Music Review: Nelly Furtado "Maneater"

Maneater
Album: Loose
Year: 2006

Nelly Furtado admires a charismatic woman who frequents the bar in the swaggering “Maneater.”

Svelte synths and smooth “yeah’s” open the single. A vaunting bass follows, setting a daring tone. In the first verse, she says the woman craves and loves attention. When she enters the bar, men and women swarm to her, asking her how she’s doing. She talks a little with them and encourages them to dance with her. She’s the life of the party. She tells the women to be sexy and rub against the men. She tells everyone else to have fun. She knows the men there want to nail her and the women envy her sexual ease.

“Take it back, take it back, take it back/Everybody look at me, me/I walk in the door you start screaming/Come on everybody what chu here for?/Move your body around like a nympho/Everybody get your necks to crack around/All you crazy people come on jump around/I want to see you all on your knees, knees/You either want to be with me, or be me!”

In the chorus, she says the woman is hard to get to know. It often takes several conversations to get to any substance. Men will buy her whatever she wants to please her. They can’t help but want to find out what she’s like. She will convince men to buy the most expensive car in the lot and drive it herself. She will cause them to cut off connections from once loyal friends if they object to the relationship. She will say the words that will make men believe they have found the one. She’s a woman men will later regret having.

“Maneater, make you work hard/Make you spend hard/Make you want all, of her love/She's a maneater. make you buy cars, make you cut cords,make you fall, real hard in love/She's a maneater, make you work hard/Make you spend hard/Make you want all, of her love/She's a maneater, make you buy cars, make you cut cords/Wish you never ever met her at all!”

In the second verse, she says the woman carries herself with confidence and vulnerability. She’s fearless and authorative. People will believe what will she say due to her strong opinions. People hang onto her every word and do whatever to she says in order to stay in her life.

“And when she walks she walks with passion/When she talks, she talks like she can handle it/When she asks for something boy she means it, even if you never ever seen it/Everybody get your necks to crack around/All you crazy people come on jump around/You doing anything to keep her by your side/Because, she said she love you, love you long time!”

The chorus is sung again.

Furtado stretches her “ahh’s” over the tumbling synths.

The chorus is sung again.

In the bridge, the synths close, then elongate and twinkle. with She says men and women both want to forget they once thought she was the greatest person alive.

“Never ever met her at all!/You wish you never ever met her at all!/You wish you never ever met her at all!/You wish you never ever met her at all!/You wish you never ever met her at all!”

In the final section, a smitten Timbaland says the woman is unique while Furtado warns that she’s best known from afar.

“I’ve been around and never seen a girl like this/She’s a maneater, a maneater/I’ve been around and never seen a girl like this/She’s a maneater, a maneater/I’ve been around and never seen a girl like this/She’s a maneater, a maneater/I’ve been around and never seen a girl like this/She’s a maneater, a maneater/Like this, like this.”

The swaggering drum beat closes the single.

Like Hall & Oates’ “Maneater,” Furtado talks about a charming woman and that people shouldn’t be taken by her. But that’s where the similarities end. Furtado, like the other women at the bar, would like to possess the magnetism the woman has. The woman lives life without a care. People are short-term connections that can be cut without any blood. Men, however, are more or less the victims of the woman’s personality. Men are simply to be had and nothing more.

Furtado’s vampy, savvy vocals are youthful and impetuous. She knows the woman and talks to her occansionally. But to be the woman’s friend would be a full-time competition she would never win. It’s best to be outside looking in. Furtado is as comfortable with dance music as folk. It fits as easily as a sweatshirt on a cold day.

The rubbery synths bend and spring with a vivacious snap. It latches onto the ear and won’t let go.

The salacious “Maneater” is absolutely fabulous.

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