FURTADO FINDS COLORS IN FAMILY, MUSIC: [FIVE STAR LATE LIFT Edition]

Critic Kevin C. Johnson E-mail: [email protected] Phone: [phone]

Nelly Furtado's second CD almost didn't see the light of day, and there was a point when Furtado would've been just fine with that.

"I had a beef with the business," says the quirky pop singer, interviewed last week from her home in Toronto. "I wasn't angry, but I did feel a little bit like an alien in the business because I'm a fan of different things that don't necessarily get exposure on a pop record. I wasn't sure how I fit into pop music. I love music, but it was always a hobby before it was a career."

Recording "Folklore" presented a number of challenges for Furtado.

"When you're starting out, you have visions of making it and having fun and the opportunity to do all these concerts and see things you've never seen before," she says. "But after you've done it once, some of the drive and passion is gone because you've already made it. You're not as hungry."

There was also the pressure to duplicate what came before.

But Furtado wandered into the recording studio anyway, not sure what would happen once she got there, and began toiling away. While there, the "I'm Like a Bird" singer was kept flying by this thought: "When you're being truthful in music, it's satisfying, because it comes from a pure place."

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