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If you’re a millennial, odds are you have fond memories of Nelly Furtado‘s music. Her early hits are 2000s playlist staples, including her GRAMMY-winning debut single, “I’m Like A Bird,” and Timbaland-produced classics “Say It Right,” “Maneater” and “Promiscuous.”

Yet the Portuguese-Canadian pop auteur is far from a relic of Y2K nostalgia. In the seven years since her last album, 2017’s The Ride, Furtado has seen her back catalog resurface in many ways, from remixes in DJ sets to viral TikToks. Not only did the millennial appetite for her music remain, but Gen Z was discovering — and loving — it. And the singer/songwriter took notice.

“I really feel like I was called back to the industry by the industry, especially DJs. I would go out and hear my songs played before arena shows of other artists, and at house parties and clubs,” Furtado tells GRAMMY.com. “There was a sense of joy and celebration in it…I thought, This can only be remixed so many times, I better go make some new stuff.”

Enter 7, Furtado’s aptly titled seventh studio album. Due Sept. 20, 7 is the product of four years of fully immersing herself in the catharsis and connection of the studio. The Canadian songstress is confident and vulnerable across its 14 tracks, showcasing the malleability of her rich voice with a wide range of sounds that result in a fun, largely upbeat collection of songs.

The album’s energy is indicative of the freedom and openness Furtado not only felt in the studio — where she crafted over 400 songs during the process — but also in today’s musical climate. Furtado has been tapping into the collaborative spirit of the industry, teaming up with friends new and old for her latest material. Producer Dom Dolla helped birth Furtado’s first new music since 2017 with the dance floor heater “Eat Your Man,” a coy nod to her own “Maneater” that arrived last June; their partnership has also included appearances at Australia’s Beyond The Valley festival in 2022, Lollapalooza and Portola Fest in 2023, and Coachella 2024. Along the way, the singer has also linked with past collaborators Timbaland and Justin Timberlake (“Keep Going Up”) and Juanes (“Gala y Dalí”).

Even 7‘s first two singles are collaborations: the sultry electronic-fused bop “Love Bites” with dance pop experts Tove Lo and SG Lewis, and the confident anthem “Corazón” with Colombian electro-pop wizards Bomba Estéreo. Along with offering a taste of the joy and sonic breadth of 7, both songs prove that Nelly Furtado isn’t just back — she’s having more fun than ever.

Read on to hear from the “Maneater” herself about her new album, finding sisterhood with Bomba Estéreo’s Li Samuet, leaning into ADHD as a creative superpower, and why she’ll never tire of singing “I’m Like A Bird.”

You feel really free on your upcoming album, 7. I was curious what sounds and styles you’re feeling most excited to explore and lean into now and which ones made it on the album?

That’s a good question. When I was touring over the years, you always soundcheck at each venue, which might be this big, beautiful space, like a theater. I love the way the music would come back at me through the big speakers and monitors of a large live space, and it’s something I never quite felt in the recording studio.

When I started recording this album four years ago, I started getting a bunch of friends in a room, setting up wedges and monitors and speakers with a bunch of microphones on amps and instruments, recording absolutely everything we’re saying and doing. I started recording in Toronto and would invite my friends, and all of a sudden, I found myself spending Friday nights there. It became this very social event with lots of collaborations. I loved the way my voice sounded back at me through the speakers in real time, much like those soundchecks I remembered so fondly.

Halfway through the recording process, I started meeting producers like Dom Dolla. We had reached out to each other because we were going to perform at the same festival, Beyond The Valley in Australia, where I also met SG Lewis. I was blessed to meet these really key collaborators for me who are making great current music I had special connections with. I just felt blessed to be so open.

I grew up learning a spontaneous style of improvisational singing called Desafio from Portugal, where people freestyle on stage together. [We channeled] the spirit of spontaneous freestyling in the studio. I have songs on this album that are freestyles. There’s this beat that FnZ did, and I just opened my mouth and sang something, and that’s the song. I went back and changed maybe three words and re-sang the vocal. You just kind of open the portal and sing. [Laughs.] For me, this album’s really about community and, always, fusion.

Can you speak to how your daughter, as well as seeing Gen Z discovering your music on TikTok, and DJs remixing your songs encouraged and inspired you to go back to the studio?

