Nelly Furtado: Back and ready to take on the world

Text & Photos: Joanna Goh
Videos: Fiona Lin

Guess which hippie Canadian musician surprised reporters when she name-dropped 'Oppa Gangnam Style' (a Korean viral hit by PSY) and "a guy doing the horse move" that's raging all over the airwaves right now?

In Singapore for an exclusive music showcase and to promote her upcoming fifth English music album, The Spirit Indestructible, Nelly Furtado may have been out of sight for the past six years, but the chirpy singer's clearly not out of touch with what's popular on the airwaves.

A music artiste who bravely dabbles in all sorts of genres ranging from pop to folk, and even R&B and aboriginal tunes, Nelly takes pride in her eclectic sound and tries to keep herself abreast with all music styles. That probably explains why she decided to call The Spirit Indestructible, "world music in one album" when asked to describe her newest project.

Back with renewed vigour, at the press conference in Hard Rock Hotel yesterday, the self-dubbed "international artiste" also shared her desires to collaborate with Big Bang's TOP on her new song 'Big Hoops and admitted that "the average K-Pop artiste is not so easy to phone up on the phone."

Though she didn't reveal further details on it, Nelly promised that something is "in the works". "We'll see what happens. But I do foresee a collaboration of some kind with K-Pop or J-Pop. I definitely do love what they're doing."

In a separate interview, the 33-year-old told xinmsn she spent three years toiling on this album and produced a total of 40 tracks, which will be whittled down to 12 on the studio edition and 18 on the deluxe album for The Spirit Indestructible.