Does Nelly Furtado Have The 'Spirit Indestructible'?



Nelly Furtado's latest salvo in her campaign for pop resurgence is the video for the second single (and title track) from her upcoming album The Spirit Indestructible. In the clip, shot atop the lovely Grouse Mountain in Vancouver, the Canadian singer-songwriter looks equally radiant (in a Real Housewives of Bogota kind of way) while failing to justify either part of that hyphenate title.

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After the bounce

I often end up experiencing Furtado's work through the eyes of a disappointed father who knows his kid could do so much better if she only applied herself (probably an apt analogy, considering she spends most of the song apparently trying to memorize her vowel sounds for Friday's big English test). To be sure, this isn't about pop-snobbery -- while not as thematically lofty as her prior albums, 2006's Loose was a finely crafted collection of dance floor ear-crack you couldn't help loving. But this cut, with its platitudes about perseverance and determination set to a pounding dance track with a drum pattern reminiscent of Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock," is David Foster masquerading as Ciara masquerading as Diane Warren. In other words, it's Gaga-grade drivel with the ornately-disguised intellectual value of Bachmann-Limbaugh debate. And her vocals -- not known to be virtuosic even on her best tracks -- are more nasal than I've ever heard from her. Seriously, Rihanna sounds like Aretha Franklin by comparison.

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But with its beautiful (if underused and underwhelmingly shot) mountaintop scenery and the fact that you've got about three minutes to kill between meetings, this video is probably worth a look. Plus, it has a brilliantly executed finale you'll watch over and over again in search of Special FX slip-ups.

Two predictions for you: 1. You'll find none. 2. You'll probably have the sound turned off while looking.

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