Oh, that was cool. Dom had been communicating about [his Beyond the Valley] performance because he did a special mashup of “Give it To Me” and [his song] “Take It” that we premiered there. To top that off, he wanted to do the Bicep “Glue”/”Say It Right” [mashup]. He created this whole archway for me to come out and do this dramatic, beautifully received rendition of the song. That was a magical moment I’ll never forget.

Four or five years ago, my daughter came home from high school and was like, “Mom, you’re trending on TikTok.” I didn’t know what that meant. I’m not gonna lie; it wasn’t until I walked out at Beyond the Valley and saw these Gen Z kids singing all the lyrics to my songs that I really understood the power of social media and TikTok. It was real; new people had discovered me. 

I just went to Stockholm and these kids were so young, singing every word of my old songs, and it blew my mind. I don’t even know if they were born when the first records came out. [Laughs.]

I mean, people dressed up like Dom Dolla and I at Lollapalooza for Halloween with my same snake shirt. It was so meta and so cool. I love remix culture and nostalgia culture, and I lean into it. It’s just like making a scrapbook.

Did that motivate you to want to make new music?

Oh yeah, are you kidding me?! I really feel like I was called back to the industry by the industry, especially DJs. I would go out and hear my songs played before arena shows of other artists and at house parties and clubs. I heard it in a lot of different contexts, and something clicked for me where I just wanted to have fun and party with my music. There was a sense of joy and celebration in it. People kept remixing all kinds of songs of mine from all my different albums. I thought, This can only be remixed so many times, I better go make some new stuff.

I love meeting artists online and making those connections in real time. I love the current climate of music. I think it is more fun than ever for artists, because we get to be very in the moment and we get to create moments. We get to focus on what we want to, we get to activate different things in our own way and on our own timeline. I connect with so many DJs online.

That’s so my vibe; I’ve always been about collaboration. I feel like the industry is tailor made for artists like me right now who just want to collaborate and vibe out and make friends and have fun. I’ve always been in it for the music, so it’s just so fun to be doing this.

7‘s second single, “Corazón” featuring Bomba Estéreo, is very confident and celebratory. What was it like working with them and how did that song come together?

“Corazón” started with this very special beat that T-Minus had made for me. He was such a champion of me doing this new project, and really pushed me to make sure I was putting my best foot forward with these new songs. The beat for “Corazón” was already magical, but I needed to find its stamp. [Working on the album] was like mining. You’re digging until you see a glimmer, and then you chase it until you [hit] gold.

I co-produced the song and invited Bomba Estéreo to be on it. I brought them to the studio after a concert they had in Toronto. I got off a plane from recording in L.A., went straight to their gig, and embraced Li on stage. I hadn’t seen her since I flew to her home on the beach in Santa Marta [Colombia] at the begging of my friend Lido Pimienta, who thought I needed to go meet Li. I’d never met her before [then]. I stayed at her home and met her family. She’s an incredible woman. She’s really a goddess.

We’re at the studio [in Toronto], just eating chicken wings and having some tequila, and magic kind of happens. They’re playing all these beautiful parts on their instruments. There, you get the fusion. It becomes something a little bit more than the song was before, and Li has her rap feature on there.

How did bringing Bomba Estéreo into the studio make the “Corazon” into something different?

I just knew it would make it more special. What’s really weird is Li and I have another song that’s not on this album— that will probably be on the deluxe — called “Corazónes” that we wrote in Colombia. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this song is called “Corazón.” I think it’s some weird subconscious tick. [Laughs.] It was almost like the collaboration was meant to be more than one song.

Colombia made such a huge impression on me. I also spent time in Barranquilla because Lido was filming artwork for a project of hers; we were right in the thick of it in downtown Barranquilla. Li and I wrote a song at her treehouse jungle studio called Papaya Studios in Santa Marta. I really needed that sisterhood at that time. That trip was almost like a woman’s retreat.

I just knew Bomba Estéreo needed to be on the song. I wanted [Li] to rap. On “Soy Yo” she’s rapping and doing her thing. She’s a really amazing rapper. She’s an amazing singer and writer too; she’s pretty rare. She’s in her own lane.

I really connect with how Bomba Estéreo’s music has a love vibration that I think is very rare. That’s what sets them apart. That’s why I knew they had to be a part of this song called “Corazón.” They embody that idea.

