Do you ever catch an old song on the radio and think, “damn, I need to add this to my library now!”
Here’s a tip, do yourself a favour and go through some old Nelly Furtado songs and put your phone to work on the downloads.
Furtado is a local, BC-born artist who hit the music scene like a meteor back in 1997 after graduation from Victoria’s Mount Doug Secondary School in 1996. She travelled to Toronto to visit her sister and that trip resulted in her meeting music executives that enjoyed her writing and gave her a shot to create her first album “Whoa, Nelly!” which launched in October of 2000.
18 years ago today @NellyFurtado released her debut album "Woah Nelly!" which gave us the smash hit "I'm Like A Bird" pic.twitter.com/kIzbiJ1zMt
— Ultimate Music (@UrUltimateMusic) October 24, 2018
She hit the scene hard with her debut album. It featured smash hits like “I”m Like a Bird“, “Turn Off the Light” and my personal favourite, “On the Radio“.
Her career took a turn to more hip-hop feel when she began to collaborate with famous music producer Timberland in 2006. With Timberland by her side, she created chart-topping singles like “Promiscuous“, “Maneater” and “Say It Right“.
Timberland produced her 2006 album Loose and merged Furtado’s voice and writing with 1980’s hip hop and R&B music to create something special. Her song “Say It Right” ended up becoming her most successful worldwide song with massive plays throughout Europe and the United States.
During her 2007 World Tour, she returned to her hometown of Victoria to perform at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena. In honour of her visit, local leaders proclaimed the 21st of March 2007, the first day of spring, as Nelly Furtado Day.
Lots of her tracks take you back to early 2000s vibes and for a lot of us, those were the glory days. It’s hard to beat a drive with the windows down and Furtado’s self-proclaimed “Punk-Hop” music blasting through the speakers.
It may be almost 20 years since Furtado came into the music industry’s spotlight but her music stays evergreen and represents the laid-back British Columbia vibes that we all enjoy.