In a candid message shared this week, Grammy-winning singer Nelly Furtado revealed she will be stepping away from performing live for the “foreseeable future,” as she pivots toward other creative and personal pursuits. The announcement arrives as she marks the 25th anniversary of her debut album Whoa, Nelly! and reflects on the enduring reach of her music.
Furtado opened her post with a throwback image of her 20-year-old self, a young artist shopping for a pink dress and sparkly platform shoes ahead of her professional stage debut. She wrote that the early days of her career were defined by a hope that her music might one day be rediscovered by someone new. “In the year 2000, I remember feeling purpose in hoping some kid would dust off the Whoa, Nelly! vinyl one day in a record shop and think it was cool or inspiring,” she wrote. She noted that she never anticipated “so many new ways to discover ‘old’ music in 2025.”
Today, Furtado said, her songs are reaching a whole new generation of fans, an outcome she described as “surreal and joyful.” Seeing her older material embraced anew prompted her to reflect on the nature of her career, stating that while her live-performing era has been profoundly meaningful, it is time for a new chapter.
“After careful consideration, I have decided to step away from performance for the foreseeable future and pursue some other creative and personal endeavours that I feel would better suit this next phase of my life,” Furtado announced. She emphasized that her love of songwriting remains undiminished: “I have enjoyed my career immensely, and I still love writing music, as I have always seen it as a hobby I was lucky enough to make into a career. I’ll identify as a songwriter forever.”
She ended her note with gratitude toward her fans, collaborators, and production teams, acknowledging “all the years of fun, community and wonder” and offering encouragement to emerging artists, wishing them “many years of fruitful and passionate performance.”
Furtado’s latest album, 7, arrived in September 2024 after a seven-year gap between releases. In interviews surrounding that record, she noted how witnessing her music being remixed and discovered by younger listeners, including her daughter’s generation, reignited her creative spark. But now she appears ready to shift focus away from the road and toward other modes of expression.
In her own words, the decision is less about stepping back from music and more about leaning into a form of engagement, the songwriter’s craft, that aligns with where she stands now.
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