"Turn Off the Light" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado, taken from her debut studio album, Whoa, Nelly!. Written by Furtado, and produced by Gerald Eaton, Brian West, and Furtado, the song was released as the album's second single on August 14, 2001, reaching number one in New Zealand, Portugal and Romania, as well peaking within the top 10 in several other countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Furtado, who cited the song "Turn the Lights On" by the Canadian band Big Sugar as the inspiration for "Turn Off the Light", has described it as "a real song... Though I may seem so independent and stuff, blah, blah, blah, when I turn out the light at night I can get lonely just like everybody else. Maybe that's why it's such a good song and everyone is responding to itbecause it's real. Just a song with a fun, hooky chorus."
Music video
There were two music videos made for "Turn Off the Light": the underground version, and the normal version. The normal version was directed by Sophie Muller and was filmed in Beijing, China. The music video for the normal version of "Turn Off the Light" begins in a swamp where Furtado is sitting on the edge of a log and people are swimming in the swamp. She begins to sing the first verse and when the chorus commences the people in the swamp pull her in and they start dancing in the swamp. The second verse starts and Furtado is seen at a temple singing while some dancers jump out and dance with Furtado. During the second part of the chorus, she is surrounded by a group at the temple and they dance around her while she sings. During the bridge she is shown at an old house both singing while sitting on a chair and playing a guitar, with the flag of the Azores both behind her and on her guitar. The video ends with Furtado back at the temple eating noodles. The underground video features Furtado playing the guitar in a wooden shed, wearing a white top and jeans. She is also seen buying flowers. Behind the scenes footage of the photoshoot for the Whoa, Nelly! cover is interwoven through the video.
Chart performance
The song became Furtado's most successful song at the time of its release. In New Zealand, it became her first number-one single, stayed on the chart for 27 weeks, and was certified Gold by Recorded Music NZ for sales greater than 5,000 copies. It became the second-most successful song of New Zealand in 2001, behind Craig David's "Walking Away". It peaked at number 5 on the US BillbardHot 100 on 10 November 2001. A remix featuring rappers Ms. Jade and Timbaland was also released, and a dance remix topped the BillboardHot Dance Music/Club Play chart. In Australia, although the song peaked at number 7, it remained in the top 50 for 21 weeks and was certified Platinum for sales exceeding 70,000 copies. It debuted and peaked at number 4 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming her second top-5 single there, and reached number 2 on the UK R&B Chart.
