Songoftheday 12/9/22 -It's getting so lonely inside this bed, don't know if I should lick my wounds or say "woe is me" instead...

"Turn Off The Light" - Nelly Furtado

from the album Whoa, Nelly! (2000)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #5 (four weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 20

Today's song comes from Canadian singer/songwriter Nelly Furtado, whose debut single "I'm Like A Bird" reached the American pop top ten in the spring of 2001, and eventually earned her four Grammy nominations, including a win for best Pop Female Vocal Performance. Nelly's second offering from her first album was "Turn Off The Light", written by Furtado and produced by Gerald Eaton and Brian West. With a beat and sound inspired by reggae music, the song got a remix from producer Tim "Timbaland" Mosley for the single version, foreboding her even more successful work with him later in the decade. The lyrics have Nelly confessing about how insecure she is about being alone, even though she tries to show a strong will otherwise. Her delivery is more of a "toaster" than a singer at times, and she carries it off well. The original music video mashes up a bunch of cultures, from Spanish to Asian to even include a DJ in front of the flag of the Portuguese island territory of the Azores, where her parents hailed from. The result was something completely different from her previous hit, but still recognizable to Nelly for her voice....

"Turn Off The Light" became Nelly's second top ten hit on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in November of 2001, while landing her first hit on their R&B Singles chart at #52. On the radio, the song went to #3 on the Mainstream Top-40 Airplay chart, #11 on the older-skewing Adult Top-40 format, #51 on the R&B Airplay list, and #4 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic format. The remixes of the song were Nelly's first big exposure in the clubs, and the song spent a week at #1 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart. Internationally, the single topped the charts in New Zealand, Portugal, and Romania, and reached the top ten in Switzerland (#2), Hungary (#3), the United Kingdom (#4), Ireland (#5), Norway (#5), Poland (#6), Australia (#7), Belgium (#8 Wallonia/#13 Flanders), Sweden (#9), and the Netherlands (#10).

The third single from the debut album was titled "Shit On The Radio (Remember The Days)", which was of course edited down for the radio. While the song made the top 40 on the Mainstream Top-40 (#34) and Adult Top-40 (#37) radio lists in Billboard, it failed to make the Hot 100 proper. Internationally, the single fared better, reaching the top ten in New Zealand (#5) and Portugal (#6), and hitting the top-40 in Romania (#16), the UK (#18), Ireland (#22), the Netherlands (#23), Italy (#28), Belgium (#38 Flanders). A final European-only single, "Hey, Man!", slipped on to the Dutch singles chart at #87. But she will eventually return to the series, in a big way.

(7/10)

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Here's the remix from the single by Timbaland, which was clearly aimed for the urban radio market...