Story // Jeanette Diaz
Photos + Edit// Hope Glassel
Creative Direction + Styling // Phil Gomez
Makeup // Deney Adam
Hair // Isaac Davidson
Cover Art // Pearl Zhang
Location // Yindee Studio
Twenty-three years ago, Nelly Furtado broke into the music scene with her first hit “I’m Like A Bird,” followed by her most well-known success with the album Loose. Now, she’s gearing up for her biggest chapter yet. Once like a bird, the latest moment marks a phoenix-like era, building something grander, more fierce and more striking than ever before. Ready to spread her wings again, Nelly Furtado is ready to take flight into her most fiery and brilliant era yet.
A few days prior to speaking with the Maneater of the naughty aughties, I found myself tucked away at a backyard party located deep in the heart of East Los Angeles on a Saturday night. An environment decorated by oscillating rainbow lights and the eccentric throwback hits of the early 2000s, the music came to a rapid halt as the DJ transitioned into one of the most recognizable lyrical intros of the last decades. “Am I throwing you off?” blared through the speakers, as the spellbinding rhythm of Nelly Furtado’s famed hit “Promiscuous Girl” began along with the movement of previously stationary bodies rushing the dance floor as they found themselves uninhibited, awakened and all-consumed. Nearly seventeen years later, and Furtados’ legacy still induces the same uninhibited and free spirited dance floor nature as the era of its release.
At the turn of Y2K, Nelly Kim Furtado broke onto the scene at the age of 22 which met wide received critical acclaim with her debut album Whoa! Nelly, that included her soulful melodic folk leaning pop hit “I’m Like a Bird.” Snagging four GRAMMY Nominations and winning one, it was destined from the start that her introduction was leading her to hold the music world in her hands from the very start. She followed with her second album Folklore and a handful of single collaborations with the generations hottest artists that easily solidified her crown in crossovers and collaborations without contestation. Yet, it was her ground and record breaking album Loose released in 2006 that would catapult Nelly Furtado into a legendary pop icon.
After the release of her fifth studio album The Spirit Indestructible in 2012, Furtado seemed to step back from the spotlight to focus on her personal life, raising her daughter and exploring other creative ventures. During this hiatus, fans eagerly awaited her return, wondering when they would once again hear Furtado’s soulful voice and catchy melodies.
In 2016, Furtado surprised the world with the release of her sixth studio album The Ride, a heavy departure from her previous sound that showcased a more alternative and introspective side of Furtado’s abilities. While receiving positive reviews from critics for its experimental risk-taking nature, and Furtado’s willingness to take risks and its reflection of Furtado’s own journey during her time away from the limelight. It was the last new music the artist released, until her surprising comeback announcement this year.
Look, LARUICCI. Gold bra top, JOHN MANGRU. Earrings, stylist own.
Yet her legacy was one that would live on beyond Furtado’s hiatus. Rooted in fearlessness, versatility and the ability to transcend musical borders, her avant guard and explorative music prevailed at a time when commercial radio pop drove down a narrow highway. But as she likes to put it, it was her love for worldly music and the prismatic nuances they presented that allowed for her music to metamorphosize into the iconic catalog it still is to this day. “I love musical worlds. Every continent, every country has their own musical world. We always focus on the western with pop music, but there’s so much more going on everywhere.”
Thankfully so. In a musical era laced with an ongoing race for pop princess reign, it was Furtado’s refreshingly diverse sound often characterized by infectious melodies, introspective lyricism and a mesmerizing vocal ability, that breathed new life into the pop mainstream. With shapeshifting ability to maleate sound across genres, languages and cultural borders, she navigated through pop, folk and Latin influences to the later incorporations of r&b, trip hop and electronic dance music with a natural fluidity that allowed her to reach audiences on a global scale with ease.
Beyond the music, it became her deeply relatable lyrics that explored humanely relatable topics and themes of personal growth, empowerment and self-discovery that allowed the reach to extend even further with her audience. Tenaciously fierce and adamantly explorative, her trailblazing efforts were backed by mastery maneuvering of the experimental and avant garde. Her ability to push boundaries ultimately paved the way for a new era of alternative pop music that incorporated the art of experimentation starting in the early 2000s.
