Review - Nelly Furtado - The Spirit Indestructible

Nelly Furtado took a few years off after her hit 2006 album ‘Loose’ to take on some other projects. The Canadian singer-songwriter put out a successful Latin album and then a severely underperforming greatest hits album. The first single from the ‘Best Of…’, “Night Is Young” served as a warning for what was to come. If only we all knew…

‘The Spirit Indestructible’ is easily Nelly’s worst album in her career. Her success has ebbed and peaked over the years, but this is going to be a serious new low. Even when she released an album that was less than killer in terms of sales and radio play (say, for example, ‘Folklore’, an album that failed to chart any single in the US), the music was still pretty good.

‘TSI’ (as it was first titled, but was quickly changed because no one understood what it was) has nothing on it even resembling a hit single. Lead single “Big Hoops (The Bigger The Better)” wasn’t just a flop – it sucked. The song was just stupid. Reading the lyrics, you realize she doesn’t have a single coherent thought in the three and a half minutes. The second try was the title track, which is aiming for inspiring, but falls flat. Third single overall (and second official for the US market) “Parking Lot” is a terrible choice, and I have no idea what possessed anyone to even attempt this. So, what this says is that before the album has even been released, it has three failed singles. Off to a good start!

I will point out that musically there is some good variation on the album. World influences pop up here and there, such as on the last track, “Believers (Arab Spring)”. Aside from that, we are left thinking “what happened?”, and even worse “Who is Nelly Furtado?”. Years ago we were given the poptastic “Maneater” and “Promiscuous”, both of which were mainstream but saw her creating a style all her own. Tracks on ‘TSI’ sound like so many other singers – M.I.A. on “Parking Lot”, Madonna’s “Frozen” on “Miracles”, and Jennifer Lopez’s “Waiting For Tonight” on…get this…”Waiting For The Night”. Yes, you read that right.

The parts of the LP that might be original to Nelly are the worst pieces offered. Where is Timbaland when you need him?

Listen to: “Bucket List”, “Circles”, or her last album.

Here is an album sampler, so you can get an idea of what we’re talking about.