This debut offering from new BMG signing Natasha Bedingfield – a rather gorgeous, twentysomething, South Londoner of Kiwi extraction – opens promisingly enough. Current single ‘These Words’ is already a massive radio hit, and deservedly so. An infectious beat, a gorgeous voice and a ballsy delivery reminiscent of Lauryn Hill, it’s the kind of song that you listen to once and think you’ve known forever. And it’s not often you hear lyrics like "Read some Byron, Shelley and Keats / Recited it over a Hip Hop beat / I’m having trouble saying what I mean / With dead poets and drum machines" on daytime radio.
Her first single, appropriately titled ‘Single’, follows and, while not a patch on ‘These Words’, it’s still a fairly acceptable stab at a Grrl-Powered pop song ("I’m not waiting around for a man to save me / (Cos I’m happy where I am) / Don’t depend on a guy to validate me"). Presumably, if you wanna be her lover, you’ve gotta get with her friends as well. . .
It’s all fast downhill from here. Synthy, up-tempo party numbers like ‘I’m A Bomb’ sound like they could have been on the Miami Vice soundtrack back in the 1980s, and even the involvement of D-12’s Bizarre doesn’t make ‘Drop Me In The Middle’ any less droppable.
Elsewhere, the music is fairly predictable and pedestrian, vainly attempting to cover all bases (from hip hop and dance to pop and syrupy ballads) but succeeding in mastering none of them. Vocal shades of everyone from Nelly Furtado, Alanis Morrisette and even – gulp! – Victoria Beckham abound.
The liner notes list far too many studio cooks, and despite the involvement of Christina Aguilera’s production team and seasoned collaborators like songwriter Guy ‘Robbie Williams’ Chambers and producer Pat ‘ Madonna’ Leonard, the opening two tracks are by far the best this album has to offer.
But let’s not be too harsh on Miss Bedingfield. The girl can sing, has sass, looks stunning, and may yet go a long way in the music business.