Now, after taking time off and centering the well-being of herself, her family and her artistry under her own terms, she feels more ready than ever to return to music. “I’ve changed as a person. I’ve worked on detachment and my personhood a lot. I’m just a stronger person.” With impact and influence that extends far beyond her active years, and on the heels of dropping her to-be latest anticipated album, we spoke with the pop icon about her return to music after six years, finding the key to success in authenticity and the importance of creating community through vulnerability.
Corset, JOHN MANGRU. Dress, LEAK YOUR SEX TAPE. Jewelry, ISSHI. Ring, ALEXIS BITTAR.
Yet, it is thanks to platforms like TikTok that the pop diva’s music has not only found a second life, but to her surprise, how it has also provided added encouragement for her return. “I’m just leaning into my career. The resurgence of popularity in my music and just seeing the longevity over the years is really encouraging and really motivating.” To encompass a roster of tracks that were not only top hit after top hit, but regenerate itself to continued play and remixes is a unique phenomenon of audio vitality that has allowed Furtado to remain a pop music staple.
“I’d be on TikTok and hear “Say It Right” remixed 2000 times.” The phenomenon did not hit the artist until she played her first live show since her return in Australia this past New Years, where she accounts the surprise it took on her when a new audience was reciting her songs along with her. “I walked out there and it’s basically 20 year olds in the audience, and they’re all singing the words to all the songs and it just blew my mind. I knew that my songs were popular on TikTok, but now I’m looking at it. Like how do all these people know my songs? It was trippy and cool and exciting.” Lately, Furtado’s most classic hits have found themselves amongst the site’s most viral sounds and have even rolled over to amount to career benchmark streaming numbers on streaming platforms.
“I’m feeling so good. I’m feeling so full of joy and gratitude for what I do,” the star shares on her return to her Inimitable music career as we start our conversation via zoom. “I’ve gotten a little more intentional about my music this time around.” Even behind the digital screen, there is a gleeful warmness that radiates from the artist. Ecstatic at the topic of new music, while still keeping an air of mystery around what will be her seventh studio album, she proclaims the newest project is “like the album I’ve always wanted to make.”
Offering a taste of what’s to come, we discuss her single “Eat Your Man,” a pulse-racing collaboration created alongside Australian producer Dom Dolla and her first release in six years$. The single introduces a new electronic heavy edge to the artist, while her lyrics masterfully allude to her past with references to her most famed prior singles like “I’m Like A Bird” and “Maneater.” Along the vein of her confidence inducing music, her latest is a deliciously electronic-driven dance party that proves she hasn’t lost the ability to take charge.
The iconic link up was the result of the duo meeting at Beyond the Valley Festival in Australia, where Nelly performed her first show back since her seven year hiatus away from live music. For Furtado, the collaboration and guidance received from the producer was a warm invitation to return back to her underground musical roots indicative of her sacred, formative years in Toronto. “I was making underground dance and trip hop records before I signed my record deal, so for me it’s totally authentic. When I got in with Dom Dolla, it felt like he woke up something inside of me that I had forgotten about.” She goes on to elaborate his encouragement to have her move away from sounding like an Oxford dictionary and return to the primal instincts of club music. “I forgot how liberating it is to just sing and enjoy the sound of your own voice. When you’re in the studio, you just really try to aim for that energy of enjoyment and escape and fun and sexiness and just those things that make you feel that liberation in the music.”
The energy that surrounds her music catalog may lend itself to precisely why it has stood the test of time. A concept that Furtado herself has only recently started to learn how to accept. “I think I finally started to believe my own hype.” And she makes it very clear that her current state of self-assuredness and confidence is only paving way for her best music yet.
Gloves, REN HAIXI. Earrings, LARUICCI. Ring, GAUDESS, Necklace,BETSEY JOHNSON.
While the album sonically remains a mystery on our end as well, there’s a lot of takeaways we were able to make – starting with there are undeniably many more dance floor classics to come. “I’ve been in the studio very diligently for about a year now. A lot of late nights till seven in the morning, a lot of collaboration, whatever it takes.” While studio time and, well work, can become an all consuming case of stress and creative burnout, Furtado’s self-work has allowed her process to strike a balance to it all. And it comes from her recognition that she can, but will never choose to do it alone.
