After gaining acclaim at the Grammy Awards and having two singles climb the charts to Top 10, Nelly Furtado is back with a more mature and self-expressing style. In her new album, "Folklore", Furtado employs her usual rhythm and diverse instrument mediums.

Similar to her previous album, "Whoa Nelly," her latest works combine multiple genres into her rhythmic dancing beats. "I’m all about mixing and mashing cultures," Furtado says. She skillfully weaves folklore and rock into foot-tapping music everyone can listen to. By increasing the rhythm and the selection of instruments, Furtado revives the folklore style of music.

"This is the folk lore of my mind," Furtado says. "The word often conjures up something old, but I’m kind of flipping its usual understanding. Folklore is something magical and mystical. I like that. But more than that, I think of it as a belief in origin. It’s people’s stories, basically. Everybody everywhere has his or her own folklore."

Furtado looks back on her past and her Portugese roots for encouragement. She draws on her past for inspiration especially in "Fresh off the boat," as she captures the difficulties of immigration. Her lyrics describe her "dirty hands" and her struggle to find her identity. In this song, Furtado features her jazzy voice and laid-back style of music.

With her unique upbringings, Furtado creates music with a multi cultural fan base. Without her cultural diversity, she would not be inspired to create her revolutionary genre.

"Powerless (Say What You Want)" is a prime example of the diversity Furtado incorporates into her art. The song begins with clanking Indian percussion and a hip-hop beat, until Furtado jumps into a Middle Eastern melody with plunking banjos and her jumpy vocals.

"Powerless is the kind of song where the first time you hear it all you really get is the breakbeat and the vibe, and it’s a very happy, uplifting song," Furtado said. "But if you look into the lyrics, you’ll find they’re a little heavier and more insightful."

The track begins with Furtado stressing the value she places on ethnicity, as she comments on the uniformity of American culture built around the ideals of the majority. "Paint my face in your magazines/ Make it look whiter than it seems/ Paint me over with your dreams/ Shove away my ethnicity," read the first four lines of the lyrics.

Furtado views power as the opposite of freedom. "If you’re free you don’t really care about your ego and yourself. You don’t care what people think of you or what your image is. So real power comes from not caring about power and just letting yourself be free.

Furtado also had to draw on her personal strength to put together the album. While compiling her works, Furtado was pregnant. Additionally, Furtado insisted on putting up with the poor weather of Toronto to make her videos instead of a warmer city because she wished to illustrate the cultural diversity that existed in her home culture.

Furtado looks to follow-up her previous stand out singles such as "I’m like a bird" and "Turn off the light," featured in her last album. Both became "Top 10" hits on the Billboard singles charts. "I’m like a Bird" won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 2002 Grammy Awards.