So I thought it would be good to have a glean through dear Nelly's back catalogue, starting with the debut Whoa...Nelly!. I gave it a proper listen-to for the first time ever this week.

 

Feel free to contribute your own reviews/comments!

 

 

 

 

 

Nelly Furtado - Whoa, Nelly!

When Loose came out, I was one of those having a great big moan about how Nelly had sold out, chasing the American buck by prostituting herself to the urban market. That was because I'd only really paid attention to her Folklore era at that point - if I'd listened to Whoa Nelly beyond the MOR I'm Like A Bird, it probably wouldn't have been such a shock to the system.

This is a giant mish-mash of styles; pop, urban, Latin, jazz, dance, rap - she even comes close to flirting with drum'n'bass. As ever with experimentation, it's all a bit hit and miss, and an old Magic FM git like me was never going to love it all. Certainly I don't think it's as consistent as Folklore or Loose. There's an element of try-hard here; Nelly was at the young age of 21 I believe, and was maybe a bit too overeager to make her mark. She sometimes goes a bit overboard trying to be quirky, and her odd vocalisations can often really get in the way of a GOOD TUNE. Lyrically she can sometimes throw out a corker of a line, but at others it's all taking itself a bit too seriously; try too hard to be "deep" and you end up saying nothing at all. And listening to this in 2010 doesn't do it a lot of favours; some of the production has aged RAPIDLY. But nevertheless, this was certainly an intriguing debut; different to pretty much every pop princess peddling their wares at the time.

 

 

07: Hey Man

This is an intriguing opening statement. Lyrically, it's utter confusion. "We are a part of a circle", "Pour me a glass of your wine!", "I look at myself in the mirror; am I vital today?", "I've got a bunch of government cheques at my door!". Try and make sense of all that if you will. Most likely I'm just being a bit thick, but it all has the feel of an aspiring singer just throwing out random statements that bear no relation or relevance to anything; trying to appear like she has something to say when she actually doesn't at all! The best I can come up with is that dear Nelly is on the dole; this may be Crazy Chris in musical form.

On a different note, I LOVE the strings in this, although the rest of the production is a little lacking and feels unfinished - it could all do with some major beefing up. But on the whole a fair, if bewildering, start. "$h!t is gonna fly once again!". Quite.

08: ($h!t) On The Radio

The $h!t is indeed flying once again. Nelly's obsession with faeces gathers apace, and it seems this is to be a recurring theme in Nelly's work - she harbours a desire to be music's answer to Gilbert and George.

This is a switcharound from "Hey Man" - the music is pleasant but dull (Hispanic Dido - acoustic guitars with a semi-urban beat as was the rage in the early 00s), but it's the lyrics where Nelly shines, as she chews out a jealous hater who is cussing her out for becoming a pop sell-out. It's pleasing to hear an artist full-on embracing their mainstream credentials and not giving into snobbery.

02: Baby Girl

Nelly continues to assert her position as an independent woman (girl power was still a recent memory in '01), but sadly it's to a horribly dated and generic urban production. This is definitely not best appreciated with 2010 ears.

06.5: Legend

Nelly's latin influences come more to the fore here; this is gentle dinner party music for the Portuguese. Nelly's variety as a vocal performer is also displayed here; she switches from semi-rapping to soaring like a diva in one short breath.

03: I'm Like A Bird

Really this should be my favourite song on the album; it's the closest to soft-rock MOR that Nelly gets here, with the soaring chorus destined to keep Radio 2 listeners in a state of constant orgasm. And yet I hate this - when it first came out, I would never have even entertained the very idea of ever being able to actually like Nelly Furtado. I don't really know what it is what annoys me; the best I can come up with is her pronounciation really GRATES on me (that's fo' sooouuuurrreeee"); on this one her vocal quirks aren't so much a strength as an absolute irritant.

09: Turn Off The Light

THIS however is wonderful. There's a vaguely menacing, tribal feel to this one, as the video of Nelly summoning up her army of rampaging SWAMPMEN emphasises. Only downside; Nelly's increasingly bizarre and random vocal stylings COMPLETELY disguise any semblance of a tune in the final chorus, and it's actually impossible to make out actual words.

07: Trynna Finda Way

I like this for it has a funky beat; sadly it's also total LYRICAL CONFUSION again. Nelly's "trynna finda way" you see, but it just seems she's a typical young songwriter trynna too hard; "evolve your destiny child!", "I travel to this land of surrender!". EH?

05 Party's Just Begun

At first, this is a WTF moment, because with a title like "Party's Just Begun" you really don't expect something so bloody tunelessly DREARY. However things improve when you realise Nelly isn't actually singing about a party at all; instead she's falling apart "drinking from the chalice of malice" and feeling like "falling asleep and never waking up". WAHEY. This unexpectedly suicidal for quirky old Nelly. I do LOVE the line "I'm drinking spirits in the hopes that I will find myself one". It might become my mantra for life.

06: Well Well

This is cute. It essentially sounds like someone took a theme tune from CBeebies and put a garage beat to it. It shouldn't work at all, but there's a carefree charm to this.

03: My Love Grows Deeper Part I

Again, I've NO idea what the poor dear is waffling on about. "Please, take me off my knees, my knees I don't want to be red anymore.". OK love, time for a lie down. This isn't one of my favourites, although at points Nelly does sound GORGEOUS on here. Sadly it's not consistent though, as Nelly insists on switching vocal style every 10 seconds as ever.

05: I Will Make U Cry

Intriguing. A mish-mash of styles, with Nelly singing seductively over Latin jazz before she suddenly switches to rapping over a dated drum'n'bass beat. Not my cup of tea, but an interesting experiment; a sign that there was substance to this bitch.

08: Scared Of You

I shouldn't like this because it's incredibly kitsch sounding, but Nelly really does sound wonderful here. She's finally put all the random quirks and rapping aside for a minute, and just SINGS.

07.5: Onde Estas

I have no understanding of what's she singing, and I cannot be bothered to use a translator. However this is very much a follow-on from Scared Of You in that Nelly continues to keep the quirk away, and sings BEAUTIFULLY. Let's see the other pop bitches try this.

03: I Feel You

Thankfully NOT an original of the CAREER-KILLING track farted out by Anastacia in '08. Although this isn't much better. The backing track is REALLY dated here, like the soundtrack to a Sega Mega Drive game.

04: My Love Grows Deeper Part II

Well of all the songs begging for a Part II, IT WASN'T THIS. Nelly's odd pronounciation returns, and I swear she's singing about being stuck on eBay :mellow:

The tune is an improvement on Part I I guess, cod reggae here.

 

Score: 5.60

Sounds like a crappy album :lol:

It's not her best, but it's nice. Uplifting, happy songs mostly. $h!t on the radio is easily my fave, very catchy and fantastic lyrics!