Whoa, Nelly

The product of another earworm, after our last encounter with Darren Hayes of Savage Garden. I think there’s something to be said for turning this into a regular thing, especially if they’re new or nostalgic; it seems a productive and worthy use of a sometimes irritating thing!

This time, we have Nelly Furtado – hopefully if you know the woman you’ve already sussed that. It’s actually the fifth or sixth attempt with Ms. F – the previous lot, each attempting to be wittily faithful to Loose, are not for the faint-hearted, certainly not especially flattering. So, it was back to a more detailed approach – for now, anyway. Having started to become a little jaded with the portraiture as is, it’d really be nice to step back and try and mix things up a little next year… we’ll see.

Anyway, back to Nelly. I can’t claim to be an uber-fan, so I’ll just witter on and see where this goes (as if that’s in any way different to the usual!) I’ve been aware of her for a long time now, mainly because of the widely-played I’m Like A Bird which speaks very much of 2000, but it wasn’t until Loose arrived in 2006 that I took real notice. I’d like to thank Nelly for keeping me company around that time, when I was at home for a fortnight with labyrinthitis; I played Say It Right and All Good Things whenever my head was going to let me enjoy them. As a bit of a hashtag born-in-the-wrong-decade throwback before it was cool, my playing something from the charts was telling in itself.

There’s lots of hip-hop punch, but there are also moments of sensitivity which made an attractive, moody cocktail to teenage me. It’s probably one of my favourite albums of the 2000s (though, admittedly, that is a small pool in which to swim – again, hashtag supercool throwback). Having happened across her again recently, the hits from back remain lively and fresh, belying the fact that they’re now over a decade old. They are said right, if you want to be really clever. Go Nelly.

• Art
• drawing
• earworm
• loose
• music
• nelly furtado
• portrait