Nelly Furtado Shares Rare Insight Into Life With Her 3 Kids

Being a mom isn’t throwing Nelly Furtado off. 

The “Promiscuous” singer recently gave insight into life with her three kids—20-year-old daughter Nevis Gahunia, whom she shares with ex Jasper Gahunia, as well as her 6-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son with ex Hodgy—and how her old hits first made it to their ears. 

“I would say when my music first started trending on TikTok, my oldest daughter was only 16 or 17,” Nelly explained in an exclusive interview with E! News. “At the time, I was quite unfamiliar with it ‘cause  I was home with the babies and stuff.” 

Eventually, Nelly’s oldest daughter helped her get her own social media account off the ground. As the 45-year-old noted, “She taught me how to make my first TikTok.” (For more Nelly, tune into E! News tomorrow, Aug. 7, at 11 p.m.)

And since the social media app helped expose music to younger audiences—beyond just her own kids—Nelly even enlisted her 20-year-old’s assistance when curating her upcoming album 7, which hits stands Sept. 20. 

“I'm lucky she comes in the studio with me and helps me out as well,” she explained. “There's nothing better than having that creative connection with your child and being able to work on something special together.”

In fact, Nevis helped out her mom so much that she earned a credit as one of the A&Rs, or artists and repertoire, on the upcoming record. 

“It's been a journey—one we've taken together,” Nelly continued. “Just like working on it together and growing in the process. Me rediscovering my passion for music in the studio and her kind of discovering her own passion for it.”

Nelly’s upcoming LP will be her first since 2017’s The Ride, and it could very well be her best. The “Maneater” singer admitted she put more work into this release than her Whoa, Nelly! debut. 

“I've never really worked harder on something before,” Nelly confessed. “ I worked several years to make my first album, but then this one, I put so much energy into it. It was like a real party from start to finish. Just long hours, lots of songs to choose from. Just an abundance of creativity and whittling it down to this distilled like really fun package of songs.” 

Of course, Nelly promises she can still make you cry. 

“They're quite emotional too, though,” she added. “They've got that mix. My music always has a bit of melancholy mixed with some fun.”

—Reporting by Courtney Lopez