Loose in Bloomington, MN

If
Nelly Furtado
's nearly impenetrable 2003 sophomore effort,
Folklore
, proved anything, it was that this modern-day singer/songwriter is smart and ambitious yet doesn't quite have a handle on those very qualities. Dabbling in
worldbeat
and chronicling the perils of immediate success, she indulged herself without a care for the audience -- and the audience responded in kind, as the album barely cracked the
Billboard
Top 40, spawned no hits, and sold about a quarter of what her Grammy-winning debut did. Clearly a rethink of some sort was in order for her next album, and 2006's
Loose
, delivered about three years later, certainly does present a different
: one who is glammed up, sexed up, and ready for the dancefloor. Borrowing liberally from
Gwen Stefani
's ghetto fabulous makeover and a little bit from
Justin Timberlake
's sleek retro-'80s moves on
Justified
,
Furtado
now has a sound that's straight 2006; with hooks that feel as comfortable as bumper music on
MTV
as they do as background on cell phone commercials or as ringtones, she can blend into the hyper-saturated media culture of 2006, a move that may alienate fans who were won over by how her debut,
Whoa, Nelly!
, sounded like nothing else in 2000. No matter how club-friendly
is -- even its quieter moments, like the closing
"All Good Things (Come to an End)"
(co-written in part by
Coldplay
's
Chris Martin
), feel like ideal soundtracks to chill-out moments -- ultimately
did not get a swan-styled makeover, where her original personality has been chiseled and chipped away so only a vestige of her remains. Remember,
is nothing if not smart, and she smartly picked
Timbaland
, one of the very best producers in modern music, as her main collaborator for
.
helmed all but two of the 12 main tracks here -- the album weighs in at 13 songs, but one is a Spanish version of the
Juanes
duet
"Te Busque"
-- and he gives much of this music a bracing feel, dense with old-school synths, subtle sample collages, bone-crunching bass, cascading vocal hooks, and beats that sound so heavy it takes careful listening to realize how nimble they are. Nowhere is this more evident than on the killer opening triptych of
"Afraid,"
"Maneater,"
and
"Promiscuous,"
three songs that trumpet
's makeover and make it seem pretty convincing, too -- particularly on
"Maneater"
with its circular, minor-key bass and
"Promiscuous"
with its chorus that sounds like vintage
Prince
. This is
at his best, and the only weak link is
; no matter how she growls on
or murmurs on
-- no matter how much she sings about sex, period -- she just doesn't sound sexy. She sounds as if she's striving to be sexy, which doesn't generate much carnal heat, but it ultimately doesn't matter much since on all the heavy
dance
songs, of which there are a bunch, she's mixed into the background on
's production, functioning as another instrument, which helps the music work as just a stylish wall of sound.
doesn't fight against
's mix, which proves her smarts more than anything on the showy
; there's a reason why she chose
as a collaborator, and she lets him shine for the first half of the record, as they get the party rolling. Then on the second half of the record, the old
Nelly
starts to show through. She gets to play the world traveler with
"No Hay Igual,"
where she deftly blends
reggaeton
M.I.A.
, along with the smooth
Latin pop
ballad
"Te Busque."
Her words gradually come to the forefront, as on
"Say It Right"
-- a dark meditative piece that would have fit on her previous records if it didn't have a
production -- or on the sweetly ruminative
"In God's Hands,"
and then on
"Wait for You,"
which has Indian-influenced hooks and a melody reminiscent of
"I'm Like a Bird,"
both strands are pulled together in a haunting fashion.
It's on this final stretch of the album that the
pairing seems like a genuine collaboration, staying true to the
of her first two albums, but given an adventurous production that helps open her songs up. Unlike the music on
, the idiosyncrasies intrigue instead of frustrate, and deliver on the promise of her debut, when it seemed like
could do anything. That said, the music on the second half isn't nearly as immediate or addictive as
two singles that were already deserved hits (in the U.K. and U.S., respectively) when
was released. The genius on these two songs is down to
, who not only crafts the sound but vocally overshadows
's mumbled raps on the latter. But
is smart enough to let him dominate here, since she knows that
has revitalized
both creatively and commercially with
, so it's only appropriate that he hogs the spotlight on its two best moments. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine