Nelly Furtado: Loose : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

While Missy Elliott cooks with the Neptunes, Timbaland is out to prove he can produce an omnipop multiformat blockbuster in the style of Gwen Stefani's Love Angel Music Baby -- but without Gwen. Instead, he passes the mike to Canadian chirper Nelly Furtado, a mighty strange choice for an R&B goddess, but that's Timbaland for you. Furtado had a dodgy 2001 pop hit you might remember, the ornithologically themed "I'm Like a Bird." But she disappeared instantly, and by now you'd expect her to be on a reality show, sharing a Miami Beach condo with Meredith Brooks and Paula Cole. Timbaland brings her back on Loose to scat her quirky high-school-musical vocals over his mostly Eighties beats -- what's he been listening to, Ready for the World? Highlights include their garish sex duet "Promiscuous" and the reggaeton rip "No Hay Igual." "Maneater" is not a Hall and Oates cover, but it bumps hard enough to qualify as a sequel, and that's high praise indeed.