I Did Not Suspect Reverse Psychology
May. 29th, 2007 03:43 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
katstevens.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
poptimistsNatasha Bedingfield - N.B.
As a rule of thumb, I don't fork out cash for a pop album until I've heard at least two good tracks from it. Some of this is a hangover from not being able to afford any albums at all a couple of years ago, but recently I've become more adventurous with my music spending. Last year, despite low expectations, I purchased Fergie's solo effort after hearing 'London Bridge' and 'Fergalicious'. It took a while for the rest of the tracks to grow on me but I was pleasantly surprised. Growing in consumer confidence and victim of a particularly vicious 'I Wanna Have Your Babies' earworm, I bought the Tash-Bed album. Worryingly, this may well have been because I thought no-one else would! I wanted to give her a chance.
The Dutchess was never going to sound much different to the Black Eyed Peas' brand of appealingly dumb R'n'B - but what to expect from N.B.? What genre does Natasha Bedingfield fall into? 'Mental' is one throw-away answer, but for the want of a musically descriptive term I'll plump for 'attention-seeking'. All the songs have Tash's voice right at the front of the mix - there's no escape. All the songs are about Her and how She's feeling: happy, sad, confused, bored. B-Day was a story focusing Beyoncé's relationship with (ahem) some dude, but there was plenty of acknowledgement given to the listener through various tidbits of advice ("put on your Freakum Dress" etc). Tash is having none of this 'third person' business, let alone a cogent narrative. Hey you! Listen up! It's [fanfare] NATASHA BEDINGFIELD and her spell-it-out-slowly Personality! She's even put an explanation of 'N.B.' on the inlay sleeve (including Latin pronunciation): "In present day English it means 'Pay Attention' or 'Take Notice'". LOOK AT MEEE! I'M NATASHA B! RHYMING COUPLETS ARE VERY EA-SY!
Tash's bludgeoning empowerment-by-numbers is irritating, but for some reason I desperately want to give her the benefit of the doubt. It worked for the Fergie album - could Tash grow on me in the same way? Her lobotomy-happy lyrics are certainly bonkers enough on 'Backyard': "Your lasso, my tiara, my wand, your plastic bazooka!" (scrub your minds out, she's merely reminiscing about dressing-up games with the boy next door as a kiddie) is more than a match for Fergie's genius line "I'm not going to miss you like a child misses its blanket". However Tash veers wildly back to the banal on 'Say It Again': "Cos I have so much love for you... I give you my heart...Should be so easy but my head gets in the way" We get the message! You like some bloke quite a lot, and are going to string this out for three and a half minutes. I love you, you love me, we all live in Sesame Street. Whatevs.
So things aren't looking good for Tash. But wait! I've mentioned on a couple of poptimists comments threads that I've become increasingly aware of my current music tastes slowly drifting toward the mum-pop demographic. This is due to acquiring a taste for:
- ridiculous ballads
- feeling HAPPY
- string sections
- blokes with lovely voices (eg Lovely Dan from Lovely The Feeling)
On 'When You Know You Know', Tash has certainly ticked the first three boxes and in doing so has come up with a winner. Picture Luther Vandross serenading a lucky lady with a Magic FM car bumper sticker, complete with 'brvvvlom-pom-pom, om-pom-pom' piano waltz bombast and a 'me-ee-ee aa-and Mrs, Mrs Jones' esque breakdown. It's very enjoyable, and for a split second you can forget that it's Tash's grinning mug squeezing her vocal chords till they bust. The middle-aged hopefuls on X Factor will be singing this a capella at their auditions in 3 years' time.
I know in my heart that over half the songs on N.B are bland filler. And that I don't actually like her voice. Or her face, especially when she smiles. I'm not even sure I like her anymore after the second (yes, second) secret track - a thinly disguised 'thank you message to God', yikes. But on the third listen the line 'rushed like lemmings off a cliff' crops up without warning! And there's Eve's brilliant guest rap, plus that great trance-blip background noise worthy of a Timbaland production on 'Not Givin' Up' - and I'm forced to rethink my position and give her some credit. ARGH! Goddammit Natasha, stop messing with my mind!
As a rule of thumb, I don't fork out cash for a pop album until I've heard at least two good tracks from it. Some of this is a hangover from not being able to afford any albums at all a couple of years ago, but recently I've become more adventurous with my music spending. Last year, despite low expectations, I purchased Fergie's solo effort after hearing 'London Bridge' and 'Fergalicious'. It took a while for the rest of the tracks to grow on me but I was pleasantly surprised. Growing in consumer confidence and victim of a particularly vicious 'I Wanna Have Your Babies' earworm, I bought the Tash-Bed album. Worryingly, this may well have been because I thought no-one else would! I wanted to give her a chance.
The Dutchess was never going to sound much different to the Black Eyed Peas' brand of appealingly dumb R'n'B - but what to expect from N.B.? What genre does Natasha Bedingfield fall into? 'Mental' is one throw-away answer, but for the want of a musically descriptive term I'll plump for 'attention-seeking'. All the songs have Tash's voice right at the front of the mix - there's no escape. All the songs are about Her and how She's feeling: happy, sad, confused, bored. B-Day was a story focusing Beyoncé's relationship with (ahem) some dude, but there was plenty of acknowledgement given to the listener through various tidbits of advice ("put on your Freakum Dress" etc). Tash is having none of this 'third person' business, let alone a cogent narrative. Hey you! Listen up! It's [fanfare] NATASHA BEDINGFIELD and her spell-it-out-slowly Personality! She's even put an explanation of 'N.B.' on the inlay sleeve (including Latin pronunciation): "In present day English it means 'Pay Attention' or 'Take Notice'". LOOK AT MEEE! I'M NATASHA B! RHYMING COUPLETS ARE VERY EA-SY!
