Since the release of her debut single I'm Like a Bird in 2000, Nelly Furtado has had the ability to burst into our lives, cause a ruckus in the charts for a while, retreat and then return with a new album boasting a different sound and a different outlook. This month, she has ditched the folk music and cast the R&B club sound aside and is back with The Ride, an alternative pop album with a very subtle indie undertone.
I started in the music industry at the age of 20. Now I'm 38. So, I've seen a lot and I've done a lot"
The Ride is an independent release and a hangover from a fast-paced career that went into further overdrive in 2006 when the Canadian singer released her third album, Loose. For Furtado and its producer Timbaland, Loose was a game-changer, spitting out chart hits such as Do It, Say It Right, Promiscuous and Maneater, a throbbing pop song that was mastered with powers born from the occult.
“I started in the music industry at the age of 20. Now I’m 38. So, I’ve seen a lot and I’ve done a lot. I call it a hangover album exactly because you can run, you can hide but eventually, you have to take the journey within yourself,” says Furtado. “It’s so easy to be distracted with work in a career and motherhood and everything but eventually you will catch up with yourself and you will have to look at the ugly bits. And you will have to do the very unglamorous task of just, kind of like, stripping away all the distractions.”
Just living
When pop stars – or anyone, actually – talk about journeys, it’s difficult to stop your eyes from rolling out of your head but when Furtado “stripped away all the distractions”, it meant spending more time with her now 13-year-old daughter and learning about the world around her. She learned how to sew, studied playwriting and she went on several trips to Kenya with WE Charity, formerly known as Free the Children. “I think there’s something to be said for just living a life, you know?”
One artist who she thinks gets it right is Blood Orange, who she collaborated with on his 2016 album Freetown Sound. "He told me how he had once had this very, very jam-packed touring schedule and he realised very quickly that it wasn't making him happy. It wasn't making him happy so he had to slow down and do the things that made him happy," she says. "And when I met him, I was at a point in my career where I was like, 'Yeah, I need a new way to enjoy this . . .' "
This advice led her to working on a sound art installation at Art Basel in Miami and a songwriting installation at the MoMa PS1 – an art institution in New York – but, ultimately, this new way led to The Ride.
She wanted The Ride to have an "alternative" sound so when she asked her good pal Annie Clark (St Vincent) what she should do, she pointed in the direction of John Congleton, who has produced music for Goldfrapp, Spoon, Modest Mouse, David Byrne, Sparks and Explosions in the Sky among others. With this recommendation, Furtado flew to Dallas, Texas, and showed up at his studio "kind of just cold turkey" to see what they could make.
These new songs just tumble out of my mouth and they just feel so natural to me."
Kind of naked
And what they made is a “raw, vulnerable, kind of naked” album that explores the repercussions of being sold and believing in pipe dreams. “It’s kind of like I went to John Congleton’s studio to confess all of my sins,” she drawls in a way that pokes fun at the seriousness of it all, adding that it was a bold move for them to work together.
"I think it was a risk for him to work with a pop artist, personally, because he has never really done a pop album since the days of engineering at the studio he used to work at. I think he did Barney – the kids' show," she hoots. "Since Barney, I'm the first pop artist that John has worked with."
The Ride is a pop album with a conscience and the music is reflective of an artist who has come full circle in her career.
That's why Ireland is so cool. Oh my God! I am thrilled. That's the best news I've heard! Oh my God, I am doing the tour just in Ireland. We can take this far."
“These new songs just tumble out of my mouth and they just feel so natural to me. It’s a stylistic thing, I realise. Just the nature of writing. I wrote a lot of these songs in my living room . . . . In my living room, on my guitar after cleaning the floors. And I used to write songs in the Ramada Hotel cleaning the floors when I was 18,” she says. “So I really kind of reversed everything in my life so I could get back to that sweet spot of just being a witness to whatever is going on around and no distractions, nothing fancy.”
PR disasater
When her publicist comes on the line to let us know that that this question must be the last, I know that it’s time to ask what we’re all thinking.
Do you know that “the ride” means something different in Ireland? “Oh, God. What does it mean?” she says, ready for an incoming PR disaster. A ride, I say, is what we call a very good-looking person and when we want to know if someone hooked up, we ask ‘Did ya get the ride?’
“You say it like that? You say, ‘Did ya get the ride last night?’ ‘Did ya get the ride?’’ She repeats it until it feels right, before almost bursting in delight. “Oh. I . . love that. That’s why Ireland is so cool. Oh my God! I am thrilled. That’s the best news I’ve heard! Oh my God, I am doing the tour just in Ireland. We can take this far.”
