Nelly Furtado

The girl of 2001 returns with a third album of attitude and harder sexy appeal. Loose takes her into Madonna territory where feisty confidence, fat crisp grooves, and a myriad of catchy vocal hooks, spliced together by top drawer producers (Timbaland and Danja) and slick performers take front of stage. The Portuguese-Canadian songstress has decamped from the quirk and wit of I'm Like A Bird and Turn Off The Light (also produced by Timbaland), from debut album Woah Nelly, to a sexier, street tough, beat driven side of the road. She describes it as her punk hop album.

First single release, Maneater, could well become the r‘n'b hip hop anthem of the summer, fusing a hard edge rhythm with a softer side ultra catchy chorus. Nelly duets with Timbaland on the sexy Promiscuous, while Showtime is driven by a cool jazz drum groove that is appropriately high in the mix. Her multi cultural roots are explored amid alluring conga percussion on No Hay Igual, and on the mellower Te Busque with Latin singing sensation Juanes. Say It Right and the beautiful In Gods Hands avoid the urban tag and are my pick of the bunch.

Nelly is versatile enough to wear her tougher urban side well, but the albums strength is her personality and unique style rather than any genre she's imitating. Titled Loose “…because I really let myself go on this album,” she explained, and good luck to her for doing her thing. The harder hip-hop moments are not my kind of juice, but I like this kid, I like her more than this album, successful as it will no doubt be, and I look forward to her next body of work.

Rob Barnett, Music News