NB

Like a few others before her (most notably Bush and now Joss Stone) Natasha Bedingfield has settled into the rather unfortunate position of being more famous for being famous in America than her actual musical achievements. That is a slightly harsh set of circumstances, especially given that she’s turned out a couple of admirably quirky pop tunes and, in the shape of ‘These Words’, a stone cold classic.
Bedingfield’s second album is essentially more of the same, at times inspired (the suitably off-kilter ‘I Wanna Have Your Babies’), too often ploughing the safe middle ground. While she can handle more interesting stuff like ‘Pirate Bones’, give her a standard big ballad such as ‘Soulmate’ and she starts to struggle. Too much of the album pitches her into the world of mainstream US R&B, a move that might help sales but doesn’t make the most of her natural abilities. Natasha Bedingfield – when she’s good she’s very, very good; when she’s bad she’s Brandy.