Nelly Furtado is coming to a newsstand near you.

Hot off her four Grammy nominations, Furtado is appearing on the cover of Entertainment Weekly the week before the Feb. 27 Awards with fellow nominees India.Arie and Alicia Keys, who are up for seven and six awards respectively.

"We're all on the cover looking cute and funny," Furtado, 23, told The Sun yesterday in an exclusive Toronto interview while in town rehearsing for her 40-date North American tour. It begins Jan. 28 in her hometown of Victoria, B.C., and wraps up April 18 at Massey Hall.

"We're all friends, we've met several times and hung out and stuff. I think the magazine was so thrilled to see that it's not about competition at all with us."

Furtado will also appear on the March cover of SPIN, along with hip-hop star Jay-Z and others, for their annual Top 40 Most Vital Artists edition.

On the negative side, there was the recent flap in England over men's magazine FHM running a digitally-altered picture of Furtado on the cover of their British edition.

"See, with my career so far, there's a high and then a low right after," said Furtado with a laugh. "I just wanted my fans to know that I didn't pose for (the British magazine), didn't agree to be on the cover, and also that the image wasn't exactly me. I don't think people think about those things. I wanted to shed some light on it."

Furtado's concert date in Toronto comes just four days after the April 14 Juno Awards in St. John's, Nfld., and she confirmed she will be attending.

"I'm going to be performing at the Junos, I believe," said Furtado, who was last year's big winner with four. "It'd be fun to do (current single) On The Radio."

There were a couple of Juno categories that Furtado was ineligible for last year, so her name could be mentioned again when the nominations are announced in Toronto on Feb. 13.

"Who knows? I wouldn't be surprised," she said. "But if not, then I'm happy. Can't complain."

As for a Grammy performing spot, she doesn't know yet.

"Nothing's been solidified yet on the Grammy front as far as performances go, but I would love to perform. I think it'd be amazing. It's a great opportunity. Exposure-wise, it's quite incredible. But hey, if I don't it's all good, too.

"I'm just happy that all these great bands were nominated -- like from Coldplay to OutKast to David Gray. There's some good stuff this year."

Furtado's producers, Gerald Eaton and Brian West, sometime members of Toronto's Philosopher Kings, also picked up a nod for best producers (non-classical) for their work.

Unfortunately, Furtado -- who was present at the Grammy nominations announcement -- had no time that day to properly celebrate with them.

"I had to get on a plane for the U.K. that day, and actually lost my passport. So immediately after the Grammy thing I had to go to Kinko's to take a passport photo and then to the Canadian immigration office in L.A. and get a new passport."

Furtado plans to return to the West Coast in time for the NAACP Image Awards on Feb. 23, where she's nominated for best new artist for her song, Turn Out The Lights (Timbaland Remix).

"That's pretty cool," she said. "I'd love to attend that ceremony. I think they asked me to present."