“I believe in community,” she affirms. “I took a community approach with these new records.” We go on to discuss her creative method which she animatedly refers to as “studio parties.” From creation to consumption, it feels like the connecting essence of her music revolves around as many people having as much fun as possible at all times. “I invited a lot of people to party with me in the studio. We’re jamming, we’re making music, we’re having a good time, the high energy is flowing, and there’s no rules really. I just wanna make the best pop music that I can possibly make. It’s been really, really fun.”
Furtado is no stranger to collaboration, with one of the most widespread and ongoing resumes that may challenge a CVS receipt. There’s little to nothing that will stop her from pursuing wha ultimately, just feels right. “I’ve just never been a person to be overly self-conscious about what I like. You’re talking to someone who just goes with my heart. If I like it, if I like it – I’m gonna sing it or I’m gonna do it. If I like something, I’m gonna be proud of it.”
From Latin ballads with Colombian pop king Juanes or Mexican songstress Julieta Venegas, to hip hop leaning features with legendary band The Roots or famed troupe Jurassic 5, even snagging a children’s song alongside Sir Elton John – there really isn’t an avenue or artist Furtado can not only work aside but elevate with her eclectic versatility. And she agrees. “Sometimes, I will purposely bring in people who I think won’t get along because I think it’s exciting to create tension in a room and to show that with our humanity we can conquer any tension, you know?” With her music serving as an extension of her personhood, she likes to relate her creative methods back to her core essence as a person. “We can always find things more similar about people than we can find differences. We can find something good, even the most hateful person.”
With one single down (and an obvious continued track record of yet another instantaneous hit), we were curious about who else was receiving invitations to the exclusive recording parties and lending a hand in shaping this next era of pop dance floor domination. “I went on a trip to Columbia with Lido Pimienta and Li Samuet from Bomba Estereo,” she begins with near zero hesitation. As she delves into the magic she has tapped into while developing a friendship with two powerhouse female Latin musicians, she highlights the divine junction of a dynamic with women who also navigate the world of motherhood. “They’re my besties, they’re my heart for sure – I love them. They’re so strong, powerful and have taught me so much about really leaning in, I’m so blessed – it changed my life meeting those women.”
While hinting at both working collaborations with Li and Lido on her latest project, there is a tender exchange on the dominating female power that has come to surround her as of late. “We have this triangle of rock and roll mommies. We lean on each other for strength because we need each other. We’ve created a community of mothers who rock out.” In an industry that all too often seeks to pin women against one another – her deep appreciation and sincerity for the collaboration efforts combusted through the power of divine friendship is a heartwarming conversation on the power of comm(unity). “My current community around me, whether it’s artists, musicians, dancers, whoever – I’m just really happy.”
Earrings, RACHEL MULHERIN. Necklace, LEAK YOUR SEX TAPE. Bracelets, CHANEL (@newyorkvintageinc). Bra top, TROY DYLAN ALLEN. Pink skirt, REN HAIXI. Purple skirt, DAIRU REN.
While highlighting the glows in her life, her gratitude comes in knowing she has a strong support system to help her through the harder days. In her first and recent interview with FAULT magazine since her public return, Furtado shared a more personal look into the mental health diagnosis and her adamant work on understanding it that has helped her reach a healthier state overall. Sharing her recent diagnosis with ADHD, she feels an importance in sharing the vulnerability of her story and the copious amount of research around it she has partaken as a way to help others to become educated on the matter. “I’ve worked so hard in the last couple years about understanding ADHD,” she shares. “I’m passionate about it and I have a lot to say. I think that there’s a lot of work to do.” As the conversation has opened more in recent years around topics of mental health, the high scrutiny of celebrity culture still makes it a phenomenal feat for the artist to share her own struggles and impact on her journey so honestly. While something so private isn’t owed to anyone publicly, Furtado gleams at the opportunity to discuss what it has meant for her to receive such gracious response from the public. “I’ve been getting a lot of messages from people that are thanking me for talking about adult ADHD. There are therapists thanking me and letting me know that I’ve been helping their patients by openly talking about it. It’s kind of blowing my mind.”
