Nelly Furtado is taking a break from the stage.
On Friday (Oct. 24), the 46-year-old pop veteran announced on social media that she’s stepping back from live performances for the “foreseeable future” to focus on new “creative and personal endeavors.” The decision comes as she reflects on how fans have reconnected with her music in recent years.
“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 on Instagram. “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 announcement coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Grammy winner’s debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, which peaked at No. 24 on the Billboard 200 in January 2001.
Furtado’s carousel post opened with a throwback photo of herself at 20, just before her first professional performance at Lilith Fair in 1999. The next slide jumped to a video from her recent show in Berlin, where she shared that she “finally understanding what receiving flowers means” as the crowd repeatedly chanted her name.
“My music has reached a whole new generation of fans and I couldn’t be happier about that,” she continued. “In the year 2000 I remember feeling purpose in hoping some kid would dust off the Whoa, Nelly! vinyl one day in a record shop and think it was cool or inspiring, so I never could have guessed that there would be so many new ways to discover ‘old’ music in 2025!”
She added, “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 most recent album, 7, arrived in 2024. “The key for me, with this new album, is just getting back into the craft,” she told People of the project, which she created alongside her daughter Nevis. “It’s like a whole new me, who’s stronger, braver, more confident.”
See Furtado’s full announcement on Instagram below.
