Nelly Furtado - Folklore (CD)

All Music Guide

Unlike some of her modernday neosinger/songwriter peers, Nelly Furtado never hid her ambition, never hid her desire to be an "important" artist, which was part of the charm of her debut, Whoa Nelly. Despite (or perhaps because of) her youth, she was willing to try anything, blending a number of sounds and styles, all of which were tied together by her sincerety and audacious desire to say something grand, or at least say everything grandly. Her musical restlessness was underpinned by a sensibility that was fundamentally serious but leavened by sly humor, all of which made Whoa Nelly a bracing listen. Her second album, Folklore, is a bit of a different situation. Released three years after her debut, it picks up where the first record leaves off, but it's a much more serious affair, a situation telegraphed by the album covers. Whoa Nelly and Folklore mirror each other both bear the same Nelly Furtado logo, both feature a reclining Nelly, but where the debut was bright, girlish and rath...er innocent, finding her lying to the right in a field, she's now bathed in warm, dark colors, looking rather sultry as she lies to the left amongst a bunch of leaves. The artwork implies she's more mature, and it's a sentiment that's mirrored in the album titles, since the plainspoken Folklore lacks the humor of Whoa, Nelly, and suggests she'd rather play it straight than play around. And that's the problem with Folklore: though it surely has impressive moments, the album is a selfconscious, somber affair that takes itself far too seriously. Read more Less