If anyone is benefiting from a style change now, it's Nelly Furtado.

After a couple of years off the music scene, the singer is back forcefully with her album "Loose" and its flirty, chart-topping single "Promiscuous." The duet with Timbaland is nominated for choice R&B/hip-hop track in the Teen Choice 2006 awards. The duo will perform it when Jessica Simpson and actor-comedian Dane Cook host FOX's telecast of the event Sunday, Aug. 20, from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif.

Kevin Federline, Britney Spears' husband, will close the show with his single "Lose Control." Slated to present the fan-voted, surfboard-shaped awards are Jessica Alba, Snoop Dogg, Hilary Duff, Kristen Bell ("Veronica Mars"), Kristin Cavallari ("Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County") and stars of the Disney Channel movie "High School Musical."

"It was perfect timing," Furtado says of the success "Promiscuous" has had. "In the summer, people just want to feel sexy and want a sense of release. Tim [Timbaland] and I joke that it should be called 'The BlackBerry Song,' because everything we say on the track you could flirtatiously send to someone in a text message. Both girls and guys can relate to it."

After making her mark with her Grammy-nominated 2000 debut album "Whoa, Nelly!" and its ballad "I'm Like a Bird," Canadian-born Furtado was ready to try something different.

"Sometimes, you just have to let go as a performer, jump into the deep end and not be afraid of falling flat," she reasons. "This music reminds me of the stuff I used to listen to when I was 12 or 13, groups like TLC and Salt-N-Pepa. I think I'm enjoying being an entertainer now more than ever."

Which would seem to suit Furtado's Teen Choice 2006 appearance ideally. "When I was a little girl and I first walked out on a stage, I loved the crowd, I loved making people happy, and I loved the feeling. I just love the sheer joy of performing. With the first two albums, I struggled through some performances. I was still a bit nervous, but now with seven years in the business, I feel like it's my time to shine."

Furtado credits family with helping her toward that. "My 2-year-old daughter is so full of energy, you just have no choice but to go with it," she says. "Because of her, I feel life in a different way, and that's why this album is so energetic. When I finished it, we'd listen to it all the time in the car. In fact, she'd request it."

However, someone else helped Furtado decide on "Promiscuous" as the first U.S. single.

"Actually, it was my mother's reaction that did it. She said, 'Ooh, I like this one!' I think when a song is good, it just connects with all sorts of people."

Some countries are getting a different single from "Loose" first. "'Maneater' was No. 1 in the U.K. for four weeks," Furtado reports, "and that actually worked out better for me. My fans can go online and see two videos where normally, an artist would only have one out at a time. That's contributed to the buzz surrounding the album."

Very likely, it also will earn Furtado a huge response at Teen Choice 2006. "I love award shows," she says. "I think the really great things about them are the performances, but I'm also interested in fashion and makeup and jewelry. I like watching what people are wearing, but just being in an environment around your musical peers is really fun."