Tash's bludgeoning empowerment-by-numbers is irritating, but for some reason I desperately want to give her the benefit of the doubt. It worked for the Fergie album - could Tash grow on me in the same way? Her lobotomy-happy lyrics are certainly bonkers enough on 'Backyard': "Your lasso, my tiara, my wand, your plastic bazooka!" (scrub your minds out, she's merely reminiscing about dressing-up games with the boy next door as a kiddie) is more than a match for Fergie's genius line "I'm not going to miss you like a child misses its blanket". However Tash veers wildly back to the banal on 'Say It Again': "Cos I have so much love for you... I give you my heart...Should be so easy but my head gets in the way" We get the message! You like some bloke quite a lot, and are going to string this out for three and a half minutes. I love you, you love me, we all live in Sesame Street. Whatevs.So things aren't looking good for Tash. But wait! I've mentioned on a couple of poptimists comments threads that I've become increasingly aware of my current music tastes slowly drifting toward the mum-pop demographic. This is due to acquiring a taste for:
- ridiculous ballads
- feeling HAPPY
- string sections
- blokes with lovely voices (eg Lovely Dan from Lovely The Feeling)
On 'When You Know You Know', Tash has certainly ticked the first three boxes and in doing so has come up with a winner. Picture Luther Vandross serenading a lucky lady with a Magic FM car bumper sticker, complete with 'brvvvlom-pom-pom, om-pom-pom' piano waltz bombast and a 'me-ee-ee aa-and Mrs, Mrs Jones' esque breakdown. It's very enjoyable, and for a split second you can forget that it's Tash's grinning mug squeezing her vocal chords till they bust. The middle-aged hopefuls on X Factor will be singing this a capella at their auditions in 3 years' time.
I know in my heart that over half the songs on N.B are bland filler. And that I don't actually like her voice. Or her face, especially when she smiles. I'm not even sure I like her anymore after the second (yes, second) secret track - a thinly disguised 'thank you message to God', yikes. But on the third listen the line 'rushed like lemmings off a cliff' crops up without warning! And there's Eve's brilliant guest rap, plus that great trance-blip background noise worthy of a Timbaland production on 'Not Givin' Up' - and I'm forced to rethink my position and give her some credit. ARGH! Goddammit Natasha, stop messing with my mind!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Addenda:
Date: 2007-05-29 02:53 pm (UTC)- Daniel makes NO appearance on the album whatsoever, I think this is a mistake on Tash's part
- The rubbishest tracks are bafflingly, co-written by either the Maroon 5 dude or Mike Elizondo, who wrote 'In Da Club' for 50 Cent. Wasted opportunity, or rejected songs from other Sony/BMG artists? WHO KNO.
Addenda #2
Date: 2007-05-29 02:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-29 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-29 02:59 pm (UTC)I had been wondering for some time what really got on my tits about Natasha Bedingfield and that specifies it exactly- it's the in your face lookitmelookitmelookitmelookitmeLOOKITME!!! unrelentingly thrust in your face. That and she is altogether too cheery and nicey-nicey 'ooh look I've got balls yeah girls this is awesome and aren't boys ace when they're great?' for me, she kind of reminds me of Bunty magazine or something. You cannot possibly attempt to read a book about failed humanitarian efforts while someone burbles 'iluvuiluvuliluvuliluvu!' in your ear. Or, well, I can't anyway and the degree necessitates the sacrifice of the latter for the former.
However, I suspect since the Fergie album grew on me a whole lot and I now really, really like it I should probably give this a go, based on your discussion. Also anything with a line about lemmings probably can't be all wrong.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-29 03:04 pm (UTC)I am still quite stunned as to her dismissal of everyone else in the universe apart from her and the bloke she's fallen for. And even he seems like a mere vending machine to dispense Important Feelings for her to sing about very loudly.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-29 03:05 pm (UTC)Re: Addenda #2
Date: 2007-05-29 03:06 pm (UTC)As for mom pop, "Unwritten" and "Breathe (2AM)" by Anna Nalick were in my top 10 singles of 2005 (very nearly both in the top 5) which deeply disturbs me even today.
Re: Addenda #2
Date: 2007-05-29 03:07 pm (UTC)My grand unifying theory of tashbed: all of her songs are CHICKLIT NOVELS and hence awesome.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-29 03:10 pm (UTC)Re: Addenda #2
Date: 2007-05-29 03:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-29 03:13 pm (UTC)Smash HitsMelody MakerObserver Music Magazine!no subject
Date: 2007-05-29 03:13 pm (UTC)Re: Addenda #2
Date: 2007-05-29 03:14 pm (UTC)My favorite track on Unwritten (the title track, as prev. stated) was cowritten by fellow mom pop artist Danielle Brisebois. Does she have any credits on this one?
The Blue Peter Of Pop
Date: 2007-05-29 03:14 pm (UTC)Re: Addenda #2
Date: 2007-05-29 03:15 pm (UTC)Re: Addenda #2
Date: 2007-05-29 03:16 pm (UTC)Re: Addenda #2
Date: 2007-05-29 03:17 pm (UTC)Re: The Blue Peter Of Pop
Date: 2007-05-29 03:20 pm (UTC)Or Jamie Cullum...
Re: Addenda #2
Date: 2007-05-29 03:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-29 03:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-29 03:43 pm (UTC)Re: The Blue Peter Of Pop
Date: 2007-05-29 03:55 pm (UTC)a dogan elephantValerie in my day.more kat, please
Date: 2007-05-29 04:07 pm (UTC)NB vs. Alanis
Date: 2007-05-29 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-29 04:14 pm (UTC)