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Furtado, Nelly
What differs Nelly Furtado from the multitude of female alt-pop acts is that she isn’t just a golden voice with little musical talent to back her up. This woman oozes talent, whether it is in her vocals, her vast instrument-playing abilities (guitar, ukulele, trombone), her impressive song-writing (she wrote, or co-wrote every track on her debut CD), or even her linguistic ability (she speaks English, Portuguese and Hindi).
In Nelly Fortado, Canada may have found it’s newest female superstar. In the tradition of so many great performers before her (Shania, Celine, Sarah to mention a few), she may soon become the next one-name hit from the Great North, offering her catchy blend of thoughtful song-writing and eclectic pop beats.
Nelly Furtado hails from Victoria, a quaint, quiet town on the western shores of British Columbia. Although it will always remain quaint, chances are it will not remain quiet for long. Between press anxious to dig further into the beginnings of the singer to fans eager to hear the unique musings of the young minstrel, Victoria is destined for a wake-up.
Furtado found her way into the music world kind of on a whim. Picture a Toronto talent show filled with primarily black performers, and then picture a small white Portuguese-Canadian singer bravely leaping onto stage to let her voice be heard.
Heard she was, by The Philosopher King’s manager Gerald King nonetheless, and the result was a demo produced by King and Brian West. With the encouragement of the two men, Furtado returned to Toronto to further pursue a music career. The hard work paid off, and Nelly Furtado signed her first record contract with DreamWorks Records.
Furtado’s debut album, Whoa Nelly is a rarity amongst recent releases. While many bands and artists make due with strong songwriting or a talent for pop melodies, Nelly combines the two aspects masterfully, creating a sound that somehow stands out as unique (difficult in the cluttered bog of the pop world). Her voice is like nothing you’ve every heard: not particularly strong, not particularly smooth but distinctively unmistakable. She sounds like a Pixie in search of love…a long masterful quest for the definition of the World. If you haven’t heard of Nelly Furtado yet, prepare yourself, as this woman is going places.
Erin Boyle CanEHdian.com, 2000
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Nelly Furtado Folklore

CD (November 25, 2003)
Original Release Date November 25, 2003
On her second album, Nelly Furtado takes a hard left turn. The colorful but incomplete fusion of her debut, Whoa, Nelly!, gives way on the tellingly titled Folklore to an approach that lets in some acoustic sounds that take the music in an entirely different, richer direction. At times sounding like a dead ringer for singer-writer Sam Phillips (whose work colors each episode of the TV series "Gilmore Girls"), Furtado aims for more rock-oriented ground without losing the Brazilian influences that are so much a part of her identity. Her voice and tunes are strong, and both words and music paint a young woman still very much in movement, change, flux. It’s an intriguing sound, and one that thoughtful listeners will cherish. --Rickey Wright
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Nelly Furtado Whoa, Nelly!

CD (April 23, 2002)
Original Release Date May 7, 2002

Album notes
Personnel includes: Nelly Furtado (vocals); Field (guitar); Camara Kambon (piano); Mike Elizondo (bass); Russ Miller (drums); Luis Orbegoso (congas, toms) Victor Rebelo (percussion); Daniel Stone (triangle)."I'm Like A Bird" won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.On WHOA NELLY, young songstress Nelly Furtado defies expectations by mixing and matching styles and approaches. The overriding production aesthetic includes R&B/hip-hop loops, beats, and samples mated with pure pop touches and some quirky electronic swoops and lurches. Furtado's songs combine hip-hop attitude with occasional Latin rhythmic accents, but the most striking aspect of this recording is the lyrics.While it wouldn't be difficult to imagine these arrangements being completely effective framing generic pop sentiments, Furtado places no constrictions on her lyrical muse, using unusual imagery, odd syntax, and inventive scenarios that immediately set her apart from the Top 40 crowd. References to a "Mobius strip," "proper grammar," and the "North American dream" are the rule rather than the exception in Furtado's pleasingly left-field style. Her vocals and the production are so seamless that if you're not paying attention, the unusual lyrics might slip right by. If that happens, Furtado will have made some real headway in subverting the pop mainstream.

Editorial reviews
Included in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Albums of 2000.Entertainment Weekly (12/29/00, p.140) - Ranked #10 in EW's Top 10 Albums of 2000.Rolling Stone (10/12/00, p.92) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - ...A wild-ass pop go-go, filled with songs that pursue adventure yet could still make the hit parade.Q (4/01, p.100) - 3 stars out of 5 - ...[Her] self-sufficient, Beck-inspired hip hop folk makes for a refreshing change....[her] songs are playful, unaffected and full of little surprises...Entertainment Weekly (10/20/00, pp.75-6) - ...Carries you away on a sonic jetstream....one of the year's most consistently pleasureable delights... - Rating: A
Rolling Stone  (01/04/2001)
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Blame it on the bossa nova, but this chick has got soul. By filtering her Portuguese roots through the trip-hop she was weaned on, Nelly Furtado creates a hypnotic form of R&B/alterna-pop that at times sounds like Fiona Apple, Macy Gray, and Gwen Stefani all rolled into a Portishead song. Cutting her teeth at four Lilith Fair dates before even having a record contract, Furtado seems far accelerated beyond her 21 years. Listen and you can hear the Portuguese fado tradition, Brazilian beats, flashy urban rhymes, enough snap-crackle-and-pop to fill your breakfast bowl. Put your ear closer to the speaker, though, and you can sense that this is the sound of a multicultural young woman finding her own identity through all the pop she's been fed. If you are one of those types who likes to sing along to soaring vocals--or one who likes to get hip to a new star before she goes supernova--this is an album to own. --Heidi Sherman

Album Description
UK edition of the hit 2000 album includes four bonus tracks. 'Oude Estas', 'I Feel You' feat. Esthero, 'My Love Grows Deeper' (Single Version) & the CD-ROM video for the first single, 'I'm Like A Bird'.