Songfacts®:

• In this song, Furtado sings about how despite her tough facade, when the lights go out she can get lonely just like everyone else. It was her second single, following "I'm Like A Bird." Both songs were hits and got Furtado off to a strong start.
• Sophie Muller directed the original music video, which has Furtado singing in a swamp and a team of male dancers in hoop skirts. Another version shows her performing in a shed and buying flowers. Muller's long list of credits include artists such as Annie Lennox, Sade, No Doubt, Garbage, Coldplay, and Radiohead.
• "Turn Off The Light" is part of Nelly Furtado's debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, released when she was 21. She wrote the song herself and produced it along with Gerald Eaton and Brian West.
  
  Furtado was born in British Columbia to Portuguese parents. At 17, she moved to Toronto and started a trip-hop band called Nelstar. Pop music at the time was dominated by Disney-bred singers like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Furtado stood out from this crowd with an underground sensibility and terrific songwriting skills. In "Turn Off The Light" she was able to take a pretty much universal experience - the outgoing public persona that is a lot more insecure in private - and flesh it into a compelling song.
  
  She continued writing her own songs but did a lot more collaborations over the years. In 2006, Timbaland produced most of her album Loose, which was a monster, landing #1 hits with "Promiscuous" and "Say It Right."
• There's a lot of turntable scratching going on in this song. That sound was big in 2000, with acts like Incubus and Linkin Park using it a lot. Furtado's co-producer Brian West did the scratching.