Missy's "Get ur Freak On" remix is not what you might have expected. Well, it wasn't what I expected, that reggae-kinda-singing on top of a Timbaland track. The first listen takes some getting used to. And who is Nelly Furtado?
Her caribbean style of singing on the song had me thinking that it was some little known reggae singer.
With no other information available, I decided that that's who she was and left it at that.
Two weeks ago I was picking up some cd's and there it was: a Nelly Furtado cd at the listening booth.. My first reaction was the same as before. who?...and then it hit me.. "Oh, that's the girl singing on Missy's remix." The headphones are immediately placed on the ears and five minutes later I'm pulling out ten dollar bills, twenties, fifties (I got dough like that).. so I can pay for the cd.
I got home and played the cd three times in a row and then again before I went to work. The girl's voice and style of singing had me in a loop. Her sound is a combination of hip hop, reggae, latin, folk, and r&b all mixed together in one glass. The ice keeping everything cold and tasty is the spare bass heavy production provided by Nelly herself and her producers Track and Field Productions.
Is it a surprise that this singer with Portugese roots was tagged by Missy to sing on the remix? Uh huh. One day, she got the call from Missy and agreed to "come on down." She came into the studio thinking that she would sing a few lines and be done with it. But when she got in the booth and began singing, Missy, liking what she was hearing, told her to keep going - that's why you hear Nelly basically singing the whole song for delf.
A lover of all things free, open, and soulful, Nelly says that she sings because there is an artist in her. An artist that pushes her to sing and create music that connects with the soul.
"I know what soul is and I know what God is. I know what it feels like to sing on the top of a mountain as if God is pumping Abraham straight into me from heaven."
She began performing in both English and Portugese at the age of four, picked up on the ukele and trombone during her teen years, when she played with jazz, concert, and marching bands in her hometown of Victoria B.C., Canada
When she received a tape recorder at the age of eight, she would sing into the built in microphone - those were her first recorded songs. Then at eleven she received a little electric keyboard, you know, the kind that have the built in waltz and polka rhythms, hers also had a built in scratch effect.
By the time she was fourteen, under the influence of music by Ice T, LL Cool J, New Edition, The Pharcyde, Digable Planets, TLC, Tribe Called Quest, and anything else hip hop or r&b related, she began to write her own rhymes. That only lasted a few months, she went back to singing and performed for awhile with a Toronto hip hop group.
Eventually new sounds found their way into her headphones and she began to listen to other artists like Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, and Portishead, who played a big influence in her current style of singing. In addition to those artists influences were many drum and bass acts, Brazilian music, and the Beatles.
What you have here is one well rounded 20 year old.
Her album Whoa Nelly which was released last November, flew under the radar but retailers have been dusting it off. I saw it at number 14 at a local Sam Goody.
She will also be performing in a summer concert called Area One which features Outkast, The Roots, and a bunch of other artists hand-picked by Moby.
If you can't make the concert than check out The Jay Leno Show on June 14th (this Thursday) where she will be performing the "Get Ur freak On" remix with Missy. Due to their conflicting schedules it is being billed as a one time only performance.
