No tengo armas para enfrentarte. Pongo mis manos, manos al aire.

Nelly Furtado really hit the big time with her wildly successful Loose album, but I have long been a fan of her criminally underpromoted sophomore outing Folklore.

True, it's not as "now" as the Timbaland collaborations that rocketed her (justifiably so) to the top of the charts, but in hindsight, her new single Manos al Aire clearly draws from that earlier more-personal album.




It shouldn't really come as much of a surprise that the Portuguese-Canadian singer is veering back towards the latin market with a Spanish language album this time around.

While Folklore went by relatively unnoticed here years ago, the seeds for her global multilingual push really kicked into high gear all the way back then.

Oblivious to her U.S. fans, her soccer anthem Força was exploding in the rest of the world. We watched it over and over on Mexican music video channels while on a beach break in Puerto Vallarta.



It's right around this time that she began dipping her toe into the Spanish language world, doing some collaborations with Colombian superstar Juanes, which led to their duet Te Busque on the Loose album (which was a quiet hit single on the Spanish and Latin charts). She also played around with reggaeton kings Calle 13 on the percussive No Hay Igual.



So why not a full-on Spanish language album? Clearly the market is there, and Furtado has long had her sights on a bigger world than the fickle U.S. Top 40.

Manos al Aire is charting in Europe and throughout the Spanish speaking world. And good ol' American MTV Hits here is even playing it heavily, with some clever subtitles.

Furtado's new album, Mi Plan, drops in mid September. It's a welcome switchback for an amazing singer.

Besides, she's already said there's more percolating unsubtitled stuff on the back burner for those Loose fans craving some more. Anticipation does make the heart grow fonder...