Remember Daniel Bedingfield – the solo artist who made an understated, accomplished album in his bedroom and arose, phoenix-like, out of the ashes of the UK garage explosion? In a bizarre about-face, it seems as though Bedingfield has found God…and Beck’s dad.
It may not be easy to mastermind a move from hot urban totty to tiresome mini-Cliff clone within a year, yet Bedingfield must be given credit where it’s due. Having wooed a nation of young British fillies with his heartfelt ballad ‘If You’re Not The One’, it has since transpired that the devout Christian didn’t even capitalise on his heart-throb status. The bore.
It’s worth noting that Second First Impression is produced by Jack Joseph Puig (of Rolling Stones fame) and arranged by David Campbell (Beck’s father), but that’s about as credible as it gets. Other than that, the album is consistently inoffensive, veering between big-budget, breast-beating balladry (sadly, his own breast) on ‘Sorry’ and ‘Show Me The Real You’ and questionable, Timberlake-like R&B offerings on ‘Growing Up’ and ‘Complicated’. Frankly, listening to a young male pop-star not singing about having you nekkid by the end of the song is oddly disquieting.
For a blue-blood Christian, Bedingfield has plenty to say about the birds and the bees. True love waits and all, but for the third album, I’d suggest a return to the bedroom studio…and maybe he should bring a couple of birds in tow to really loosen things up.