Nelly Furtado reaches inside.Review and Photos by Phil Bonyata
Nelly Furtado's rise in the spicy world of new pop has been fast and furious. With the platinum success of Whoa, Nelly! still in rotation on millions of CD players around the world, the Grammy-winning singer is screaming loudly to notice her on her terms.
Furtado threw a bubble-filled party for the predominately 20 something female audience. Bouncing on the stage with enough energy to recharge any fans dead batteries, Nelly charged into the reggae/pop of "Baby Girl" followed by the happy jams and up-tempo beats of "Party." Clad in a torn yellow blouse, tight-fitting jeans that hugged her petite yet shapely figure and woven scarf, that held back her jet black braided hair, Nelly worked her stage magic from hip to shaking hip. She spread her melodic world-beats, fused with pop rock, rap, disco and Portuguese fado as easily as Cupid flings his arrows at young lovers. The audience waved their arms so high on her pop smash hit "I'm Like a Bird" that they resembled a thousand bachelorettes fighting for the new bride's wedding flowers.
As the energy level stayed high, Nelly danced between the glimmering lights of the disco balls overhead during Missy Elliott's "Get Ur Freak On." "Khabi Khabi" oozed with slow-mo, sexy soul as the band brought it's sophisticated layerings into focus. The Portuguese/Canadian beauty played almost every song off of her debut album Whoa, Nelly!. Quality more than made-up for quantity as this was one of the finest albums to come out in 2000. Furtado ended her red-hot set with the soon-to-be pop classic "Turn Off the Light" which found you humming the infectious chorus all the way home.
Nelly Furtado's future is flooded with the anticipation of what comes next. How will this young woman surprise us? Can she make a better album than her brilliant debut Whoa, Nelly!? Only Nelly's fertile mind harbors the answers and right now she's not talkin'.
