Folklore (Nelly Furtado album)

Folklore
Studio album by Nelly Furtado
Released	23 November 2003
Recorded	The Gymnasium and 4th Street Recordings (Santa Monica, California) Metalworks Studios (Mississauga, Ontario) Left Brain Studios and 1st Congregational Church (L.A., California)
Genre	Alternative pop folk R&B
Length	50:26
Label	DreamWorks Festival Mushroom Records (Australasia) Warner Bros. (Australasia)
Producer	Mike Elizondo, Nelly Furtado, Lil' Jaz, Track & Field
Nelly Furtado chronology
Whoa, Nelly! (2000) Folklore (2003) Loose (2006)
Singles from Folklore
"Powerless (Say What You Want)" Released: 7 October 2003 "Try" Released: 15 March 2004 "Força" Released: 7 June 2004 "Explode" Released: 27 September 2004 "The Grass Is Green" Released: 14 February 2005

Folklore is the second studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado. It was released in North America on 25 November 2003 through DreamWorks Records. Folklore has sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide.

Production

The album's title was influenced by Furtado's parents' immigration to Canada, "When I look at my old photo albums, I see pictures of their brand-new house, their shiny new car, their first experiences going to very North American-type places like Kmart. When you have that in your blood, you never really part with it—it becomes your own personal folklore."^[1] The album also displayed a diverse sound but with a more rock-oriented, acoustic approach.^[2] Furtado attributed the mellowness of the album to the fact that she was pregnant during most of its recording.^[1] "Saturdays" features vocals by Jarvis Church and "Island of Wonder" features vocals by Caetano Veloso.^[3]

Folklore includes the single "Força" (meaning "carry on" or "strength" in Portuguese), which was written as the official anthem of the 2004 European Football Championship. Furtado performed the song at the championship's final in Lisbon, in July 2004.^[4] Other singles included the ballad "Try" and "Powerless (Say What You Want)", in which she embraces her Portuguese heritage; the song deals with "the idea that you can still feel like a minority inside, even if you don't look like one on the outside".^[1] Additional singles were released in certain territories; "Explode" in Canada and Europe, and "The Grass Is Green" in Germany.

Promotion

It was announced on 11 November 2003 that Universal Music Group reached an agreement to acquire DreamWorks Records from DreamWorks SKG for "about $100 million".^[5] The purchase came at a time when the music business was "going through major changes" as it struggled to "counter falling sales and the impact of unofficial online music sales". Mo Ostin, the principal executive at DreamWorks Records, said: "Despite the challenges of the music business today, Universal is acquiring a wonderful asset and the sale will assure the strongest possible future for our artists".^[6] DreamWorks Records was folded into the Interscope Geffen A&M umbrella label in January 2004. Furtado's recording contract was then absorbed into Geffen Records.^[7]

Reception

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(60/100)[8]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[9]
Blender	[10]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[11]
The Guardian	[12]
Rolling Stone	[13]
Slant	[14]
Spin	(6/10)[15]
The Times	[16]
Village Voice	(favorable)[17]
Yahoo! Music UK	[18]

