Nelly Furtado

Loose

Geffen • http://www.nellyfurtado.com

Many female pop musicians cite Madonna as a role model, although presumably they’re thinking of her longevity and broad ambition rather than her creative control. In bold contrast, Nelly Furtado would probably give up her career if she couldn’t make the music she wanted.

Furtado’s third album, Loose, brings back the bounce, modified into a more dancefloor-direct R&B. With commercial and artistic shrewdness worthy of Missy Elliott, Furtado put out advance word via “Promiscuous,” a casual-sex single notable for its relative minimalism, its duet appearance of Loose co-producer Timbaland and its near-innocent evocation of the zipless fuck.

If “Promiscuous” is the teaser, Loose is the payoff. Timbaland and Danja Handz keep the surface of the music glossy but never bury Furtado beneath it. The three of them recall Stevie Wonder’s fertile period – complete with condescension-free use of a children’s choir – on the opening cry of “Afraid,” while they bring together the plastic pleasures of Miami (where Loose was mostly recorded) and Furtado’s Portuguese heritage in “No Hay Igual” and “Te Busque.”

While Loose is altogether a shallower experience than Folklore, Furtado remains a singer and songwriter of fascinatingly playful determination, making respectable use of artists as diverse as Juanes and Coldplay’s Chris Martin, who helps close the album with the ethereal strumming and pop philosophy of “All Good Things (Come to an End).” Unlike Madonna’s descendants and indeed unlike Madonna herself, Nelly Furtado adapts commercialism to the earnest whims of her heart, rather than the other way around.

Jon M. Gilbertson is Vital Source's Music Editor. He also freelances for just about every pub in the region that writes about the subject.