Nelly Furtado last visited Calgary in 2006 and 2007 on the Get Loose tour. The multi-talented singer-songwriter returns with three Alberta dates this month in support of her new album The Spirit Indestructible. The tour hits the Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary January 12th, the Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre in Medicine Hat January 14th and Edmonton’s Jubilee Auditorium January 15th. For both fans and Furtado, it is has been a long time since they last reconnected live.

"It has been six years since I toured Canada, which is pretty crazy. It will be nice, this is the first place where my music became popular almost overnight in Canada. It has been embraced over the years. I feel grateful and am excited to play for these audiences. It is going to be really special. The more I tour the more I like it, as time goes by I appreciate it more and more," Furtado told GayCalgary Magazine. The tour kicks off in her hometown of Victoria. Her experiences growing up on Vancouver Island are featured heavily in the new album, making it extra special to kick off the tour there.

"My new album has a bunch of Victoria themes from growing up there like hanging out in the 7-11 parking lot and having fun in the song Parking Lot.  I talk about hanging out at different landmarks in Big Hoops. So starting in Victoria is a full circle journey for me into adulthood. It is going to feel great to play there in front of friends and family."

With so many songs under her belt and multiple hits, it is a challenge to whittle down what to play.

"It is really hard to put a set list together because I have 5 albums which are all completely different and it has been six years so you have no idea who is coming to the show! The show is an hour and a half so we have to make sure it is a fun show. We play songs that people connect with and are familiar with and throw in a few surprises. The songs that are most exciting for me to play are the new ones because I am playing them for the first time."

Songs like Powerless and I’m Like a Bird will likely make the set. Released almost 13 years ago, when Furtado was 21, she still connects with the songs from early in her career.

"Believe it or not I do. I really enjoy playing songs like I’m Like A Bird because I have played it all around the world. This summer I played in Taiwan and I was just in awe of all the people that were singing the words to the song, it was cool. The song has meaning to me as well. What I will do is rearrange a song for awhile and then go back to the original arrangement maybe on the next tour."

During her time off the road Furtado raised her daughter Nevis. Now 9 and in school, it poses new challenges to tour while being a mom.

"I toured more when she was a baby before school. That is the advice I give to other singers with small children, go out on the road now and get it out; you won’t want to be on the road when she is in school. I have been touring for 10 years now and I have never been the type of person who really likes to be on the road for a very long time regardless of being a mother or not. It has been an interesting balance. Now we tour more in the summertime and on school breaks."

It seems like a very Canadian thing to tour across the country in winter. In the past few years Canadians like Theory of a Deadman, Nickelback, City & Colour, Jann Arden and Tegan & Sarah have travelled across the wintery Canadian landscape on tour. The thought of being on a tour bus in -30 gives me chills, and I mentioned it to Nelly.

"Oh I haven’t even thought about that! Now you’ve got me worried, the bus will be cold? I have to rethink this!" she exclaimed, laughing. "We will embrace the cold and will do some winter sports on our off days, some skating and tobogganing and maybe skiing. It feels very Canadian to be touring the country in January. I just have to bring a warm coat. It is challenging as a singer because you are going from hot to cold, so sometimes it can cause a problem."

Furtado is ecstatic to feature Dylan Murray, who is signed to her label Nelstar, and Jessica Tyler, who portrayed Jenna Middleton on Degrassi, opening on the tour.

"Dylan is a current Nelstar signing, the label I founded a couple of years ago. He is an incredibly gifted singer songwriter from Toronto, he wrote a song for me, we have a duet called Be Ok. His songs are very rich and meaningful and melodic, I think people are going to embrace him. Jessica Tyler is a young singer-songwriter who is 19 and writes these great songs. It will be a nice homegrown tour."

The opportunity to give back to new artists is a big part of what motivates Furtado, and she got very excited when speaking about her label and working with young talents.

"That is why I started the label, before I started it I was engaging in artist development in my spare time. That was an organic thing that happened. The first signing was Fritz Helder & the Phantoms and started as a friendship and it was like you know what guys, I am at all your shows anyways why don’t we just put out your album. It is something I love to do, I am actually more of a behind the scenes person instead of in front of the camera. By default I have become that person in front of the camera but I actually really love all of the stuff that people don’t see behind the scenes. It is important now more than ever, the music industry as a whole is down these days and you have to find creative ways to let people be themselves. If you have a mentor with that first hand information you can’t get any better than that. Jessica is asking me what to bring on the bus, any special things she might need and what to expect. For me it is really rewarding."

Furtado almost retired to focus on working behind the scenes, but fortunately for her fans, she had a change of heart.

"It is always the music, I will be in the studio and get inspired again. I was going to announce my retirement, not a full retirement but as a performer and was going to pursue other musical interests like producing and writing for other artists. I was being inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame and thought that would be a great place to announce it. But a week before I was jamming with a bunch of musicians and thought how can I give this up this is so much fun. It is always the music that keeps me going and the different genres that I am interested in. I think the next album might be in Portuguese. I am getting increasingly interested in doing a standards or jazz album. I worked with David Foster recently on a song for Andrea Bocelli’s new album called Bravado. Every experience I has leads it different in a different way. I love music and it keeps me going."

I remember seeing Furtado in 2004 at the Stampede. Her high energy performance wowed the audience. Expect more of the same when she returns.

"I haven’t been in a few years but I am looking forward to it. That is one of the great things about this tour, is going back to where I haven’t been for awhile and places I haven’t been [before]. Medicine Hat has a brand new state of the art theatre. Nobody goes to these places so it is great to have a night out in these cities and I am excited to be part of that. It is a fun show and an emotional ride. You will feel energized and feel positive. I really like to connect with the crowd and transmit emotion in the songs and it is a party too. It is an engaging show we play all kinds of instruments and really have a good time."