Multiplatinum and multicultural recording artist Nelly Furtado flies like a bird to the 9:30 Club Monday night in support of her sophomore release, “Folklore.”
In 2000, when the then-20-year-old Miss Furtado released her debut album, “Whoa, Nelly,” it was tempting to take one look at her age, her punny CD title and fresh-faced beauty and assume she was just another pop tart — hot, sweet, briefly satisfying and ultimately disposable.
But it only took one listen to her wild melange of songs, which blended hip-hop, Portuguese fado, pop, classical, Brazilian and dance styles, to put away those notions: This was a young woman of too much substance for such a small box.
“Whoa, Nelly” went 10 times platinum worldwide, won a Grammy and four Junos (the Canadian Grammy) and had the most requested radio song of 2001, “Turn Off the Light.”
Other respected musicians embraced her: U2 invited her to open for the band in its native Ireland, and she made guest appearances on recordings by Missy Elliott, Jurassic 5 and the Roots, as well as on the all-star tribute recording of the Marvin Gaye classic, “What’s Goin’ On.”
“I like to be ahead of the curve and not doing what everyone else is doing,” she says in partial explanation of her ability to appeal to critics, audiences and other musicians. “I don’t think I could fit into a box if I tried.”
Miss Furtado was born in Canada to Portuguese immigrant parents. If “Whoa, Nelly” put a spotlight on her cultural heritage and musical identities, Miss Furtado’s newest CD, “Folklore,” puts it under a magnifying glass. Instead of the kinetic pastiche that made her debut so successful, Miss Furtado took a more personal approach. She didn’t sample her musical heroes — Caetano Veloso, Bela Fleck and the Kronos Quartet; she brought them into the studio to perform with her. Lyrically, she confesses to getting more personal too.
“When you’re younger, you get really more edgy with the lyrics, and they’re full of innuendo so you can hide behind meaning,” she says. “The songs on ’Folklore’ come from this wise place; there’s more perspective. It’s kind of a selfish record in a way, like a diary so I can heal. It’s about my working-class background, my mixed heritage, love.”
Honesty and authenticity abound, from the first radio single, “Powerless (Say What You Want),” about holding on to your identity when you can’t control how people define you. “Saturdays” is based on a poem she wrote when she was 15 and would work with her mother, who ran housekeeping services at the Robin Hood Motel in Victoria, British Columbia.
There’s little of the scat-rap and whoop that sparked and sizzled on “Whoa, Nelly.” “Folklore” is stripped down — vocally, lyrically and musically. Miss Furtado says she was happy to follow her instinct because it had more practical benefits as well.
“I’m hoping the material on ’Folklore’ will be a little more forgiving. ’Whoa, Nelly’ was a very vocally challenging album. I had to be very disciplined on the road to pull that off night after night,” she says.
Even as she evolves musically, Miss Furtado says she’s going to scale back the spectacle for her “Folklore” tour. “There won’t be any bubbles onstage this time around,” she says with a laugh, referring to her 2002 “Burn in the Spotlight” tour.
“I have a lot more to give now; I have much more of an emotional well to draw from,” she says.
The birth of a daughter, Nevis, last September to Miss Furtado and her boyfriend, DJ Li’l Jaz, added another dimension to the singer’s maturity.
“Having my daughter makes me appreciate my career more because I realize that music isn’t my whole life,” she says.
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On Tuesday R&B singer Angie Stone will bring some soul to the stage of the 9:30 Club. Expect her to introduce a few tracks from her new CD, “Stone Love” (scheduled to drop later this summer), and to revisit songs from her previous releases.
A self-taught musician, singer and songwriter, Miss Stone spent much of her early career struggling on the brink of success. When the neo-soul movement exploded in the mid-’90s, Miss Stone’s old-school style finally had an outlet — and an audience. Her critically acclaimed 1999 solo debut “Black Diamond” went platinum, and the follow-up, 2002’s “Mahogany Soul,” sealed her reputation as a performer in the tradition of Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, and Aretha Franklin.
Fans praise her lyrical honesty, positivity and spirituality, contrasting it to the bling-bling braggadocio that afflicts many of her musical contemporaries.
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