nelly furtado - powerless (say what you want)



the week that "baby one more time" came out, me and lil missy went to the shops. missy was all ready to buy the cd single but, as she will never let me forget, i strenuously advised her to get "cut chemist suite" by ozomatli instead. now listen, that's still a good tune! anyway it seems pertinent to my love of "powerless", i suppose because when n furtado guested on jurassic five and swollen members songs, it was suddenly obvious she was trying to be the diva version of those dudes - which boils down to, 'let's all have really, really self-conscious fun! sometimes with a message!'

the message on "powerless" is about taking the power back from people who try to water down your realness. it comes off a bit like the manic street preachers: "we take the culture and contort / perhaps only to distort what we are hiding." no doubt, nelly! i like the attempt to bridge the gap between universal empowerment anthem and totally unrelatable stuff about being made to look whiter on magazine covers. and i like that banjo!