Yahoo! Music Review

Released on 30/04/07
Label: SonyBMG

The greatest gift an older sibling can give is the chance to learn from their mistakes. Natasha Bedingfield, formerly known as the younger sister of one time pop star Daniel, will no doubt have been paying close attention, keen to ensure that her second album doesn't go the way of her brother's. Over confident to the point of arrogance, Daniel's "Second First Impression" staggered, floundered and ultimately plummeted like a stone under the sheer weight of its confused and bloated pomposity.

Big ideas and not enough tunes were his downfall. Clearly, with "NB", Natasha has no intention of them being hers. Resisting the temptation of get carried away with her own success - which includes a Top 5 US single and Grammy nomination - "NB" does the sensible thing and sticks firmly to the sunny, grown-up cartoon pop which got her this far in the first place.

And so it is that first single, "I Wanna Have Your Babies", hops and skips with "These Words" cheeriness through a Cath Kidston world of chintz, wearing a gleaming smile and a bankable chorus to secure her place as the yummy mummy's spiritual leader. The strident R&B-lite of "Pirate Bones" struts firmly in the footsteps of debut hit "Single", "Backyard"'s wistful sway is the new "Unwritten" and everything else comes with a family resemblance to keep the three million owners of her debut suitably happy.

Yet by the same token, it'll hardly have them adding it to their Top 10 favourite albums of all-time list. While junking a winning formula is the preserve of the brave or stupid, and usually not to be recommended, playing it safe is never the exciting option. So just as there's no danger of "NB" bringing her winning streak to a premature end, there's little chance of it being mistaken for a classic either.

With no risks being taken, the best it can hope for is nice, and very nice though it is, that's never enough. It's good clean fun, entertaining and inoffensive. At times, as with "How Do You Do?"'s semi-Stefani bounce it's technically brilliant and with the sharp lyrical smarts of "Who Knows", it's undeniably intelligent. But intelligent, like good, inoffensive and technically brilliant never sent a shiver down the spine. What's missing is the thrill that comes with hearing pop's wheel being reinvented; and there's no safe way of doing that.

    by Dan Gennoe