Disco de Nelly Furtado: “Loose [International]”

Nelly Furtado's collaboration with Timbaland and Danja has really paid off - her third studio album has something for anybody who's into Pop, Latin, Dance, R&B and Hip Hop, with three hot singles right off the bat in "Promiscuous", "Maneater" and "No Hay Igual".

Spiced up by guest appearances by Attitude and Latin super-hottie Juanes, this album is packed with guaranteed hits and potential singles including the three above, plus "Afraid", "Glow", "Te Busque", "Say It Right", "Do It", "Wait For You" (great intro), and the beautiful ballads "In God's Hands" and "All Good Things (Come to an End)", which is one of the best songs on the album.

At almost an hour long, Nelly really delivers the goods with this album, both as a singer and songwriter. For three more songs, check out the Japanese version, also sold on Amazon.

Amanda Richards, June 20, 2006

I am going to go against the grain, and the masses, by saying that this is not Furtado's best work. If you don't believe me, go and listen to "Whoa, Nelly!" (2000) and "Folklore" (2003). I know that Furtado wanted to do a dance-oriented album, but "Loose" fails in comparison to, say, Madonna's "Confessions On A Dancefloor". Lyrically, "Loose" isn't Furtado's best work either. Choosing an in demand producer like Timbaland actually made this project stale as a week old piece of bread. The beats are mechanical, programmed, calculated. By the time you get to the end of the disc you feel like you've heard this all before.

The timing and marketing have been impeccable. I mean, this is the hottest selling album of the summer. Why? It's mindless dancefloor fun, but it's also summertime. Let's see this album get a release in the dead of winter and what the sales would be then.

All of my critical judgements aside, there are always some merits to every Furtado album, and this one has several songs, the strongest being "Afraid", "Maneater", "Promiscuous", "Glow" and "No Hay Igual". "Say It Right" and "Do It" are the lesser dance tracks. Then there's the mid-tempo "Wait For You" with it's Middle-Eastern sitar cliche that's been done so many times. I didn't like any of the ballads like "Showtime", "Te Busque" or "In God's Hands" (which sounds like Jewel to me). "All Good Things (Come To An End)" is a decent track to end on, but the Spanish version of "Te Busque" was redundant and unnecessary.

"Loose" is partially entertaining, but at Furtado's age, and with her background, I was expecting something more substantial than this. I felt "Loose" panders to the teenage crowd rather than utilizing Furtado's strengths and blending them with something more unique and meaningful. She could do a dance album with Erasure, Depeche Mode or Pet Shop Boys, or even a hip hop urban dance record with Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, P. Diddy, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Dallas Austin or Wyclef Jean.

I guess with the poor sales of "Folklore" Furtado had to get back in the scene, and that she did. So, hopefully with this success she'll bounce back with some spectacular next.

When I heard the song "Promiscuous" on the radio, I couldn't believe it was Nelly Furtado. As someone who owns and loves "Whoa, Nelly", I couln't imagine she will go in the direction she is right now. I am not surprised though, since I heard the excellent remix to "Get your freak on". I have to say I love this album. It's very upbeat; there are only three slow songs. If I didn't give it five stars, its because I really don't like "Glow", "Showtime" and "Do it". If you like dance music, buy this cd. "Maneater", "Afraid", "Te busque", "No hay igual", "Wait for you" and "All good things" are excellent songs. I specially love "All good things"; the chorus is extremely beautiful.

im tired of hearing all of these people calling nelly furtado a sell out. it says alot; that you haters only bought this cd and forgot about her other 2 efforts. as a TRUE fan who has followed her music, I would say that this album is not much different than her last 2. "whoa nelly" was more upbeat, "folklore" was more low key, and "loose" is in fact loose. she started out as a writing hooks for r&b and rap songs, she was in a trip-hop group, and her sound is and will never be classified as "just". she explores every type of music and we should be greatful to have an artist to do so. do your freak research. she's done soo much rap work with ms. jade, missy, and timbaland before she was so "mainstream". get over it!

other than that, the album is awesome. the best tracks are "afraid", "showtime", "say it right", "in god's hands", "all good things", and WAIT FOR YOU!!! <--- i freakin love that song with a passion!!!! other than that, if you are a TRUE fan, not just someone buying this cd not knowing who she really was/is, then buy it. if not, you know what to do

Once upon a time in the not-so-distant past, there lived a young woman named Nelly Furtado who was earnest and tried to make honest music. She had success with one album, but the public soon lost interest. The young woman had a choice. She could maintain her integrity, continue to make honest music and make only a small amount of money. She could sell out, act like the other pop tarts and sing about sex to inane beats. She decided to sing like a tart. She had a big hit singing about sex. She lost her soul, but sold a lot of records that made a lot of money. The moral of this story is that it pays to be immoral. The moral of this story is that pop music is painfully boring and uses sex to make up for an absence of talent. Whoops. I thought that this was going to have a fairy tale kind of ending, something you might want to read to your kids at night. Sorry about that. Really sorry.