Nelly Furtado continues in the tradition of uniqueness her second time out on "Folklore." Mixing up her indigenous elements with modern pop stylings. I'm digging "Explode." Her Portugese roots are alive on tracks like "Forca" and "Island of Wonder." You can hear hip hop influences in "Fresh Off The Boat."

My standouts are:

• Picture Perfect This song is sonic beauty. Furtado soars vocally on this track. I love the melody.
  
  
• Island of Wonder So ethnic. I love the percussion and the looped wind instruments. The male guest star on this track has a rich voice! Feels like your sailing on the Atlantic listening to this. Love to hear this live.
  
  
• One-Trick Pony Nice opener. Furtado addresses the naysayers. The beat is great.
  
  
• Childhood Dreams Transcendental and calming.
  

Great follow-up to "Whoa! Nelly."

JANFAN4L said:

I love the record. Not as experimental as her debut, but still very solid. Picture Perfect is a wonderful track, probably my favourite.

VoicesCarry said:

but you're ragging on mj?

VoicesCarry said:

Yeah, the album sounds more establishment-oriented whereas her debut was fresh and you could feel her bursting out as a new talent with new ideas. She was more out of the box on Whoa Nelly and the singles were stronger from her first album, IMO. She killed me with the remixes on the first record (notably "Turn Off The Light (Remix)"). She sounds older on this record and more established.

imnotsayinthisjust2bnasty said:

What, I'm not allowed to dislike "Invincible" but like "Folklore"?

JANFAN4L said:

You're right. I'm really sad about the lukewarm reception to this record, but then the record company did about 0 promotion...I hope the sales eventually pick up, as word of mouth spreads. I picked up a few copies this week as Christmas gifts.

Oh, I forgot to add "Saturdays" to my list of standouts! The song is very playful and I love the back and forth sing-a-long quality of Nelly and her co-star. "Folklore" is a cool record. I think Nelly's finding her way with this album and establishing herself.

VoicesCarry said:

I think once "Powerless" gets heavier rotation the album will pick up. It'll definitely get copped more once she has a few more singles out. I wasn't completely sold on Nelly until she dropped "...On The Radio (Remember The Days)" and "Turn Off The Light." I'll give her time.

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[This message was edited Wed Dec 10 12:18:37 PST 2003 by JANFAN4L]

You know, I LOVED her debut and was really looking forward to this one. I've listened a few times and was disappointed. My favorite track is "The grass is green" which is good, but the rest.. eh. This album doesn't have the signature vocal stylings of the other one. And that track with the guy singing along (island something) ICK!

I'm gonna have to pick this one up and judge for myself. I dug the first record. She's unique, and I love that. It also doesn't hurt that she's SO CUTE. And forget MJ!! This is Nelly's thread!!

Great album.
I prefer it to Whoa Nelly.

hot for Nelly...

Don´t forget "The Grass Is Green", another stand-out track. I love that record!

I really, really, really, really loved her first cd. I hope this one doesn't disapoint too much. Did she use the same producer? I'm afraid the producer had a lot of influence on the sound of the cd. I know he did becuase I read an article about it on www.shitontheradio.com

Have you guys checked that website out? I haven't in a while and DAMN! There is lots of stuff on it. Pictures from her tour, tons of articles, downloads of performances...

I prefer this album to Whoa Nelly as well. I think the production sounds a little more mature, and her voice isn't quite as "whiny". This is a very good album, and my favorites are Picture Perfect, Saturdays, One Trick Pony, and Childhood Dreams.

Check out "Nelly performs on Extra", its a performance clip on the homepage of www.shitontheradio.com

Motherhood has changed her a bit... I hope people like her still, as they should. So much of this industry is based on looks. It really sucks.