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Nelly Furtado Weds Her Music to a Latin Soul

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The singer's new album, 'Mi Plan,' is racing up the charts from Mexico to Europe, a tribute to her ability to tap into a multi-cultural background.

“I tried to write in English a few times, and it was, like, forget about it. I just had no inspiration," Nelly Furtado says.

Strutting into Westwood's W Hotel in a tight purple dress, matching pumps and isn't-she-somebody-famous? sunglasses, Nelly Furtado is the very model of a modern pop princess. The burly bodyguards, the anxious makeup assistant, the aura of casual conspicuousness -- it's all there.

But a few minutes later, seated poolside and sipping chamomile tea after swapping her high heels for slippers, Furtado is as sensible as her footwear. Bubbling with sly humor, thoughtful observations and emotional frankness, she lays out the back story to her new album, “Mi Plan" (My Plan), her debut all-Spanish-language CD, released Tuesday.

The album's first single, “Manos al Aire" (Hands in the Air), an up-tempo cri de coeur to a sensitivity-challenged lover, has been racing up the charts from Austria to Mexico, a testament to Furtado's global musical mentality and polyglot marketing power. A world tour, including an L.A. stopover, is scheduled to start later this year.

While some might interpret “Mi Plan" as a belated dash into the booming Latin pop market, Furtado, the child of immigrants who moved from Portugal's Azores archipelago to British Columbia, points out that she always has split her recordings roughly 80% to 20% between English and Spanish.

She also kept a clause in her DreamWorks Records contract allowing her to make Latin albums whenever she liked.

“Mi Plan," the chanteuse says, came out of her desire to delve deeper into Iberia's lyrical sensibility, which she previously has explored in duets with colleagues such as Colombian superstar Juanes. She also felt, instinctively, that Spanish would be the best tongue for conveying her current state of being as a working mom who savors the quotidian pleasures of parenting, making music and daily life in her Toronto hometown.

“I tried to write in English a few times, and it was, like, forget about it. I just had no inspiration," she says. “And then when I started writing in Spanish it was like, 'Whoah! I get to finally pay tribute or experiment with all the Latin pop sounds that I love. And all the artists.' “

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