Nelly Furtado discusses her new album, settling down, and public and private personas

It’s been a wild ride, says Nelly Furtado. But finally, at age 37, she feels she has her moorings. “I’ve done a lot of soul searching,” offers the Portuguese-Canadian chart-topper, who helped define the sound of modern R&B with 2006’s Timbaland-produced Loose album and attendant hit singles ‘Maneater’ and ‘Promiscuous’.

“I don’t want be an entertainer in my private life,” she says. “I shouldn’t have to dance for you in order for you to love me. It’s a habit entertainers often have – of always wanting to please, of giving and giving. And never giving to themselves. That’s why so many crash and burn in public.”

She chronicles this emotional journey on sixth studio long-player, The Ride. It’s a mature and ruminative work – a piece of art rather than something that is going to set the charts alight.

“This is my version of a blues album,” she says. “It’s me sitting down and embracing my mistakes… confessing my sins a little. There’s a song called ‘Palaces’, which is about becoming famous very quickly and all the follies that ensue.”

Furtado was just 21 when she scored her first big hit, the fluttering ‘I’m Like A Bird’. Overnight her life was transformed. With debut album Woah, Nelly! going on to sell nine million copies this shy daughter of Portuguese emigrants became a proper, chased-by-paparazzi sensation.

This was the early days of the internet and Furtado was one of the first A-listers to find themselves in the spotlight constantly. And then, at the peak of her celebrity in 2003, she gave birth to a daughter (she and the child’s father are no longer together but still friendly). Motherhood saved her, she believes.

“It is the nucleus of my life. It takes centre stage. There is the joy of being a parent but also the fact that you have to look at yourself in an honest fashion.”

The Ride is produced by John Congleton, the Austin, Texas indie boffin recommended to Furtado by St Vincent. She was entirely up for recording an “alternative” record. Congleton, who’s also worked with Modest Mouse and Wild Beasts, required convincing however. Might Furtado turn out to be the diva he didn’t need in his life?

“That’s why he meets artists before working with them,” she says. “We met at a hotel bar in LA. We connected – he was probably pleasantly surprised when I walked in without an entourage. He was my coach along the way – he reminded me that we were making art and that I needed to stay true to that.”

With the birth of her daughter, Furtado, who grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, put down roots in Toronto and has stayed there ever since. She’s a big fan of Justin Trudeau, Canada’s progressive Prime Minister, and is happy in the comparative obscurity of Ontario.

“I’ve lived in Canada my entire life. Even when my career took off I decided to stay to raise my daughter. I love our Prime Minister, I truly do. He leads with his heart and with compassion. We need positivity in the world. Call me a bohemian hippy. That’s who I am.”

Loose turned 10 last year. Furtado is grateful the record is still wildly beloved and regarded as a musical game changer.

“It’s something Timbaland and I are both really proud of. I think it changed music. That’s an achievement. I was happy my musical voice found a way into people’s lives. It’s fun to see people dance to those songs in the clubs. Sometimes I might catch someone dancing and they don’t know I’m watching them.”

Did she have an inkling she and Timbaland were writing a classic? “You have no idea – no clue. We were just winging it. We had no notion how huge it would turn out to be.”

The Ride is out now