Nelly Furtado has announced she’s stepping back from live performances “for the foreseeable future” to focus on new creative and personal ventures.
The 46-year-old Grammy-winning singer shared the update in an Instagram post on Friday, taking a moment to reflect on her career and the joy she’s found reconnecting with fans.
“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,” Furtado 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 timing of Furtado’s announcement aligns with the 25th anniversary of her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, which peaked at No. 24 on the Billboard 200 in January 2001.
In her Instagram post, Furtado shared a throwback photo of herself at 20, just before her first professional performance at Lilith Fair in 1999, along with a clip from a recent Berlin concert where she expressed pure joy watching fans of all ages sing along to her music.
“My music has reached a whole new generation of fans and I couldn’t be happier about that,” she wrote. “In the year 2000 I remember hoping some kid would dust off the Whoa, Nelly! vinyl one day and think it was cool or inspiring, so I never could have guessed there would be so many new ways to discover ‘old’ music in 2025!”
She continued, “To have so many people rediscovering my music has been surreal and joyful. It’s been so fun embracing this opportunity, getting out on stages again, and seeing up close the true lasting power of good music. It’s made me really believe in magic.”
Furtado’s latest album, 7, was released in 2024 and created in collaboration with her daughter, Nevis. “The key for me, with this new album, is just getting back into the craft,” she told People. “It’s like a whole new me, who’s stronger, braver, more confident.”
