Two years after inspiring us all to feel the rain on our skin, the world’s favorite Bedingfield is back with a menu of ballads as inspirational as only Natasha can provide.
After the success of “Unwritten,” (the track more than the album) Natasha Bedingfield could have easily slipped into one-hit-wonderdom. Instead, she birthed her newest gift to the world, “Pocketful of Sunshine.”
Bedingfield’s most recent album opens with, “Put Your Arms Around Me,” a very cliche, pop princess, I’m-never-going-to-give-you-up song. The track sets a nice precedent for most of what is to come: catchy melodies set behind the fantastic vocals of a very talented artist.
Though die-hard Natasha fans may find comfort in her familiar R&B-pop-gem-meets-Hilary-Duff-meets-Gwen-Stefani-meets-Fergie-meets-Cher sound, the only universal value to this album is the track that shares its name with the record, in the same way “Unwritten” was the only epic track on her previous album.
Most people have probably already heard “Pocketful of Sunshine,” they just don’t know it yet. Aside from gracing the airwaves, the song was slowly incorporated into the monumental TV reality drama, “The Hills,” before the album was released. It was featured in a classic “Hills” montage, when Lauren says her final good-byes to Brody as she heads off to Paris with Whitney, and Heidi leaves Spencer to stare pointlessly at the wall of their apartment while she leaves to catch her breath back home. And don’t forget Audrina, who aimlessly leafs through a magazine by herself.
The song’s emotional melody complements Bedingfield’s vocals in an awe-inspiring fashion, to form a truly moving piece. Most people will be so touched, they won’t even bother to notice there are no real lyrics ““ just one brilliant chorus looped over and over again, with the exception of a refrain halfway through the song. Even those so very cold-hearted, who weren’t affected by the final episode of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” ““ when the Banks family moves to New York and leaves Will to say his final good-byes to the empty house by himself ““ will be shaken up.
Later in the album is Natasha’s collaboration with everyone’s favorite Jamaican American teddy bear, Sean Kingston. The track, “Love Like This,” has potential, but risks it all by digitizing one of the most pure and able voices in the mainstream today. It’s practically blasphemous, as well as unnecessary, to distort a voice of such ability as Bedingfield’s. But the soulful feel, backed by a solid verse by Kingston, almost makes up for the misstep.
“Soulmate,” another track lightly sprinkled throughout the latest season of “The Hills,” offers listeners another classic Bedingfield ballad, where she poses the question (and rhyme) of the century: “Somebody tell me why I’m on my own if there’s a soulmate for everyone.”
The Lauryn Hill-esque beat of “Pirate Bones,” adds a much needed spice to the album, with its intense drumbeat and even more fierce intermittent piano accompaniment. And once again, Bedingfield leaves her audience pondering, with “What if I squeezed myself into any shape and I still don’t fit?”
The fact is that no matter how cliche, no matter how mainstream Natasha Bedingfield may be, her music is more infectious than the plague and more addicting than Red Vines, and “Pocketful of Sunshine” is the ultimate proof.
– Rob Kadivar
E-mail Kadivar at rkadivar@media.ucla.edu.