Loose Import

Nelly Furtado, the sweet girl who sang "I'm like a bird", has become "Loose" and "Promiscuous" for this album. Nothing wrong with that. Most young female pop artists, no matter what genre they come from, end up trying out the current pop trend for size. Even the iconic Jewel had a dance-oriented album, "0304", and to me it was her best one.So, how did Nelly's experiment work out? Pretty good, I say. We hear hip-hop dance tracks, ranging from the lighter ("Afraid", "Do It"), which have a Britney/Gwen Stefani sound, to the harder ("Maneater", "Glow"), which are closer to Justin T's music. "Promiscuous" fits into this category also, with Nelly and Timbaland trading lines like "Promiscuous girl, U know what I want, and I got what U need/Promiscuous boy, let's get 2 the point". Hint: they are not discussing bus tickets. Foreign influences spark "No Hay Igual" (Spanish, very rhythmic), "Te Busque" (a ballad in 2 versions, one mostly Spanish, one with more English), and "Wait For You" (MidEast-inflected). "Showtime" and "In God's Hands" are soft ballads with good melodies. Two of the best tracks are "Say It Right", an excellent pop radio hit, and "All Good Things", which has a chorus that calls to mind Madonna's "This Used To Be My Playground".I guess it all depends on what you want from an artist. I'm sure many of Jewel's fans did not like her dance album, and I've read that many consider "Loose" a selling-out on Nelly's part. But, I happen to like the Madonna/Britney/Stefani brand of pop music, and for me, this CD has that quality along with enough varied influences to make it interesting. And Nelly's vocal traits - melodious voice, warmth, humor - are still evident, although the resulting album is certainly different from her previous ones.

The single Say It Right immediately got my attention when I heard it on the radio. I checked out the samples here and thought they sounded good enough to take a chanceand buy the album. I don't normally buy much Pop music, but after receiving my copy of Loose and giving it a listen, I was extremely pleased with the album. Every track was good. I didn't have to use my "skip" button on the remote once. I think one of the reasons that downloading individual songs has become so popular is because albums as solid as Loose is very rare anymore. Most albums you are doing good to get 2 or 3 strong tracks. I look for more singles to be released off this album in the future, the album as a whole is strong. The tracks on the album are versatile enough that you won't get bored while listening. Whether an upbeat track suitable for dancing or a ballad, all the tracks have an infectious rythym. So as to balance my review, let's not forget this, is, a Pop album and includes songs like Maneater and Promiscuous which are so Bubblegum they make you turn the volume lower to prevent anyone from knowing you are listening to them. But, Promiscuous was a single, although it didn't blow up like Say It Right, and the other tracks later in the album soon remind me why I like this album so. I don't write many reviews, I'm not into critiqueing each and every song but occasionally an album such as Loose comes along that strikes me as being so above average that I feel compelled to submit some positive feedback. So there you have it.

I fell in love with the sound of Nelly Furtado, when I first heard Turn Out The Light, and continued to be captivated by follow up tunes such as, Like A Bird. I can tell you from my review of Loose, gone are the interesting, fresh, original, and nicely-quirky stylings of Nelly; only to be replaced by basically two quite opposite and (to this listener) unappealing genres. Other than the minor-hit All Good Things~Come To An End, I found nothing captivating whatsoever. Even this half-decent song has much MUCH better versions available on-line.For the most part, this CD is all down and sold out with the mass-produced music of the wannbe "hood." Yo--Let's all get a guest gift-rapper for some street-cred...Gimme a break! Is this really what Nelly Furtado fans are looking for... Really? And, tagging on the final so-called bonus track en espanol, popped up completely out of place and had me tilting my head saying, "Eh-Porque?" This listener didn't get it. I know Nelly has released CDs with lyrics in Spanish, and she's in-deed moving on the Latin-charts. I respect that, as her Latin music is good and should appeal to that market. But, what taste is she going for on this Loose CD...? latin...hip-hop....pop....Nelly-billy???To me, this CD is a hodge-podge of genres; like a brand new artist who's struggling to find their niche. Reminded me of some weak compilation of various studio audition tapes. I would have thought she had locked in her sound by now, but it appears there is no direction and she's still looking... I'm afraid I won't be looking (or listening) until she gets it together on a track that I can once again appreciate.As many other reviewers have said, save your money from the CD purchase and cherry-pick the song/s you like from other on-line sources. Definately don't drop the full price for this CD!

It's not perfect in my opinion, but the high points more than make up for the low points on the album.Songs like "Say It Right" (one of the best pop songs of the past decade) and "Promiscous" represent a perfect blend of pop and hip hop/RnB, Tim and Nelly.Timbaland's production is outstanding. He puts in some of the best, most exciting and creative work of his amazing career here.Highly recommend for Nelly fans, Tim fans, of fans of good pop and RnB.