natasha beddingfield

Full disclosure: even before listening to this album, I knew that Natasha could not be my favorite Bedingfield. That honor goes to Daniel, whose classic song "Gotta Get Thru This" will always hold a special place in my heart. That said, Natasha's new album Pocketful of Sunshine does a strong job of keeping the listener engaged and entertained throughout, despite lacking much substance or ingenuity. It truly is a vapid pop record, but as far as vapid pop records go, it keeps the energy high and the majority of the tunes very listenable.

The greatest fault of the album is that, as the running time goes on, it reveals itself to have two distinct identities. One is a heavily-produced, light-hearted record, full of decent grooves and catchy choruses. Surprisingly enough, most of these songs succeed, putting her voice front and center with backup vocals, steady drums and pleasant guitar and piano melodies propping her up.

It is the production that keeps many of the songs interesting. Alongside its refreshing tambourine intro, lining one of the album's best songs, "Say It Again," is a synth reminiscent of the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever." Also a success is "Freckles," a little confidence-booster of a song that manages to not be dragged under by its cliched inner-beauty theme. In fact, the half-KT Tunstall, half-Imogen Heap sound of her better songs actually makes the theme uplifting.

Enjoying these harmless tunes is made more difficult when Bedingfield begins to take herself seriously. This raises the album's alter-ego, a slate of songs that attempt to tell stories and be hits without making any effort to disguise their naked ambition. The lyrics here never manage to ascend above the inane. Main offender "Backyard"'s lyric of "Your lasso, my tiara/My wand, your plastic bazooka" is a prime example of the bizarre wordplay that plagues her narrative songs. This side of the album, which alternates between being synth-heavy and sparely acoustic, comes across as a failing attempt to replicate some of Lily Allen's charm.

Despite their weaknesses, however, these songs still don't manage to overwhelm the album's many interesting pop pieces. Natasha's words perhaps best say how most listeners' will feel about the album: "I'm in like with you/Not in love with you."