Folklore received mixed reviews from critics. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine stated that "[w]hile there are some interesting musical moments on Folklore -- enough to make it worth a listen -- the dogged seriousness and didactic worldview become a bit overbearing not long before the album is a quarter of the way finished, particularly since the fusion of worldbeat and adult alternative pop often seems heavy-handed."^[9] Entertainment Weekly gave a positive review stating that "exultant music goes on its merry, multicultural way".^[11] While Rolling Stone gave a negative review, calling Folklore "slick, multicultural hodgepodge" but "without a single as good as 'I'm Like a Bird.'"^[13] As she focused more on the songwriting rather "than on frenetically switching genres five times in one song",^[1] BBC felt that it had "twice the originality" of her debut.^[19]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number eighteen on the Canadian albums chart with first-week sales of 10,400,^[20] and at number thirty-eight on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 68,000 in its first week.^[21] According to Nielsen SoundScan, it had sold 425,000 copies in the U.S. by August 2008.^[22] It was not as successful as Furtado's debut album, Whoa, Nelly! (2000), partly because of troubles at DreamWorks Records and the less poppy sound.^[19] It lacked promotion because DreamWorks was sold to Universal Music Group at the time of Folkore's release, and it spent only eleven weeks on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. In 2005, DreamWorks Records was shut down and many of its artists, including Furtado, were absorbed into Geffen Records.^[23] Furtado said, "Why do Germans love this album? I think I figured it out: It's so cerebral. It's great in its own way, but that's a different side."^[24]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"One-Trick Pony" (featuring Kronos Quartet)	Nelly Furtado, Gerald Eaton, Brian West	Track & Field, Furtado	4:47
2.	"Powerless (Say What You Want)"	Furtado, Eaton, West, Trevor Horn, Anne Dudley, Malcolm McLaren	Track & Field, Furtado	3:53
3.	"Explode"	Furtado, Eaton	Track & Field, Furtado	3:45
4.	"Try"	Furtado, West	Track & Field, Furtado	4:38
5.	"Fresh Off the Boat"	Furtado, Eaton, West	Track & Field, Furtado	3:16
6.	"Força"	Furtado, Eaton, West	Track & Field, Furtado	3:40
7.	"The Grass Is Green"	Furtado, Mike Elizondo	Elizondo, Furtado	3:51
8.	"Picture Perfect"	Furtado, Eaton, West	Track & Field, Furtado	5:16
9.	"Saturdays" (featuring Jarvis Church)	Furtado	Track & Field, Furtado	2:05
10.	"Build You Up"	Furtado, Eaton, West	Track & Field, Furtado	4:58
11.	"Island of Wonder" (featuring Caetano Veloso)	Furtado, Jasper Gahunia, Simón Díaz	Lil' Jaz, Furtado, Track & Field	3:48
12.	"Childhood Dreams"	Furtado	Track & Field, Furtado	6:33

UK bonus track
No.	Title	Length
13.	"Try" (acoustic)	4:41

Japan bonus tracks
No.	Title	Length
13.	"Powerless (Say What You Want)" (Alternative Acoustic Mix)	3:49
14.	"Try" (acoustic)	4:41

Charts and certifications

Charts Chart (2003-04)[25] Peak position Australian Albums Chart[26] 82 Austrian Albums Chart 10 Belgian (Flanders) Albums Chart 12 Canadian Albums Chart 18 Dutch Albums Chart 4 French Albums Chart 122 German Albums Chart[27] 4 Italian Albums Chart 111 Mexican Albums Chart 65 Portuguese Albums Chart 2 Swiss Albums Chart 13 UK Albums Chart[28] 11 U.S. Billboard 200[29] 38

Certifications Chart Certification Sales/shipments Canada (CRIA) Platinum[30] 100,000 France (SNEP) 12,000[31] New Zealand (RIANZ) Gold 7,500[32] Portugal (AFP) Gold[33] 10,000 Switzerland (IFPI) Platinum[34] 30,000 United Kingdom (BPI) Gold[35] 239,252[36] United States (RIAA) Gold[37] 500,000[38]

Release history

Country	Date	Label
Australia[39]	23 November 2003	Universal Music Group
Germany[40]	24 November 2003
United Kingdom[41]		Polydor
Canada[42]	25 November 2003	Universal Music Group
Ukraine[43]
United States[44]		DreamWorks Records
Japan[45]	21 January 2004	Universal Music Group

References

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6. "Universal buys Dreamworks Records". BBC News. 11 November 2003.
7. "D’Works diskery reborn at UMG". Variety. 8 January 2004.
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17. (Posted: 3 December 2003) Amy Linden, Bird of Many Feathers villagevoice.com. Village Voice, LLC. Retrieved 11-16-2010.
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34. "Switzerland certification". Retrieved 24 March 2007.
35. "Platinum Awards Content" Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
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42. "Folklore: Nelly Furtado: Amazon.ca: Music". Amazon.ca. Retrieved 2012-01-10.
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45. "フォークロア (特別価格盤): ネリー・ファータド: 音楽". Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved 2012-01-10.