Nelly Kim Furtado (born December 2, 1978 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is… Read Full Bio ↴Nelly Kim Furtado (born December 2, 1978 in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Furtado has sold over 40 million records worldwide, making her one of the most successful Canadian artists. She is widely known for her musical versatility and genre experimentation.

She first gained fame with her trip hop-inspired debut album, Whoa, Nelly! (2000), which was a critical and commercial success that spawned two top-10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, "I'm Like a Bird" and "Turn Off the Light". The first of the two singles won her a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Furtado's introspective folk-heavy 2003 second album, Folklore, explored her Portuguese roots. Its singles received moderate success in Europe, but the album's underperformance compared to her debut was regarded as a sophomore slump.

Furtado's third album, Loose (2006), was a smash hit and became her bestselling album, with more than 10 million copies sold worldwide, also making it one of the bestselling albums of the 2000s. Considered a radical image reinvention, Furtado continued to explore her Portuguese heritage while leaning heavier into hip hop. The album spawned four successful number-one singles worldwide; "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "Say It Right" and "All Good Things (Come to an End)".

She released her first Spanish-language album, Mi Plan, in 2009, which won her a Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. In 2012, Furtado released her nostalgia-inspired fifth album The Spirit Indestructible. Furtado split with her management and went independent thereafter, releasing her indie-pop sixth album, The Ride, in 2017 under her own label Nelstar Entertainment.

She has won many awards throughout her career, including one Grammy Award from seven nominations, one Latin Grammy Award, ten Juno Awards, one BRIT Award, one Billboard Music Award, one MTV Europe Music Award, one World Music Award, and three Much Music Video Awards. Furtado has a star on Canada's Walk of Fame, and was awarded Commander of the Order of Prince Henry on February 28, 2014, by Aníbal Cavaco Silva, the then-President of Portugal.

What I Wanted
Nelly Furtado Lyrics

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I turned my head away
Didn't wanna hear what you said
You had changed your mind
I showed up insecure
But I thought you would be sure
I guess I had a lost sight

[Chorus:]

But at the end of my life
I'll look back on my life
I'll know that my life was good
At the end of my life
I'll look back on my life
See I went after you like I should
I went after what I wanted
I went after what I wanted
And I never really got it
But it don't matter at all

I guess it was a lot
To ask for these things we'd lost
I guess it was just a dream
And time changes many things
But my heart it still sings
For you, I don't know why

[Chorus:]
But at the end of my life
I'll look back on my life
And I'll know that my life was good
At the end of my life
I'll look back on my life
See I went after you like I should
I went after what I wanted
I went after what I wanted
And I never really got it
But it don't matter at all

[Bridge:]
I thought I'd spend my last days
Holding your hand
Now how am I, since he's lying dead on the floor

[Chorus:]
But at the end of my life
I'll look back on my life
And I'll know that my life was good
At the end of my life
I'll look back on my life
See I went after you like I should
I went after what I wanted
I went after what I wanted
And I never really got it
But it don't matter at all

Everything else I lost it
I went after what I wanted
I went after what I wanted

And the rest don't really matter
It don't matter at all

Overall Meaning

The song I by Nelly Furtado relates to a love affair that did not reach its desired conclusion. The singer starts by saying that they turned their head away when they heard that their lover had changed their mind. This change of mind goes unexplained, but it is clear that the singer was not happy about it. They admit to feeling insecure when they saw their lover, but thought that the lover would be sure about them. However, something went wrong, and the two of them never got together. The singer is nostalgic about the relationship and is wondering why their heart still sings for this person.

The chorus speaks about the singer's philosophy of life. They are confident that however they spend their life, they will look back and know that they lived it well. They followed their heart and went after what they wanted, even if they did not get it. To the singer, this effort matters more than the result. In their mind, other things lost their importance in comparison.

In the bridge, the singer reflects on how the love affair should have ended. They thought that they'd spend their last days holding their lover's hand. However, the lover has died or is dead, indicated by the line, "Now how am I since he's lying dead on the floor." This adds a layer of tragedy to the narrative, but the singer still clings to the hope that they will look back at their life and know that they went after what they wanted.

Line by Line Meaning

I turned my head away
I didn't want to hear what you had to say

Didn't wanna hear what you said
I avoided listening to your words

You had changed your mind
You altered your thoughts

I showed up insecure
I arrived with self-doubt

But I thought you would be sure
I expected you to have confidence

I guess I had a lost sight
I probably lost perspective

But at the end of my life
In retrospect, on my deathbed

I'll look back on my life
I'll review my existence

I'll know that my life was good
I'll realize my existence was great

See I went after you like I should
I pursued you as I was meant to

I went after what I wanted
I chased my desires