In a heartfelt Instagram post on Friday (October 24), Nelly Furtado revealed that she is taking a prolonged break from the stage, with the announcement coming on the 25th anniversary of the release of her multi-platinum debut album, Whoa, Nelly!. “I have decided to step away from performance for the foreseeable future and pursue some other creative and personal endeavors that I feel would better suit this next phase of my life,” the 46-year-old Grammy winner wrote. “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.” The post features a photo of a 20-year-old Furtado before her “first show as a professional artist at Lilith Fair” in 1999, paired with a video from her show in Berlin this summer, where the crowd is chanting her name, with the singer admitting she was “finally understanding what receiving flowers means” during that emotional moment. Furtado’s most recent album, 7, was released in 2024. (Billboard)
