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Music: Nelly furtado
“Nelly Furtado is not a one-trick pony. Nelly Furtado is not a one-trick pony. Nelly Furtado is not a one-trick pony.” This is the gist of the intro track in Folklore, surprisingly titled “One-Trick Pony”. A great deal of this album seems like a backlash against her multi-platinum debut Whoa, Nelly, and all the attention that came with it. Folklore is much more representative of Nelly’s Portuguese background, with world beat sounds throughout. As a result, there are far less radio-friendly tunes available in this disc. What this means is that the album is far more challenging, and ultimately, a more rewarding effort.
The second track and first single from Folklore, “Powerless”, is a very gutsy song and targets the print media. This sentiment can be found all over Folklore.
Most of the lyrics of the album are sung in Portuguese. The first really outstanding song is “Try”. Obviously, the song deals with the lofty expectations that this album was burdened with.
“Saturdays” is a candid studio moment where Nelly sings accompanied only by an acoustic guitar and a backup singer echoing everything she says. A track worth listening.
The two truly offensive songs in the album are “Fresh off the boat” and “Island of wonder”. “Fresh off the boat” is just an odd song. However, “Island of Wonder” is an interpolation of a traditional song and features the original singer Caetano Veloso along with Nelly.
Some other tracks of the album are “Childhood dreams”, “Build you up”, “Picture perfect”, “Explode” and “The grass is green”.
Folklore is a terrific statement album from Furtado. Completely lacking of the radio-ready pop from Whoa, Nelly. This album, however, will appeal to a much smaller audience than Furtado is accustomed to. More complicated instrumentation and lyrics make Folklore a delight for well-versed fans, but a struggle for casual ones. Buy it now and listen to the signs!
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