Nelly Furtado shared a beautiful ballad inspired by Robin Williams, and it’s breaking our hearts

One of this year’s musical comebacks that we’re super excited for is Nelly Furtado, who has just shared a ballad which was inspired by Robin Williams.

It was announced last year that Nelly Furtado was working on new music, and tbh we were pretty excited about it. The singer had previously shared some sweet cover versions, and this year announced her full return to music with her upcoming album The Ride, which is expected for release later this month.

It seems that Furtado has also gone in a new direction for her upcoming project, dropping the commercial pop of Loose and instead heading in a more leftfield direction (and tbh, we love it).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dardmy1eNw?feature=oembed

Now Nelly Furtado has shared the latest song from The Ride, and it’s a tender ballad that was inspired by Robin Williams.

Speaking to Macleans, Furtado told how she had written the ballad, titled “Phoenix,” just weeks after the sad passing of Robin Williams in 2014.

"Those ideas of somebody feeling so desperate…we can all have those kinds of feelings," she said about the track. "When you’re scrambling to fill the void in your life and you feel like you’re drowning… we all yearn to hear that one friend’s voice, say: 'You’re going to get through this.' I wanted to have a song that expressed that feeling of hope."

Listen to Nelly Furtado’s tender ballad “Phoenix” below.

Furtado had previously performed the song live at the BUILD Series in New York City. Watch the emotional performance below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKvSWV5lQb8?feature=oembed

Nelly Furtado also spoke about how her upcoming album was inspired by her own comeback journey.

“I lost all sense of who I was as an artist—that person who wakes up, sits at the piano in the living room, and writes a song. I started to take a step back from the big pop world,” she said. “I also wanted to be at home raising my daughter rather than raising her on the road. I was depleted when I came off the Loose tour. I also realized that I had to part ways with the longest business relationship of my life—it was like a divorce.”

“I got into the business young. I fell in love young. I had a baby young. I was in my twenties when it all began. Then, all of the sudden, I was juggling a career and motherhood and I felt like I was on fast-forward. My soul had to catch up,” she added.

Nelly Furtado releases her new album The Ride on March 31st. “Phoenix” is available to stream and download now.