Did Nelly Furtado Turn Into A Bird And Fly Away?

Honestly, what happened to Nelly Furtado? She was releasing hit after hit, and then she suddenly disappeared from the limelight.  

The 39-year-old singer-songwriter released her first album, Whoa, Nelly! in 2000, and whoa it was!

Smash hit songs like "I'm Like a Bird" and "Turn off the Light" have led her to becoming one of the most popular music artists in the early 2000s.

The Canadian-born artist sold more than 40 million records worldwide, has won a Grammy Award, and has a bunch of other hit singles that we all can sing by heart, like "Promiscuous," "All Good Things (Come to an End)," and "Powerless (Say What You Want)."

But what happened to her after all those early '00s hits?

Turns out she didn't turn into a bird and fly away, but took a five-year break from the music world, and went "undercover" to rediscover her creativity.

Furtado attended a playwriting class at the University of Toronto's School of Continuing Studies. She went by her middle name, Kim, so that no one would know she's a famous singer.

"Only the teacher knew my other life as a singer," she told The Globe and Mail. However, towards the end of the course, a couple of her close friends found out.

Furtado said she had been struggling with an existential crisis that caused her to question what she wants in life: "I was in search of personal autonomy... It was about me finding a more simplified version of myself."

"I was a mother by the time I was 25. I owned my own home by the age of 22, 23. I had to put on the brakes," she added. The writing class was her "form of meditation."

Now she's returned with a new album in March called The Ride, which has spawned the single "Pipe Dreams".

Also, she and her husband, sound engineer Demacio Castellon, called it quits in the summer of 2016 after an eight year marriage. The couple share a 13-year-old daughter, Nevis.

“I am single now,” she said. “Someone here needs to update my Wikipedia — it's not helping my dating life!"

Did you also wonder what happened to this little bird?