I've Gotta Get Thru This... (Pocket Full Of Sunshine - Natasha Bedingfield)

Member Name: rleigh

Product:	Pocket Full Of Sunshine - Natasha Bedingfield
Date:	29/03/08 (253 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: An excellent album featuring a number of brilliant R&B flavoured pop gems.

Disadvantages: Not officially released in the UK, you may have to pay a little more to own it on import.

Natasha Bedingfield is an English Singer/Songwriter from London. Her first album 'Unwritten' was recorded in 2004 and her second album 'N.B.' was released in the April of 2007 in the UK and Ireland. In the U.S. however, her second album is entitled 'Pocket Full of Sunshine' and whilst it features six tracks from the album 'N.B.', seven of the tracks are completely new. As I understand it, the new tracks were recorded in order to make the album appeal more to the American market as it was not believed that the 'N.B.' album would do well in the U.S. I feel that this album from Natasha Beddingfield benefits greatly from having been completely re-marketed for release in America. One noticeable track which is not present on the 'Pocket Full of Sunshine' album which was on the 'N.B.' album is 'I Wanna Have Your Babies', something I was extremely pleased about having not been at all a fan of that one.

The 'Pocket Full of Sunshine' album just seems to work on every level. Pretty much every single track that is present on this album pleases me hugely and is great to listen to. Beginning with 'Put Your Arms Around Me', this album never fails to impress from start to finish and is always a joy to listen to. I feel that the title track is probably my favourite of the release, it is this one in fact which attracted me to listening to Natasha Bedingfield's new album in the first place. I love the title track 'Pocket Full of Sunshine', it is just so catchy and has the most fantastic chorus I have heard in a long while. The beat is in my opinion near on perfect and everything about it just seems to fit together flawlessly in order to make for one of the best musical recordings I have heard all year.

Lyrics have never been a strong point of the music of Natasha Bedingfield, but given just how catchy and amazingly fun her music is to listen to this simply doesn't matter. It's hard to listen to this album without raising a smile or two; I challenge you to do so in fact. There is never a dull moment with the 'Pocket Full of Sunshine' album, a release which was led by the single 'Love Like This', an infectious little number which features the ever amazing Sean Kingston also. It is no surprise that this track was such a huge hit in America, Bedingfield and Kingston bounce off each other perfectly, their dual vocals sound amazing together and the sound of this one is simply superb. The track is quite repetitive, however somehow it works and not only is it extremely catchy, but very easy to listen to over and over also.

There is no denying that Natasha Bedingfield is making great Pop music, her music is a lot less detestable than the vast majority of Pop acts out there and is a lot more catchy also. There is a great R&B element present in her music and this is something that shines through when listening to this album. The aforementioned hit single 'Love Like This' being the best example of where the R&B sound is utilised in this album to great effect. Elsewhere in the release, there is a superb duet with Adam Levine from Maroon 5 in the fantastic 'Say It Again', a track I would most certainly advise listening to. In truth, the role of Adam Levine in this track is really rather minimal and he has very little of a speaking role. Despite the minimal presence of the Maroon 5 man in the track, it is still an excellent one to listen to and will surely be enjoyed by many given that it is the latest single release to have been chosen from the album.

Natasha Bedingfield has had a great career so far and it shows no signs of coming to an end any time soon. I feel that Natasha Bedingfield has a long and bright future ahead of her and she thoroughly deserves this to be so. Having now released two albums, she has shown a great deal of potential and a number of her tracks have impressed me massively. The music of Natasha Bedingfield tends to be a little hit and miss, however with 'Pocket Full of Sunshine' the bad tracks from the 'N.B.' album seem to have been ditched in favour of adding some greatly appealing new material and this has resultantly improved upon the UK and Ireland release tenfold. Whilst the 'Pocket Full of Sunshine' album is not exactly the best I have ever heard, it is definitely worth listening to and I would recommend it to everyone. There is something here to please all, and listening to the album at least once is therefore something that I feel everyone should do. Although not officially released in the UK, the US import of the 'Pocket Full of Sunshine' album can currently be found on Amazon at a price of £12.48.

Summary: 'Pocket Full of Sunshine' is a brilliant album from Natasha Bedingfield.