Pop Quiz: Nelly Furtado

Pop Quiz: Nelly Furtado

Aidin Vaziri | Being the earthy antidote to Britney and Christina earned her a hit with "I'm Like a Bird." Now Nelly Furtado has gone back to her first love: R&B. With her third album, "Loose," the Portuguese-Canadian singer gets a sexy new makeover, thanks to hip-hop hitmaker Timbaland, who produced more than half of the disc's 13 tracks, alongside Pharrell Williams, Scott Storch and Lester Mendez. Meanwhile, Coldplay front man Chris Martin dropped by to sing backing vocals on "All Good Things (Come to an End)." So far, the gamble has paid off. Furtado, 27, whose daughter, Nevis, was born in 2003, has scored a major summer hit with "Promiscuous Girl," a song celebrating the joys of getting it on and getting it often.

Nelly Furtado
Q: So, aren't new moms supposed to write sensitive folk songs about lesbian dolphins? You sound like a horny 16-year-old on spring break.
A: I know. It's weird. It's the genre of music, I think. You know, R&B, hip-hop, is my first love. It's like an old blanket. When I was 11 or 12, it was my whole world. My friends and I would dress up as TLC for Halloween and sing Salt 'n' Pepa songs. We really felt it in our hearts, and I don't think that ever really dies. When I sing these songs on the new album, they do hark back to that time. I think that's why it sounds like I'm 16 years old. I just went back to a more innocent place in my life where I felt so happy and overjoyed.
Q: Do you think a lot of your old fans heard the new album and thought, "What the hell?"
A: It depends on the fan. I met Pharrell last year in the studio in Miami and we had this conversation. He said, "If you follow who you think are your fans, you'll lose because your fans don't always stay the same. If you keep putting out the same music they'll move on to someone else." So that made an impact on me. For me, I think, life is evolution -- whether good or bad, if you keep moving then it doesn't get stagnant. I've gained a lot of new fans, too.