Nelly Furtado’s back and she isn’t buying “Pipe Dreams.”
Four months after honoring Missy Elliott at “VH1 Hip Hop Honors,” the pop powerhouse delivers her new mellow cut. “Don’t sell me no pipe dreams,” she sings. “I want to live in a kaleidoscope.”
It’s the first sign of The Ride, her forthcoming sixth project, which follows 2012’s The Spirit Indestructible. The song’s theme of avoiding reality in favor of a fantasy world will also play a role in the album.
“A lot of [The Ride] touches on that, in terms of sanity versus reality,” she told The FADER. “The comedown, the hangover after the rush, and how you put the pieces back together, and how you make amends with the realer parts of life.”
For this project, Furtado is also working with producer John Congleton, who’s worked with artists like Marilyn Manson and Trash Talk.
“It was kind of cool,” she said of Congleton’s collaborations. “I’m super pop — I really gravitate toward pop melodies when I write — but John is really interesting and might rearrange my pop song into more of a punk arrangement, nothing like what I would do.”
The Ride is due March 3, 2017. Watch a trailer below.