Jet Lag

Natasha Bedingfield is probably my biggest idol. I've been in love with her music since she made the is cross over in 2005 with These Words; the single before the success of Unwritten.
There's also this fairly cool group known as Simple Plan who I remember as one of the groups of my middle school years. They're back with a new album this coming June, and they collaborated with my favorite artist. It's a lot less rock-y than some of Simple Plan's other stuff, but this is a pretty sweet song.

top 10 favorite artists on my iTunes

10. Justin Bieber. Yes, its cheesy, but Never Say Never and Pray are two amazing tracks.

9. U2. It’s been pretty popular to cover their stuff lately.  Think I have almost as many covers as I do them actually singing.

8. Fergie. Probably my second favorite female artist. She can sing on her own and does a great job with the Black Eyed Peas.

7. Bruno Mars. Come on, Just the Way You Are is just that good of a track.

6. R. Kelly. One of my two World Cup anthems come from him. Sign of a Victory is just as good as his old stuff.

5. Switchfoot. An old love rekindled because I finally managed to rip my Nothing is Sound album. And Beautiful Letdown is amazing as well.

4. Coldplay. I can’t even begin to describe them. They’re just so… good.

3. K’naan. I now have a 6^th version of the song Wavin Flag. Done by Young Artists for Haiti, a whole bunch of Canadian artists that include K’naan, Justin Bieber, Drake, Avril Lavigne, and a few more. Wavin Flag must be the global anthem for 2010 or something…

2. Lee DeWyze. He won my heart on American Idol last season.

1. Natasha Bedingfield. There probably couldn’t be a music list I make without her on it.

 

Seacrest 1-0 Daly

New Years Eve was great this year. Carson Daly is a dummy, but thanks to streaming internet, I could watch Ryan Seacrest, Dick Clark, and Fergie do what they do every New Years Eve: be awesome with great performances.

Noone could match Rockin New Years Eve with performances. Ke$ha, NKOTB and BSB, AND Natasha Bedingfield… It was like a dream come true for me. Yeah, Carson Daly had Nikki Minaj and lilWayne, but Ryan Seacrest always gets the better performers. And whoever was hosting FOX’s show had performers form like two years ago on.

As both Seacrest and Daly were live in Times Square and I was watching both at the same time, it was interesting to see the coordination that went into making sure both shows got coverage of the ball drop and either went on commercial break or transferred locations when the other was broadcasting. And despite the fact that half the broadcasting world makes fun of Seacrest for being such a mogul and Daly was actin kind of stupid about it, is cameras still got Seacrest to wave while he was going over notes or something with someone.

I’ll stop with the Seacrest talk now. American Idol, AT 40, his radio show, and Rockin New Years Eve have all made me a mega Seacrest fan. 

Strip Me

My favorite artist has struck again. Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010 was the day that Natasha Bedingfield released her 4^th studio album, Strip Me. In typical fashion she has produced one more album with the same great style, wordplay, and as some put I, cheekiness as Unwritten, N.B., and Pocketful of Sunshine.

Touch was released as a teaser in June and Strip Me in September, so I already knew those songs and enjoyed them.

Every song on the album but there are two that stood out to me in particular during the first time listen. The first one: No Mozart. It’s a more piano driven song with such meaningful, clever lyrics. The second one: Can’t Fall Down. Its sound made me automatically think of the scene in Medicine Man when Sean Connery is swinging around in the rainforest. It doesn’t really help that one of the lines mentions the “forest floor”.

This album is definitely more electronic than the guitar and piano driven Unwritten, but it is still definite Bedingfield music.  All the vocal swirls that weren’t as apparent in Pocketful of Sunshine are back.

Bedingfield has definitely matured since the first album. Each album is like a diary of the point in life she’s at currently. It’s cool though, because I feel like I‘m on that journey as well.

I did do a double take when I first heard a cuss word in Weightless. I had to restart the song to make sure I heard it correctly. It’s there. I guess I’ll just have to get over it. Its only said twice.

On a small side note, David Glass used to play guitar for Bedingfield. He then ended up co-writing a song with Lee DeWyze on his new album Sweet Serendipity. It’s just cool to see all the music connections that happen. And I have even more reason to like DeWyze since he was writing with Natash Bedingfield’s former guitarist and Toby Gad who has also done work with Bedingfield.