Can you speak a bit more to the creative process of working on this album, as well as the emotions you were processing through it?

On this album there are some cool moments where I just let the music happen. Something clicked in me the last couple years where I realized it’s really quite simple: You just have to enjoy what you’re singing.

I was in the studio with Dom Dolla, producer Jim Beanz [who worked on Loose] and singer/songwriter Anjulie [Persaud] in Philly last Valentine’s Day. We recorded and wrote “Eat Your Man,” a track I put out with Dom last summer. Very early on when we were working on demos, Dom was like, “Why are you pronouncing every word when you sing?” 

There’s something to letting yourself relax into the music and just letting it be. I kind of forgot that. In the studio with Dom that day in Philly, it was a real aha moment for me. It was like, Oh man, I remember what this is like, just singing for the joy of it all.

Emotionally, I got into the studio four years ago with a bit of a broken heart. I’d been through a lot in my personal life and I was quite sad. The first day I opened my mouth, I almost felt like I was having a heart attack from the amount of emotion moving through my chest. I had been a stay-at-home mom for about three years straight — my two youngest children were born a year apart — and I didn’t go to the studio at all. So that first time back was quite impactful for me. 

That pain quickly turned into joy because I started spending Friday nights at the studio with my friends and collaborators. We would often jam until 7 in the morning. The studio is my happy place. I really learn so much about myself every time I make an album. It’s uncanny; I have this moment before I put the album out where I’m almost sad because I have to detach from the process.

I’ve become overcome with emotion a lot of times making this album, hearing the mixes back and completing songs. I did purge a lot of emotions, but it’s amazing how happy the album is. 

I think that comes from the sense of community and really leaning on people I’ve met along the way. I met moms who make music during this process, like Li and Lido. I’d be coming home from the studio texting them, and they’d be coming off the stage in Holland or Paris and I’d feel so motivated. Community is such a huge part of this album. I loved welcoming that into the mix. It was really fun to make.

How did you take all of that — four years, so many emotions, over 400 songs — and narrow it down into an album? I can’t even imagine.

I was diagnosed with ADHD about two years ago, and it was really an aha moment. I’ve had it my whole life. People always say, “Hey, Nelly, you’re so spaced out. Where’d you go?” I got used to people making fun of me for spacing out and used to the procrastination. I [also] got used to the self-judgment and beating myself up about it.

So, getting diagnosed kind of changed my life. It is a superpower in the studio. I can write five songs at once. I can invite so many people. We can have two rooms, sometimes three, going at once and we can keep making stuff all night. So I leaned into the ADHD, embraced it, claimed it — and there we have it, so many songs.

Luckily, I have great people around me, like my engineer, Anthony [Yordanov], really kept me in check. He became that North Star of, “Okay, these are the songs we have. What are we working on today?” Also, my daughter Nevis [Gahunia] is one of the A&Rs on the album. She works in the music business and is very organized. 

I leaned on other people to help me hone it in. I don’t know how a bunch of stuff magically becomes 14 songs. It kind of happened by bringing a lot of friends in the studio for these long, fun parties just listening to stuff and everybody being like, “We like this song.”

I have a lot of my favorite people on the album. And there’s a lot more to come. I really feel like the deluxe [version] is going to be jammed with a bunch more stuff.

It’s your seventh album and it’s been seven years since your last, but is there any further meaning in naming it 7?

To be totally honest, the songs are all so different. It was the only title that made sense because it’s more like a collection. Fashion collections don’t really have titles, they’re just called collection number 10 or 21. This is my collection seven. 

And yeah, it’s been seven years since my last album, and it’s my seventh album. I love the simplicity [of the title]. Honestly, sometimes I feel a bit like a music librarian trapped in a pop star body. So it’s really appropriate for me to put together this random collection of songs and just call it a number, like a librarian. [Laughs.] Go to the seventh section.

I want to go back to the very beginning, to “I’m Like a Bird,” your GRAMMY-winning debut single. How does it feel now when you perform that song you wrote when you were 20?

I wrote it in a little room by myself before [going to] the studio. When I sing it, I love it. It’s wild, I love it more every time I sing it. It feels incredible singing that song. 

There are certain songs in my set that almost feel like one big fun karaoke session with the crowd. Who doesn’t love that? It’s fun every single time.