Music Review: Natasha Bedingfield’s Pocket Full of Sunshine

Natasha Bedingfield released her sophomore album, Pocket Full of Sunshine (Epic Records), January 22nd. In case you’ve been under a rock since her first single released in 2004, she’s the cute, soulful, blonde Brit with a potent voice reminiscent of Nelly Furtado. The album is a rework of the British released album N.B., with half the songs coming from the original release plus six new songs (mtv.com). Natasha has hit the ground running, hanging out with Prince, Bono, and making appearances on Jay Leno (January 25th) and Ellen Degeneres (January 24th). Her myspace profile claims she has the swank of ubber divas Pink and Christina Aguilera. We’ll be the judge of that…

While her first single was about being an independent woman, this album is more about finding love – teen style. The album boasts two new singles, “Pocket Full of Sunshine,” and “Love Like This” featuring Sean Kingston. It’s popish, upbeat, and geared toward a tween/teen audience. (Her website asks you to vote for her at RadioDisney.) “Freckles” explores the beauty of imperfections, and “Happy” is Natasha’s answer to the emo kids.

That being said, I have good news and bad news.

The good news is, the album titled song “Pocket Full of Sunshine” has an interesting mix of sounds – a soft introduction topped with R&B beat and Natasha’s soulful voice. The lyrics are mediocre at best but I found myself caught by the hook and pulled in by the energy in Natasha’s vocals. Ok, so it wasn’t entirely good news…

The bad news is, “Love Like This” is completely unoriginal. Sean Kingston doesn’t add much to the song with his vocals and occasional shouts of “c’mon!” and “say what!” The vocals sound doctored, the lyrics are trite, and the beat sounds like my seven year old kid created it on his mini keyboard.

Natasha has a powerful and authentic sound, but the production of the album is poor overall. I’d say its worth paying a couple of bucks to download “Pocket Full of Sunshine” from itunes, but unless you are really into Hanna Montana, probably not worth shelling out cash for the entire album.