Atlanta, GA 12/9/2010 10:43:24 PM
Nelly Furtado has urged aspiring singers to write their songs and keep their own style.
The ‘Maneater’ singer feels young performers think uploading their
videos to the internet is enough to get them discovered – which is how
her fellow Canadian, teen sensation Justin Bieber was first noticed –
but warned there is much more behind the scenes work involved.
She said: "Write your own songs - even if you don't end up using it, it
shows you what you want to say and you get in touch with what you want
to say and who you are as an artist.
“I think nowadays everybody feels like they can become a star just
because they're on YouTube, but that's not the only part of the
equation.
“There's a lot of hard work that goes with it and if you don't have the
chops to back it up, it's gonna to be more challenging later on.”
Nelly, 32, also recalled her own struggle to keep her artistic freedom
before releasing debut single ‘I’m Like A Bird’ in 2000 – which became
a huge international hit.
She added: “When we were going for a record deal, we went out to all
these meetings and my photos were ones I had taken on my own time with
clothes I wanted to wear.
"You have to brand your image and wear what you want to wear and feel
how you want to feel because people are seeing you for the first time."
‘The Best Of Nelly Furtado’ is out now.
