Folklore is the second studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado, released on 5 November 2003 through DreamWorks Records. While the album did not match the success of her previous album in such markets as the United States and Australia, it did however become a success in several European countries.[1]Folklore spawned five singles: "Powerless (Say What You Want)", "Try", "Força", "Explode" and "The Grass Is Green". As of 2008, the album had sold 2 million copies worldwide.[2]
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."[7] Furtado attributed the mellowness of the album to the fact that she was pregnant during most of its recording.[7] "Saturdays" features vocals by Jarvis Church and "Island of Wonder" features vocals by Caetano Veloso.[8]
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 adultalternative pop often seems heavy-handed."[6]Entertainment Weekly gave a positive review stating that "exultant music goes on its merry, multicultural way".[12] While Rolling Stone gave a negative review, calling Folklore "slick, multicultural hodgepodge" but "without a single as good as 'I'm Like a Bird'."[14] As she focused more on the songwriting, rather "than on frenetically switching genres five times in one song",[7] the BBC felt that it had "twice the originality" of her debut.[20]The A.V. Club wrote that while "few tracks on Folklore stand out, the album hangs together agreeably..."[21]
Commercial performance
The album debuted at number eighteen on the Canadian Albums Chart with first-week sales of 10,400,[22] and at number thirty-eight on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 68,000 in its first week.[23] According to Nielsen SoundScan, it had sold 425,000 copies in the US by August 2008.[24] 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.[20] It lacked promotion because DreamWorks was sold to Universal Music Group at the time of Folklore's release, and it spent only eleven weeks on the US Billboard 200 chart. In 2005, DreamWorks Records was shut down and many of its artists, including Furtado, were absorbed into Geffen Records.[25] The album's greatest success was in Germany where it peaked at number four and finished as the fifth best-selling album of 2004, eventually getting certified multi-platinum there. Furtado noticed that the album's success in the region and 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."[26]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
Release history
List of release dates, showing region, label, editions and reference
↑ Rosen, Jody (June 2006), "Nelly Furtado: Loose", Blender, no.49, New York, p.101, archived from the original on 10 August 2006, retrieved 19 May 2020, the mocha-java world music stylings of 2003's Folklore
1 2 3 Gianni Sibilla (20 January 2004). "Folklore – Nelly Furtado". Rockol (in Italian). Retrieved 7 November 2018. Questi accostamenti tra pop e musica etnica in alcuni momenti funzionano [...] "Folklore", da un lato, cerca di mantenere un'identità pop (e quindi di essere "smerciabile" su canali di massa), dall'altra cerca una via più originale di rielaborare fonti, per l'appunto, "folk"
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