The music industry can be brutally unforgiving. One moment you're sitting pretty on top of the Billboard charts with a successful debut album only to see your sophomore album fade into obscurity due to a number of reasons.
While many artists completely fall off the radar, there are others that manage to survive the trial by fire and carve out a successful career, even if they don't quite receive the same level of attention as they did when they made their first big splash.
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An artist who probably knows this well is Nelly Furtado. The singer's debut album Whoa, Nelly! achieved platinum status on the strength of its inescapable hit "I'm Like a Bird", a song that's still played on light music radio stations to this day. The second single "Turn Off the Light" showed Ms. Furtado was a capable artist with actual songwriting talent.
With so much success and momentum behind her, Nelly Furtado was poised to deliver a sure to be successful sophomore effort and yet in 2003 Folklore arrived yet it succumbed to the fate of poor sales, at least here in the United States. Was it because Furtado had chosen to shift from breezy pop to becoming one of those “I'm an artist with something to say and want to be taken seriously” musical acts? Listening to the album, it's a fair assumption. In fact, the album opener “One Trick Pony” begins with Furtado telling the world “I am not a one trick pony”. Folklore is not a bad album, but Furtado's shift from a restless, creatively eccentric act to a woman launching a tirade against the media was jarring (see: “Powerless (Say What You Want)”).
Would Nelly Furtado become another victim of the sophomore slump? Indeed she did, but it didn't stop her either. Joining forces with producer extraordinaire Timbaland, Furtado released Loose in 2006 and it proved to be her big comeback. Lead single “Promiscuous” became a radio staple, presenting a slightly more PG Furtado trading sexually laced come-ons with Timbaland. Subsequent singles “Maneater” and “Say It Right” continued the momentum, catapulting Loose to over seven million copies sold, even if she did receive some mild criticism for adopting a sexual image.
After the huge success of Loose, expectations for Furtado's follow-up were high. Choosing to do things on her schedule, Furtado instead released a Spanish-language album, Mi Plan in 2009. It wasn't until 2012 that she decided to return to making English language music, releasing The Spirit Indestructible in September.
Six years is an eternity in the music business. Trends change, new artists emerge, and despite having proven hit makers like Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins on board, The Spirit Indestructible was a commercial failure. Poor promotion coupled with four singles that each failed to make a chart impact plus lyrics that seemed to suggest an identity crisis, the album was largely ignored.
Fast forward to 2017 and once again, Nelly Furtado is demonstrating that she is not an artist who lives and dies by the music charts. Her sixth album intriguingly titled The Ride is set for release through her own independent label Nelstar Entertainment and, if the album cover art is any indication, this older and wiser Nelly Furtado is doing things on her own terms. The signature, retro-inspired name logo that's appeared on each of her previous albums is gone in favor of a simple one with her initials.
The first single “Pipe Dreams” is a mid-tempo song that will probably never make it onto radio as Furtado tells her significant she'd rather “feel the good and vile in everything / Even when it hurts”. The second single “Cold Hard Truth” released late last month is a livelier kiss off to someone she doesn't need anymore because she can do it on her own, and at this stage in her career, it’s incredibly appropriate.
If these two singles are anything to go by, Nelly Furtado does indeed sound like a seasoned performer who has paid her dues and knows exactly who she is. Free from whatever constraints and expectations placed upon by record labels, The Ride may finally bring us the most accurate portrait of the artist Furtado has strived to be since she emerged onto the music scene seventeen years ago, and it's sure to be a thrilling one.
