Getty Images/Kevin Winter Singer Nelly Furtado performs onstage during the 11th annual Latin GRAMMY Awards at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on November 11, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Nelly Furtado will bid 2012 farewell and ring in 2013 by headlining Entertainment Tonight Canada’s fourth annual New Year’s Eve bash at Niagara Falls.
The show caps a busy time for Furtado — it follows the release of her latest album, recording with David Frost and Andre Bocelli and preparing for a Canadian tour launching in her hometown of Victoria on Jan. 8.
Congratulations on the New Year’s Eve show. Why did you want to do it?
Last year, I had the pleasure of watching it on TV and I thought, “Wow, what a fun party” so I put it out there on some level, and the timing is really good with my tour with Hedley and the Dragonettes. I’m actually really excited about it.
As the headliner, you’ll be onstage at midnight. Who are you going to kiss?
Well, my husband, but I don’t want to do that on television, so I’ll dance with wild abandon so people will forget that moment.
I’ll be busy singing, but I’ll be watching the other people kissing.
New Year’s is time to party but also time to reflect. What are you grateful for these days?
I’m grateful to be Canadian, to live in a country with so many freedoms and liberty and peace, the ability to walk down the street and not worry about violence and I’m really grateful to be ambassador for Free the Children.
It’s remarkably fulfilling for me and I meet pretty inspiring people.
Then you’re touring Canada for The Spirit Indestructible. In the dead of winter!
Isn’t that funny — a Canadian tour in dead of winter? I’m a true Canadian!
I’m kind of excited to think that, it has a ring to it. Guaranteed we’ll be stuck in the snow.
The Spirit Indestructible mixes musical influences and languages. It’s so rich.
I think it’s kind of creative rain, like what I had writing in Spanish.
It was very fulfilling and almost like an English drought. I had nothing to say in English for two or three years and one day the rain came down and hallelujah! Lord only knows what I’ll do next.
It’s been a rush of adrenaline and a creative high. I’m recording a follow-up in Spanish and a follow-up in English and Spanish.
Why did you draw inspiration from looking back to your early music?
I think the best songs look backward. Think how nostalgic Tragically Hip’s Phantom Power is.
It makes you feel great. Bryan Adams’ Summer of 69. It’s truly reliving a moment sonically and if you can do that with music, you can time travel. It’s fun for the listener and the creator.
Will your nine year old daughter Nevis be at the Falls show?
Every kid loves staying up till midnight. It’s one of the greatest joys of the holidays