On a tangent, we shift the conversation into an added layer of discussion about how she feels re-entering the music scene at a time where Latine & Latin language music is dominating the global stage. While hailing from a Portuguese-Canadian background, Furtado has never shied away from her work acknowledging her lineage. She was performing in Portuguese before English, and routinely released music in both languages and acknowledges she will continue to do so. Referring to her Spanish Language album Mi Plan, she reflects by clarifying “particularly when I made my Spanish album, I was kind of intentional about making it a Spanish pop album because I didn’t want to make people think I was faking anything.” A clarification surely stemming from Furtado widely being known to be of Portuguese descent with upbringing in Canada. However, much of her early career was notably marked by Spanish language tracks that so fluidly enmeshed itself into her catalog. “I was on stage singing in Portuguese before I’d even performed in English,” she shares. “I just feel like my musical soul is super Iberian. it’s just there, it’s a part of me, and there is a comfort there and latin languages just flow out of me.”
If there’s one thing to note about Nelly throughout this conversation, emphasized by her naturally warm personality to her casual wear, is that she will always choose to remain imperfectly authentic. After all, it is the very key trait she accredits to all of her success.
“I just try not to second guess it, but I’m intentional. I never want to feel like I am faking anything,” she continues, “so that’s why when I did a Spanish language album, I leaned into making a Spanish pop album, because I didn’t want to make people think I was faking anything. I’m Portuguese, and everyone knows this.”
Would that be something she’s bringing into the next phase of her career? “I’m so happy you asked me because never mind all the songs I did in English, I have a bunch coming in Spanish too! I feel like I have a whole other album’s worth already recorded. It’s coming.” And of course, we couldn’t leave out Portuguese-speaking fans. A particular Brazilian artist becomes a topic of discussion. “I noticed Anitta follows me on Instagram,” she shares. “I gotta ask her to do a Brazilian remix.” Although hailing from two separate countries of origin, she relates to her artistry as another successful female musician who sings in both Spanish and Portuguese, a novelty in the Spanish-language dominated umbrella of Latin language music. “Anitta, if you’re reading this, come on!” – a co-sign we are absolutely behind.
While on theme from female friendships to female powerhouse artists – we couldn’t miss the chance to talk about the cultural reset that was “Promiscuous Girl,” especially for her female identifying fans. A top charting, and quite frankly most recognizable, hit seemed to come in at the heels of a sexual revolution amongst pop divas of the 2000s. An era marked by a consumer based hyper-sexualization of young women that felt less reclaiming sexual personhood and more the marketable oversimplification of selling sexiness. In came Furtado and Timberlands’ unmatched single that lauded the reclamation of female sexuality and autonomy that moved away from the male gaze. It was essentially the blueprint for bad bitch energy before we had a household phrase for it.
“God, I’m so glad. I’m so happy you hear that in the music,” she says in agreement. She highlights her coming-to-age musical library for much of the driving force behind her top-charting single, and album overall. “There were a lot of very empowered female vocalists and groundbreaking feminists like Salt-N-Peppa and TLC, who were toying the line with their image and embracing of their masculine and feminine sides and then somehow putting that into the music. That’s what inspired promiscuous. That energy that I found in the music I grew up on. Nobody’s more powerful than the other. They’re both standing eye to eye as equals.”
Before moving on, she has to give a heavy shoutout to “founding mother” Janet Jackson’s Janet album for providing the most inspiration for her career’s most well known production. “She was so empowered and so in control, you could tell it was authentic. She was feeling sexually liberated, confident, in her energy and empowered. That definitely was a blueprint for me when I made the [Loose] album. Shout out Janet Jackson. I love you.”
Dress + arm sleeve, REN HAIXI. Earrings, LARUICCI. Ring, GAUDESS, Necklace,BETSEY JOHNSON. Shoes, LES PETITS JOUEURS.
