really cement you as an artist for the rest of your career." I think when you've had the more ubiquitous hits, and you've done the arena tours, and all those things, it's nice to have songs people know you for, but at the same time, it's also nice to have something deeper than that, because I really would like to still be performing in some capacity as I age.
I mean, I'm already, I guess, in a different category. I've been doing this a long time. How do I say this? It's nice having, I guess... It sounds silly, but... I feel like because I've been doing this so long, I'm kind of already moving into... I don't want to use the word heritage, but I feel like you become a heritage artist when you look into your audience and there is grandmother, daughter, and granddaughter at your show. You have three generations, right? What are you? Okay, you've got some songs people love. I would never shy away from those songs. I love them, too, but at the end of the day, I also want to keep creating.
What's interesting is in the last years I've been collaborating with a lot of independent artists like Blood Orange, for instance. They have a whole other audience, and some of them are new fans that I haven't been exposed to before, and even through working with somebody like John Congleton, you start to draw in a lot of tastemakers and different types of independent-minded people that maybe weren't at the party before, but who maybe respect you because of the longevity you've had, or the fact that you're still making music with your nose to the ground.
That has been an interesting byproduct of me following my creative leanings. Making new fans along the way, and I've also recorded in Spanish, so I did an entire album in Spanish, and that was actually independent, as well. It was distributed through Universal Latino, but I controlled all the creative, I funded the album, collaborated with a bunch of Latin artists, toured in South America, tried to get my Spanish to a level where I could do all my interviews in Spanish, so I don't know. I feel lucky. I've seen a lot of different sides.
Of course it's not so easy being a bankable entertainer when you have such a widespread, quirky audience of all ages, and every ilk, but for me, it keeps me happy, and I feel like it keeps me very grounded, because the people I meet, I think their lives are also complicated. You know what I mean? Their lives aren't branded, you know?
Yeah.
They see me and say, "There's this other quirky person just getting through life and making stuff she feels like making. I can relate with that." The connection's quite strong, even though I would say it's not as commercially predictable. I mean, but really nothing's commercially predictable, because even people with solid brands also sometimes, well...
Don't work out.
Yeah.
The album is set to be released at the end of March and you have a handful of singles out already…
And more coming, too. More coming.
More coming, too?
We're taking the multi-single approach, yeah. Rather than going to radio with a song, we're hitting digital formats with several songs, so we're blanketing people with moods and energies, rather than stampeding them with this one song we're making them love.
How has that strategy worked so far?
Really amazing. I've found that I find media is very event-driven now. So, for instance I was at Art Basel, so I did the sound installation piece for my friend's art show, but I also did a show with H&M, Alex Katz, and PAPER Magazine, so I had a show, and that dovetailed into another story for PAPER Magazine, and then for New York Fashion Week I was here, and I did the standard show, and I featured a lot of artists I had been collaborating with. When I put out "Pipe Dreams" I released a music video, so I'm releasing an op-ed story with Jezebel next week. I'm taking little moments and creating little soundtracks with the different songs, and hoping that that media just lives online, and just kind of grows and gets shared organically.
I think word-of-mouth will be a big part of this particular musical story, I would say, but we'll help people along the way. I'm doing a bunch of festival type shows over spring and summer. Keeping it spontaneous and customized is my best description. Oh, we just put out a film, too. We put out a little movie. It's a mini-movie called "The Ride," and it attacks the themes of the album from a different angle. It's me and some other female musicians talking about what it's like to be a female in this industry, so we're taking different angles of what I do. I'm sharing these stories with people, and having that be the impetus for people to listen to the new songs.
Absolutely. Now, what would you like fans to know, or people who know your name to know about this new era before they hit play?
That's a good question. Oh my gosh. Probably to enjoy it, because I'll probably never make the same thing again, because I never seem to make the same thing twice, so fall in love, but not too deeply, because the next project will be totally different.
But not too deeply?
Yeah. That's what I would say. It was a moment in time. The last day when we mixed it and I heard a couple of the songs in their completed form, I completely broke into tears because I realized that the studio had been like a little island for me where I went to go pick up the pieces, and patch myself back together through the songs. You never can recreate those creative times, and as much as I like live shows, I think my favorite place to be is in the studio.
Yeah?
I would say so. It's special. It's like when you fall in love. It's like, they're magical times, you know?
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