Touch

I've been a Natasha Bedingfield fan for 5 years this summer. I've enjoyed every song she's put out, including the ones not released as singles and her covers. I won't explain the extent of my fandom since i will probably bore most of you to death before I even get to what I want to post about.
It's been a few years since Bedingfield released another album. The next one doesn't have a release date as of yet, but I believe its due late summer/early fall. She did release a song that will probably the first single off the new album. It's called Touch.
Touch is a peppy song about how every event in our lives are connected. It's illustrated by the event of Bedingfield spilling coffee on someone. That eventually leads to an unnamed man coming to a party she's holding at her house. It's a cool song. It's more techno than I would like, but I may just think that most of her other stuff is more guitar driven with techno in the background. There's no complaint about the techno. I'm looking forward to the new album whenever it may come. New music from a favorite artist is always appreciated.

Something I've always admired in an artist is the ability to use words that I did not previously know. If I require the use of the dictionary to find the meaning of the word, then that artist has done a good job. This does not mean that the song is incomprehensible. It simply means that one word in that song was previously unknown to me. I appreciate that song all the more because I had to work to get something out of it. Here's a few artists that have used big words well:
Natasha Bedingfield- "Unwritten"
Relient K- "Up and Up"
Jordan Anderson- "Stand Up"
Black Eyed Peas used a big word, but it didn't really make that much of an impact.
There have prbably been a few others that used big words, but I don't remember who they are.

The always lovely Natasha Bedingfield

7 Albums

Here are the 7 albums that have in a way, shaped me as a person. It’s like the best of the best of my CD collection. It’s what has inspired me and made me dance. These are in a way, why I am the way I am. And they’re in order. #1 means it’s the best. Maybe you should listen to them.

7. Backstreet Boys- Backstreet Boys. Although I didn’t get the album until recently, the Backstreet Boys were a part if my early musical years.

6. Coldplay- X&Y. Personally, I think this is Coldplay’s best album. It’s an album that makes you think.

5. Switchfoot- The Beautiful Letdown. Again, another album that makes you think. There’s also a few songs that can help me get through a long day.

4. Bruce Springsteen- The Rising. The Boss was one of those people I grew up listening to. A lot of his stuff is really meaningful, but this 2002 album is the one I can most relate to.

3. Kelly Clarkson- Breakaway. Great tunes. Uplifting music. And it doesn’t hurt that half of the album was a hit on the radio.

2. Billy Joel- Stormfront. I think I can safely say that I was born listening to this album. My parents used to listen to it a lot. I still like to give it a listen. I know I didn’t start the fire…..

1. Natasha Bedingfield- Unwritten. I didn’t know music could fully capture you until I got this album. Bedingfield was/is my first true musical obsession. I don’t know if I really have enough words to describe this artist and album.

Honorable mentions:
Duffy-Rockferry
Daniel Bedingfield- Gotta Get Thru This
TobyMac- Welcome to Diverse City
Steven Curtis Chapman- Declaration

These Words Are My Own

One song can change a person. I know from experience. I’m going back to the summer of 2005. A Saturday night in early July. Open House Party with John G. was playing on the radio. His guest that night was a young British singer. I had heard her song before, and to be honest, I wasn’t that impressed. But I guess I hadn’t really listened that well.

The singer’s name was Natasha Bedingfield. She was promoting her recently released CD and Open House Party was one of the stops. I had tuned in just when they were interviewing her. They were taking listener calls, and Bedingfield sang a few lines of the song to them. I was impressed. There was talent in that voice. From that moment, I was hooked on Natasha Bedingfield’s music. I listened for ‘These Words’ as much as I could.

By Christmas 2005, I owned her CD. I thought it was pure brilliance. She wrote/co-wrote just about every song on that album. I was in love with every song. Then, ‘Unwritten’ became immensely popular in the spring of 2006. It had actually been released in the fall of 2005, but took its time becoming popular. Everyone knew who Natasha Bedingfield was then. Since then, she has released two more albums, had another hit, released a few more songs, and gotten married.

Lots of people say that Natasha Bedingfield is a favorite. I can say that she was my favorite before she became famous in the US. It’s kinda nice to be a fan from the beginning instead of jumping on the bandwagon like everyone else. “That’s all I have to say. Can’t think of a better way. And that’s all I have to say. I love you is that okay?”