Average rank: 8.33 Highest rank: #2 (lovetrueromance)
It’s a common critique of female pop stars that they’ve been molded in the male gaze, but Loose rejects that notion, proudly centering Nelly’s agency. “People say I’ve gone crazy ‘cause I’m around you…but I’d rather be your baby,” she sings on “Glow." "I am getting something out of it." The bursting synths create an infectious, building energy that captures the excitement of a woman who knows she’s about to get ****ed really good.
Quote:
Originally posted by conatus
On an album full of statements and attitude, "Glow" is by far the boldest moment
"Glow" is a song that wants to make an entrance. It's a song that wants to be heard, seen, appreciated, acknowledged. If it were at a party, "Glow" would turn up an hour late to a room of turned heads and leaving an hour earlier than everyone else, who would watch on in awe as it left with the same rushed nonchalance with which it strode in.
The song starts abruptly, and Furtado makes it clear from the first second she's calling the shots, with a simple, but inescapably commanding "Alright, I'm ready.” This is clearly on Nelly's terms, and we're going to stop what we're doing, listen, and respect that. On an album full of statements and attitude, "Glow" is by far the boldest moment, as Furtado icily chants imperatives to the one she loves, the "only one who know[s] how to make [her] glow", and details her love and loyalty, oozing sensuality and charisma the whole time.
With a claustrophobic, thumping instrumental, "Glow" sticks out among the other Timbaland productions on the album, which sound relatively skeletal. Furtado's voice floats in and out of each different section of the song in an almost serpentine manner, and brings everything together to create one exciting finished product. And in the canon of Cyndi Lauper's immeasurably vast impact on pop culture and pop music, the vocal stylings of Furtado in "Glow" is a pretty defining landmark. That's not to say Furtado is simply method acting here: the attitude, sex appeal, and unflappable mystique are all entirely hers, and it's clear to see why she dominated the landscape of pop music, and why Loose truly put her on the map.
Average rank: 7.30 #1 votes: 2 (Rocket, Eeveelution)
The closest think to an epic on Loose, “Wait For You” is an East-meets-West banger in which heavy beats roll into seductive strings. Through the roar, Nelly promises a tentative lover that she will hold on “until the end of the world” if that’s how long it takes him to commit. By the time the track explodes into a moving bağlama dance break, it seems as though the movie she keeps referencing feeling trapped inside might well be Lawrence of Arabia.
Quote:
Originally posted by Eeveelution
It may seem strange to rank this first on an album full of such iconic and flawless singles, but “Wait for You” is definitely my favourite on the album. I absolutely love the production, the best on the album imo, and Nelly serves a great vocal too. I love the melodrama that the lyrics and the instrumental create and it serves as an excellent climax to the album (poor “All Bad Songs Come to an End”).
