Nelly Furtado – “The Ride” Album Breakdown

Published March 30th 2017
Filed under Reviews

Nelly Furtado releases her 6th studio album The Ride tomorrow, March 31st. Released independently through her own record label Nelstar, The Ride sees Nelly experiment with a new sound while still sounding like a Nelly Furtado album.

All 12 tracks on The Ride are produced by John Congleton. The vocal production and Nelly’s singing style are a lot less grating than 2012’s Spirit Indestructible which often verged on screeching.

The highlights are Carnival Games, Magic, Arlissa cover Sticks And Stones and closing ballad Phoenix which was the first track Nelly recorded for the album and shows off a different singing style for Nelly.

Here’s a breakdown of the tracks:

Cold Hard Truth
Flatline
Carnival Games
Live
Paris Sun
Sticks And Stones
Magic
Pipe Dreams
Palaces
Tap Dancing
Right Road
Phoenix

Take a listen to The Ride below:

Nelly Furtado – “Parking Lot” Lyric Video

Published August 22nd 2012
Filed under Videos

Nelly Furtado’s lyric video for Parking Lot has been released, strangely before Spirit Indestructible has even been released. This album campaign really is turning into a mess. You can read my thoughts on Parking Lot here.

The lyric video is for the album version of Parking Lot and you can watch it below:

Nelly Furtado – “Parking Lot”

Published August 19th 2012
Filed under Reviews

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Nelly Furtado’s upcoming third single from The Spirit Indestructible is Parking Lot. Nelly performed the track a few weeks ago during her AOL Sessions. I’ve had that version on repeat ever since. Each song that is premiered from this album is better than the last and it’s shaping up to be an extremely good collection of songs, all of which, aren’t trying to sound like anything else out there at the moment.

Parking Lot in studio form is a lot different to the live version. It’s a slower tempo for one. But the huge difference is the vocals. Nelly actually sounds like she was drunk when she recorded them, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Her vocals sound a bit out of tune even though it was intentionally meant to sound that way.

Like Big Hoops, lyrically the song is a throwback to Nelly’s teenage years. It’s simply about being carefree, driving around with friends and blasting music with nothing to do. In the live version, some of the lyrics are delivered with more emphasis which is really lacking in the studio version.

Production wise, Parking Lot sounds a bit unfinished. Big Hoops and Spirit Indestructible gave me this impression as well. But at times, the rawness of the tracks is what makes them refreshing compared to all the polished, over-produced dance music controlling the charts at the moment. This is also the reason Nelly’s singles so far from this campaign have flopped badly.

You can listen to Parking Lot’s radio edit below:

The live version is below to compare it to:

Overall, Parking Lot is a great song and I’m excited that it’s being released as the third single. It may not save the album campaign from commercially failing, but it’ll be another great song to add to Nelly’s impressive back catalogue. After hearing these three singles, I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album.

Nelly Furtado – “Spirit Indestructible” Music Video

Published July 19th 2012
Filed under Videos

The second single from Nelly Furtado’s upcoming fifth studio album, Spirit Indestructible premiered today on her official VEVO. After the flop first single, Big Hoops, Spirit Indestructible is much more radio friendly and has potential to become a hit if it catches on.

The video shows Nelly performing by a piano for the acoustic first part of the song before showing her in various nature scenes such as a snowy mountain top, a field and a beach.

For a song that’s meant to save an album campaign, the video for Spirit Indestructible doesn’t make much of an impact. It looks nice and all but it doesn’t compare to any of her videos from the Loose era.

Spirit Indestructible is out August 3rd, followed by the album of the same name on September 11th.

Nelly Furtado Announces New Album

Published December 16th 2009
Filed under News

Nelly Furtado has announced her new English album will be released on May 25th 2010 via her Twitter.

Her follow up to 2006’s Loose sees her collaborating again with Timbaland as well as Ryan Tedder and Salaam Remi.

Nelly also compared the album to her debut Whoa, Nelly!, saying:

I think just generally it’s still going to be pop but I want it to have a more light energy. Sort of like my first album, but not sonically, more in a spiritual sense… more like my first album.

I don’t know if it’s going to be the same sound [as Loose] but I have worked a little bit with Timbaland who produced that album so it might have some of the same fun and energy, but not like exactly the same.

If there are a few Say It Right, Maneater and Promiscuous moments on there, this could be a really solid album with the addition of Tedder and Remi for variety.