It is hard to believe that it has been 16 years since Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado gained worldwide prominence with her debut single "I'm Like a Bird". It won her a Grammy Award and a Juno Award, besides introducing the world to her brand of honest, slightly eccentric and emotionally intelligent folk and R&B-tinged pop music.
However, most music listeners probably remember her for the sexed-up vixen persona she surprisingly adopted when promoting her third album, the Timbaland produced 'punk-hop' Loose (2006). While tracks like "Promiscuous" and "Maneater" were highly successful (and commercially lucrative) dance track numbers in their own right, they seemed somewhat off-character for Furtado, like the product of a one-off experimental persona she wanted to take on to 'diversify', 'push herself', or to make a case for how female sexuality can be empowering and intoxicating.
Five years after her mostly forgetable fifth album, The Spirit Indestructible (2012), Furtado appears to be channeling the kind of dreamy, honest introspection that marked her early successes (and which also graced many of the singles on Loose). "Pipe Dreams", the second single from her upcoming album The Ride (2017), showcases her maturity and return to emotional authenticity as she dwells on the ubiquitious desire of living in an escapist fantasy and the need to reconcile herself with reality: "A lot of [The Ride] touches on that, in terms of sanity versus reality. 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" (The FADER).
Like the VHS quality music video that accompanies it, the track does not instantly bore its way into your consciousness. Furtado does not seem interested in reclaiming her spot on the radio or the singles chart, but the pensive and airy track is the kind of song that grows on you after multiple listens - and then making you question your priorities in life:
'I know that we can only giveWhen we have hopeI don't wanna liveWithout any goalsCan't protect me from nothingCan't save me from the truthYou can't even save me fromYouSo don't sell me no pipe dreamsI wanna feel the good and vile in everythingEven when it hurts, even when it hurtsI know that we can only giveWhen we got a little hopeBut I don't like the burdenOf living with these goalsYes I will hold my head highWhen I walk in your paradeBut I will always check my gatesI will always watch my gate
Lyrics: Genius
