Of all the collaborative duos one might have anticipated to come together in 2024, Nelly Furtado and Tove Lo probably weren’t on anyone’s bingo card. Sure, SG Lewis is in the mix too, but he often is whenever Tove Lo appears (hear: Dirt Femme’s “Call On Me” and “Pineapple Slice”). As for Furtado, “Love Bites” marks the first single from her forthcoming seventh album, which is promised to have plenty of “club bangers.” It would seem “Love Bites” is among them, with an opening beat that immediately reels the listener in as Tove Lo urges, “Go ahead, go ahead now.” And with that instruction, we’re off on an escapist journey.
Escapism is, in fact, the keyword for Furtado right now, for, as she explained of creating new music this time around, “I realized how much people like to dance and escape to my music. It’s the healthiest vice you can have, and I love the opportunity to write music that lets people escape more than anything.” “Love Bites” is no exception to Furtado’s rule. And in the accompanying “visualizer” (which looks like a pretty legit music video that even has a director—Gemma Warren—attached…but who knows, maybe they’ll make a “real” one later), Nelly and Tove appear at ease against a vibrant red backdrop as they lounge on a couch and the top of a car, respectively, before then standing up in the next scenes (these ones contrasted by black backdrops) to bump and grind against each other.
Oozing with sensuality, Furtado delivers the first verse, “And I can tell it from your mouth that you’re/Real good at working with your mouth and you’re/Not really tryna fuck with my mind and/Good at pretending that you could be mine.” Because, as Dua Lipa points out on Radical Optimism’s “Illusion,” “I really like the way you’re movin’/Yeah, I just wanna dance with the illusion.” In other words, it’s easier to be attracted to the, let’s say, two-dimensional persona presented by someone you initially encounter on a dance floor than it is to be by whoever they really are behind that false projection. Thus, as Lewis ramps up the beat, it reaches its climaxing crescendo when Tove Lo sings the chorus, “I want your body all mine/Boy, you’re looking too fine/The way your love bites/Got me dreamin’ ‘bout that/Time left your mark on my mind/Give me more of that kind/The way your love bites/Got me dreamin’ ’bout ‘cha.” Yes, it’s definitely the perfect song to soundtrack any sexually-charged vampire movie.
As for the phrasing of “about you” into “‘bout ‘cha,” well, it speaks perhaps to Furtado’s continued devotion to 00s musical and language sensibilities. After all, one can’t think of “‘cha” without tying it to The Pussycat Dolls 2004 hit, “Don’t Cha.” As for Furtado’s own musical evolution since her album supremacy (Whoa, Nelly!, Folklore [that’s right, Furtado named her album that before Taylor] and Loose) in the early and mid-00s, it’s clear she’s waited a bit longer this time to release another record because she wants to return to the eclectic, pulsing sounds that made her stand out from the herd in the first place. Tove and SG are the perfect pair to help reintroduce her to a new decade (with Furtado’s last album, The Ride, released in 2017), complementing her naturally dance-oriented style with their own more direct “Eurodance” one.
Furtado lends more depth to the average “sweaty dance track,” however, with her unique brand of lyricism continuing in the second verse, “And I can tell it from the signs you show/That you just wanna put me on your wall/So we gonna keep riding this whole wave/Because I know it’s written on each page/Help me, I can’t tame me, you can try/Connect me with your eyes/Can’t even hold me too tight.” This idea of being out of control and untameable yet also wanting someone who will make it seem worthwhile to be “tamed” matches the musical dichotomies presented in the single as well. Elsewhere, Furtado channels “Justify My Love” imagery and sensuality by demanding, “Call me/Taste me/Want me/Need me” as Tove Lo chants, “Go ahead, go ahead now” in between each command.
The visuals intensify (including Tove Lo writhing more bombastically on the floors of the various backdrops) as the song continues—which, again, gives it a more outright music video feel as opposed to just a “visualizer” one. Complete with Tove Lo and Furtado styled in clothes that can best be described as futuristic yet sophisticated “clubwear.” In short, they’re grown enough now not to be fuckin’ with cheap fare of the Forever 21 variety. And yet, “Love Bites” is the kind of track designed to prove that just because a woman grows older, it doesn’t mean her club-connected spirit dies out. Quite the contrary, as a matter of fact. Kylie Minogue also proved that recently with “Padam Padam,” a song that features lyrics that, once upon a time, no fifty-something woman would have been “allowed” to sing without being laughed at mercilessly (and yes, singers like Minogue and Furtado have Madonna to thank for enduring the most vitriol as she blazed a trail for them by continuing to say such things well past the “accepted period” of her youth).
As “Love Bites” comes to a close, Furtado brings it back to the 00s again by declaring the names of the featured artists, sensually telling us, “SG Lewis” before Tove Lo delivers an “oh-oh-oh” type utterance that provides the perfect lead-in for Furtado to then say, “Tove Lo.” It smacks of what Missy Elliott did for the end of 2001’s “Lady Marmalade.” Indeed, Elliott came out of the woodwork to comment favorably on Furtado’s live performance of “Get Ur Freak On” for NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert. It wasn’t totally random, though—Furtado jumped on a remix of “Get Ur Freak On” when it was initially released. Thus, to bring it back now seemed an exercise in reminding people of her diverse musical prowess. Elliott tended to agree, praising, “Those who remember this know this remix was fye. Still izzzzzz. You did dat @NellyFurtado.” With “Love Bites,” she’s also brought a new kind of “fye” to the 2020s that’s been sorely lacking.
