Natasha Bedingfield - Pocketful of Sunshine
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CD Details
Artist: Natasha BedingfieldEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2008-01-22
Music Label: Epic
Soundtracks:
- Put Your Arms Around Me
- Pocketful Of Sunshine
- Happy
- Love Like This featuring Sean Kingston
- Piece Of Your Heart
- Soulmate
- Say It Again
- Angel
- Backyard
- Freckles
- Who Knows
- Pirate Bones
- Not Givin' Up
Music reviews of Pocketful of Sunshine
Music Review: Not a Bad Pop-Driven Sophomore Effort, But Is This Really Natasha?
Rating: 3 Stars
Bottom-Line: Is "Pocketful of Sunshine" offering us a more proper, more sedate North American version of Natasha Bedingfield? The two album versions seem to suggest so.
Despite my better judgment I like the music of 28-year old Brit Natasha Bedingfield. While not sterling material, Ms. Bedingfield's 2004 album Unwritten, had enough likable tracks on it for me to both like it overall and recommend it. Propelled by the musically contagious title track Unwritten, the album is a good mixture of fast and slow track with just enough Hip-Hop vibe to make it enjoyable across a broad audience.
Some 2.5 years later Natasha Bedingfield is back with her second album, "Pocketful of Sunshine", which by-and-large utilizes the same formula as her previous CD, with about the same results. And while "Pocketful of Sunshine" did not enjoy as much as commercial success as Unwritten--the CD only saw to singles released, the title track Pocketful of Sunshine (track No.2) and Love Like This (track No.4)--the music is at least as enjoyable for the most part.
London-based Natasha Bedingfield released "Pocketful of Sunshine" (North America) in January (released as N.B. in Europe in April 2007). The album peaked at No.9 in the U.K. having received mixed reviews from critics; the lead track I Wanna Have Your Babies, which was panned by critics and fans alike, is not on the North American version of the album. Indeed "Pocketful of Sunshine" only includes six tracks from the original release (N.B.) and the first release from that album Love Like This (featuring Jamaican crooner Sean Kingston of Beautiful Girls fame) was released in September 2007 and peaked at No.11 on the Billboard Hot100 Chart.
Pocketful of Sunshine, the single, was released in February 2008 and the song peaked at No.5 on the Billboard Hot100. No further tracks were released from the CD, which is shame because there is some good material on the album, including track No.5 Piece of Your Heart, a decent dance piece, track No.6 Soulmate in which Ms. Bedingfield does a very good with the ballad she co-wrote, and track No.10 Freckles, a light hearted song about the beauty and strength within.
Ms. Bedingfield co-wrote most of the songs on "Pocketful of Sunshine", an album containing mostly up-tempo Pop songs with a slightly tone down R&B/ Hip-Hop backbeat. But, unlike the songs on Unwritten, which focused on female empowerment and independence, Ms. Bedingfield has noticeably changed track.
While on Unwritten, she sang about the virtues of living the single life on Single, on "Pocketful of Sunshine" she goes on and on about her eagerness to find a mate and fall in love. The songs are more in line with her advanced years; gone is empowerment, replaced by love and relationship questions and concerns. Almost every some speaks of the Yin and Yang...
The first track on the CD Put Your Arms Around Me is typical of what the album has to offer; to wit:
That original feeling never went away
That's why I'm standing here today.
Whoa Whoa
So many up and downs
And nothing has changed
That's why you know I'm here to stay.
Whoa Whoa
So put your arms around me
And then stay there forever
Let it always be this way
You and me together
So put your arms around me
And I'll never let go
I know they're easy words to say
But I mean it more than ever
Yours is the kind of love
Makes nothing else feel good enough
And I'm never gonna give you up, Oh no, Oh no.
Now to Ms. Bedingfield's voice; as I wrote in my review of Unwritten she is no Christian Aguilera, Joss Stone, or Leona Lewis. Unadorned Ms. Bedingfield's voice is weak, raspy, and lacks range and is none to pleasant to listen to. But accompanied by the right instrumentation Natasha's vocals can be digested, and indeed on this CD she has improved it markedly; it is not a raspy and show surprising strength, though it still lacks range. Sometimes the raspy quality of her voice actually lends something to the song, other times not.
There has been a lot of female talent rocketing across the pond of late--from west to east--and Natasha Bedingfield has been in the vanguard of the incursion thought admittedly she is far less flamboyant than say nudists Lily Allen, or drug-addled Amy Winehouse . No, Natasha Bedingfield, who spent her teens on the Christian-pop circuit, is an attractive nonthreatening, prettily chaste blond, and to date, she has reminds me more of Carrie Underwood, than Christina Aguilera, and her label is happy to keep it that way.
Is "Pocketful of Sunshine" offering us a more proper, more sedate North American version of Natasha Bedingfield? The two album versions seem to suggest so. Gone is the sharp Hip-Hop edge that so defined Unwritten, replaced by an almost purely Pop-driven, vanilla coated CD, which is pleasant enough to listen to, but I wonder what I'm missing on the other side of the pond.
Description of Pocketful of Sunshine
MusicPass is a wallet-size digital album card redeemable online at musicpass.com. Each card offers an album in high quality mp3 files, plus bonus content.Pocketful of Sunshine, the follow up to Natasha's debut album Unwritten includes the hit single 'Love Like This' which features Sean Kingston. As a bonus, the MusicPass version includes the videos of 'Love Like This', 'Say It Again', and 'Soulmate', as well as the track 'How Do You Do' and the album's digital booklet.
On Pocketful of Sunshine, Natasha Bedingfield sounds like Joss Stone only bouncier. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, the brightness and buoyancy of this record will keep it spinning long after CDs that shoot for hipster credibility--with funked-up bells and fancy production whistles--have been deposited back into their jewel cases for all eternity. Check it out: "Love Like This," with Sean Kingston, puts its hands in the air for puppy love--the kind that'll bring you back to your "middle school kiss"--and a couple of other songs follow the youth-themed suit. "Backyard" time-travels to an idyllic childhood, while "Freckles" fleshes out, for the benefit of the insecure, the beauty in imperfections. Elsewhere, Bedingfield is her indomitably upbeat self. Opener "Put Your Arms Around Me" reeks of reassurance and tenderness. "Happy" implores would-be gloom-and-doomers to snap out of it, and while the title track doesn't wander all that far lyrically, it benefits from a chanted verse brimmed in (positive) attitude. The vibe, overall, is beach-blanket warm and blue-sky ready. Sunshine earns a pocketful, if not more, of pop-music props. --Tammy La Gorce
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