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Whoa, Nelly!

Date: Nov 06 2006

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

back it up

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Nelly Furtado is back. The Canadian singer burst onto the international music scene with Grammy-winning singles on her debut album Whoa, Nelly! in 2000.

It seems that would have also been an appropriate title for her latest release, actually called Loose. She’s got a sexier image and songs that fall more into the dance vein than into the folk vein. And she’s got the moves to back it up. In her video, she shakes her booty pretty well.

Listen to Amanda and Emily rap about Nelly Furtado.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Amanda

Emily

Amanda: So what do you think about Nelly’s new sound?

Emily: Um, I like it. You know, it kinda… it took a while to grow on me. I didn’t love Promiscuous at first, but now… it’s, you know, it’s kinda clubby and you can kinda groove to it.

Amanda: That’s pretty much the only track they play on the radio.

Emily: Yeah, and I…

Amanda: And on MTV.

Emily: I, I briefly listened to the other songs, and I don’t love it as much as her first album which I think is called Nelly Furtado but…

Amanda: Yeah.

Emily: I might be wrong about that.

Amanda: Self-titled.

Emily: I absolutely love that album. I think it’s, it’s one of my top five of all time I think.

Amanda: It’s a new sound she’s trying, post-baby. It’s like, she became a mom and she’s trying to…

Emily: Trying to get her sexy back?

Amanda: Oh, it’s totally…nice, nice. She’s trying to cross over from pop to hip hop with Timberlake and, you know, I don’t know how much credibility she has there but she’s cute…

Emily: She’s very cute.

Amanda: ... and she can dance, and if she didn’t have that package, I’m not sure how well she’d be doing right now ‘cause her video is what sold that song.

Emily: There’s no complaints in the looks department.

Amanda: No.

Emily: I mean, even I can’t help but stare at her when she’s on the TV. But, um, yeah, it’s different but, you know, maybe she’s just trying out new things and maybe in a couple of years, she’ll really find herself and discover a new sound or…

Amanda: Salsa!

Emily: Exactly, maybe salsa.

Amanda: She’s versatile.

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Discussion

Emily likes Nelly Furtado’s newest album, but not as much as her first album. She’s wrong about the name of the album. It was not self-titled, meaning it was not called “Nelly Furtado.” It was called Whoa, Nelly!.

When Amanda says “nice, nice” to Emily, she is complimenting Emily for being clever. Emily says that Nelly is trying “to get her sexy back,” which is a reference to Justin Timberlake’s latest hit.

When Emily says “There’s no complaints in the looks department,” she means that Nelly Furtado is hot. She is saying that no one would complain about Nelly Furtado’s appearance.

Are you a Nelly Furtado fan? What do you think of her new album?

Click here for another lesson about Nelly Furtado

Comments

Hayatng

Morocco

from that period of time, to todays ..songs are rather more promiscuous for clubbing. I don’t like any of the lyrics or music played, the sound is going aweful through time. Nelly is no more criticized for being versatile, it’s an advantage among singers and she’s kinda famous.