landing strip

Natasha Bedingfield is about to return with "Strip Me". It's her third or forth longplayer depending on how you reconcile "N.B." and "Pocket Full Of Sunshine", which have overlapping tracks and were released in the UK and US respectively.

Poor Nat. She's a talented lass, but she is about to become the latest casualty of the Gaga effect. Take a look at the title track from her forthcoming elpee.



She's lovely. The song is nice enough. I can tell you without looking at the credits that the song was written, at least in part, by Ryan Tedder. He's a good enough songwriter. However, he will probably suffer the same fate as Gregg Alexander. Every single he wrote sounded like a rehash of "You Get What You Give" by his short-lived band, New Radicals.

Anyway, I would like to see "Strip Me" become a hit for Nat. Unfortunately, after the spectacular flop of the album's first single, "Touch Me", it appears her latest elpee might not last past the carving of the turkey.

soft touch

Natasha Bedingfield has re-emerged with "Touch”, the first single to be taken from her fourth studio album "Strip Me", which is due later this year.

The sweet lass has lensed a video for it. Shall we take a peek?

Pleasant enough. The verses are completely shite. A total lack of melody. However, the chorus is complete euphoria. It almost makes up for the truly awful verses. Natasha, go back and give us verses that match that sparkling chorus, babydoll.

Where does Ms. Bedingfield fit in this post Gaga universe? Honestly, although it's a decent pop nugget, "Touch" is not unique enough to stand out these days. She's clearly not carving out a path in the pop landscape like Robyn is. It's a dilemma that has already put Christina Aguilera in choppy waters without a floatation device. Also, Xtina delivered a half-baked album with too many Gaga-isms and a handful of shitty songs. It's anyone's guess how she'll recover from that debacle.

The bottom line. Natasha delivers terrific pop records, but there's nothing extra special about her or her material. It's missing the glitter, ingenuity and creativity which would make her more au current. Nice dress, though.