kultura

It's official, sort of: Nelly Furtado is doing her best to trade her 'Whoa, Nelly!' girl-next-door image for more sexy, sultry, pop style that so far has gotten her tons of radio airtime and big arena concerts. While the evolution of the budding pop diva began a few years ago, her recent album 'Loose,' frequent collaborations and producing from Timbaland and a concert evocative of those from Kylie Minogue has made it a fait accompli. 

So what happens when an artist you've come to know and love sheds some of what you loved her for, and embraces a look, feel & style that are strangely familiar and mainstream? For the DJ here, I generally try to recall the old times fondly, embrace the newness and accept the artist (if they're good to begin with) for what they are now.

nelly, in her '80s costume.

My guess is that most artists' stylistic departures  (cough, cough Black Eyed Peas, Avril Lavigne) probably stem from pressure from labels to go bigger with more accessible, mainstream hits.  But during Nelly Furtado's concert in Fairfax, VA last week, it was tough to fully embrace the revamped star as such because it was clear that she hadn't fully embraced it yet herself.

To a packed audience seated in what is also used as a basketball arena, Furtado entered the stage from behind a huge glowing disco-ball, and, while singing with as much gusto as she could muster,  walked gingerly down a set of stairs to greet the crowd as four dancers bounced and hurtled back and forth across the stage.

She was in a skin-tight, '80s-style dress with bright yellow heels, and although she sounded great, she seemed uneasy as she made her way forward. Furtado sang a handful of songs in this outfit, singing all the right words on the right notes, but still seemingly going through the motions rather than being fully present on stage.  Confronting Furtado as an uneasy and detached performer was at times troubling, less because of nostalgia for who we thought she was, but more because of what the transformation seemed to represent as part of a larger trend.

As the night went on, however, there were several turning points at which we saw her shed the uneasiness, warm up and come into her own. She increasingly radiating the strength, authenticity and talent that's set her apart from most pop singers. The first transition was soon after a costume change from the skintight outfit into a flowy purple dress that evoked the whimsical style of previous albums. After a few ballads – which were beautiful, but repetitive as a medley – she stood in the spotlight at the front of the stage and did an acoustic version of Gnarls Barkley's hit song 'Crazy.'

Furtdo's  version of it – soulful and powerful – brought out the heart of the song, and was a kind of relief point at which she and the audience relaxed, comforted in the fact that underneath the costumes, the core artist was there, too. Following the rendition, there were a few other costume changes for both Furtado and her dancers, plus the introduction of a few members of band, including a rapper/musician named Socrates who filled in for Timbaland on those popular collabos that everyone wanted to hear.

Overall, the concert was a fun spectacle that aspired, stylistically, to pop super-stardom, but specific moments anchored the show amidst it all. One of the most authentic and passionate moments of the show was when Furtado was finally --thankfully -- in flat shoes and a soccer jersey, doing an updated rendition of 'Forca,' the Portuguese song that became an anthem for the country's soccer team in 2004. During the energetic performance, Furtado jumped up and down, singing with her entire self and engaging the audience in a way that she hadn't yet that night.

In that moment, with sweat beads on her face, exuberant and impassioned, Furtado reminded us all what she is capable of, when left to her own devices.

*the DJ*