As we wrap this idea of self-autonomy, community support and the importance of staying true to yourself at all costs, we pivot over to the natural significance of why she illustrates our PRIDE cover. From her inescapable nightlife dance music to her outspoken support, Nelly Furtado has radiated as a pillar for the LGBTQIA+ community.
In reflecting on the special relationship between her music and the queer community, she calls upon one of her earliest stage memories. “I remember the first time I saw a young queer couple in the front row of my show just being so happy, in tears, and in love. I was singing my song “On The Radio” from my first album Whoa! Nelly. That song is about letting go and celebrating who you are authentically, and who you want to be in this world regardless of naysayers and negative energy.” A song she feels is grateful to be received so warmly through her queer audiences. “I feel super grateful. My LGBTQIA+ audience has been with me from the beginning. I’m still here, and we are still out here, together! I’m just grateful for that allyship and it’s still just the beginning,” she states before exclaiming “I’m so happy because there’s more sweating to be done!”
And if we’ve learned anything – Mrs. Furtado is no liar. A few weeks after our initial conversation, we meet again but this time in person in the vibrant city that never sleeps. Upon the rooftop setting of the Public Hotel in New York City, the city skyline surrounded the venue from every angle with glittering lights for the Aroma 360 x Ladygunn soiree celebrating Night of One Thousand Nelly’s. A night celebrating the intersection of PRIDE and Furtado’s contribution to queer nightlife culture included a roster of divine DJs to some of the most dazzling drag renditions of her top hits.
Before the guest of the night made her grand entrance in the most stunning pink latex ensemble, a fated meet cute on the dance floor allowed us to meet the stunning vision of a queen that is Robin Rose Quartz who set the tone for not only the evening, but her PRIDE cover. Enamored with the presence of the “unsung pop icon” in the room, they shared “as queer people, we look towards the artists who are looking at us and exist outside of the grain and the mainstream. The work that Nelly Furtado has done for us, and for the queer community as a whole, is so monumental. They have made us feel seen, accepted, and loved. To come to a place where we can just dance, exist as ourselves and live unapologetically, is everything to us. We owe that so much to Nelly Furtado and so many others.”
With reciprocated admiration, she previously shared her excitement around her return to the city for the celebration would mark six years since playing the Pride Island Festival shortly after headlining Montreal’s PRIDE celebration in the same year. “It’s the best. I just feel at home. For me, it’s so much a part of who I am.“ Between the DJ spins and fantabulous drag shows taking place, Nelly opens herself to greeting and taking photos with fans with the same warmness we first met her with, as well as getting to experience the room’s reactions to a mixture of her classic hits and new music firsthand. “My favorite tracks that made the cut are party tracks that are like ‘Let’s get together. Let’s find our similarities. Let’s party. Let’s live.!’ I can not wait to see people sweat to it and to sweat with people. We’re all gonna celebrate and sweat together!” And that New York City did as the night played a continuous stream of hit tracks and remixes of her hits that had the city skyline pulsating with the highest energy until early morning.
If her career started with the immortal words of “I’m Like A Bird,” – this latest chapter definitely marks her phoenix era. Furtado has only proven to become bolder, stronger and more confident with every regeneration. “At the end of the day, all you leave behind when you’re gone is your legacy and the art you made or created,” she begins her closing remarks. “I’m an artist. It’s what I do. I shut down, rebuild and then explode again. But this explosion is unlike any other I’ve had. I’m very much coming into my own. I feel more like myself than I’ve ever felt in my whole life. I feel very empowered, very liberated and feeling very in love with my job. I love making music, and I’ve just taken it to the next level. I’m bossing up a bit!”
With trailblazing timeless talent, an ever-evolving artistic vision and a personal mantra of authenticity at all costs – Nelly Furtado’s resurgence is a reminder of the impact she has had on pop music and the influence she will continue to make in this new era. Nelly Furtado’s comeback serves as a testament to the enduring power of an established artist. She has reminded us all that authentic artistic vision can withstand the test of time and that sometimes, it just takes a little break to come back stronger than ever.
“It’s take no prisoners. I’m here to do my best work. I’m here to work my hardest and give a hundred percent, a hundred and ten percent. Because that’s what people deserve. That’s what the fans deserve. I didn’t come to play. I came to do my best.”
