Amazon.com On Pocketful of Sunshine, Natasha Bedingfield sounds like Joss Stone only bouncier. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, the brightness and buoyancy of this record will keep it spinning long after CDs that shoot for hipster credibility--with funked-up bells and fancy production whistles--have been deposited back into their jewel cases for all eternity. Check it out: "Love Like This," with Sean Kingston, puts its hands in the air for puppy love--the kind that'll bring you back to your "middle school kiss"--and a couple of other songs follow the youth-themed suit. "Backyard" time-travels to an idyllic childhood, while "Freckles" fleshes out, for the benefit of the insecure, the beauty in imperfections. Elsewhere, Bedingfield is her indomitably upbeat self. Opener "Put Your Arms Around Me" reeks of reassurance and tenderness. "Happy" implores would-be gloom-and-doomers to snap out of it, and while the title track doesn't wander all that far lyrically, it benefits from a chanted verse brimmed in (positive) attitude. The vibe, overall, is beach-blanket warm and blue-sky ready. Sunshine earns a pocketful, if not more, of pop-music props. --Tammy La Gorce
Customer Reviews:
Great feel-good album, good dance tracks, great lyrics.February 1, 2008 Jenn H(Canada) 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Pocketful of Sunshine is one of the best albums I've listened to in a while. It's such a feel good album, you can't help putting a smile on your face as you groove on to the tracks!
01. Put Your Arms Around Me Up beat, spunky, and a good melody. Great lyrics, they just make you feel really good and gooey inside.
02. Pocketful of Sunshine Not one of my favorite songs on the album, but it reminds me of the type of song they would play on vacation commercials, although it's very clubby as well, and has good danceability.
03. Happy A really good feel good, lift you up songs. I think it's a very relateable song to real life, telling you that things are ok, don't worry, and be happy! "There are so many beautiful reasons to be happy!"
04. Love Like This You just can't help grooving to this immediately as it comes on. Such a great melody and beat, you'll find yourself singing along to it. Definitely my favorite song on the album, it's such a great hit! And I'm glad they chose it for the first single off the album! This also features Sean Kingston with a nice rap segment in it, although she is touring on talk shows without him and it equally sounds good.
05. Piece of Your Heart Probably my least favorite song on the album. Not a fan of it's melody. I wouldn't skip over it when playing the album, but it just feels like filler.
06. Soulmate One of the slower songs on the album, it was released in the UK as a single, part of her N.B. album. It's a very much of a yearning song, looking for a perfect soulmate to love. Definitely a ballad. Very good track.
07. Say It Again The song features Adam Levine, from the band Maroon 5, I believe on background vocals, and also has a song writing credit! It's a nice mid-tempo song. Was also made into a video, as part of the N.B. album.
08. Angel A.N.G.E.L. Very Rihanna-esq, like Umbrella. It's a mid-tempo song, very groovy, very cool. Hope she releases it as a single! So if you like Rihanna, definitely check out this track!
09. Backyard A slow song, about wanting to be back in childhood love, wanting it to be simpler, using items from childhood to describe how she's feeling. Nice song. [this song is on the N.B. album as well]
10. Freckles Definitely a feel good uplifting song, about accepting and loving yourself. Such a good inspirational song, for women, teens and young girls alike. AMAZING song. The lyrics are just so meaningful and great. The Dove campaign could adopt this song easily. [I really should go into advertising!]
11. Who Knows Kind of a funky song. Kind of groovy. Kind of cool.
12. Pirate Bones I could picture Wade Robson doing an awesome dance routine to this song. Very cool, very unique, but it still goes with the album. The lyrics are also very good, it's well written with it's metaphors. [on the N.B. album as well]
13. Not Givin' Up Really cool clubby song. Doesn't stick out too much though. But good.
I do think it's worth buying both Pocketful of Sunshine and N.B. for the different songs, even though some do cross over. This one definitely has a better appeal to the North American market than N.B. does for the different types of beats and melodies, but I think they're both great albums worth having.
A handful of songs that really will go down on the dancefloor...January 24, 2008 Ollie Olugooden(Montreal, Quebec) 3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Yes that's right, the album "N.B" has been renamed as "A Pocket Full Of Sunshine". Natasha Bedingfield's Grammy Award-nominated "Unwritten" is surely the most pervasive song of 2005-06. In addition to crossover success at top 40, adult top 40 and AC, it became one of the most-utilized branding connectors ever, linked with MTV's "The Hills", Pantene and a half-dozen other media platforms. Her second album "N.B." was released in April in UK and in Europe, but the first single "I Wanna Have Your Babies" short-circuited, leading Epic to rethink her U.S. strategy, ultimately prompting a return to the studio. The new single "Love Like This," featuring labelmate Sean Kingston - who topped the U.S. and U.K. singles charts with "Beautiful Girls" last summer - is a jaunty, agreeable but slightly faceless reggae-tinged, youthful track that clears home base and should propel Natasha Bedingfield forward. The effort made it into the Billboard Top 20 chart Even so, it sounds like Epic was looking to cash in on the cachet of Kingston's alliance, because another new track, the John Shanks-produced "Pocket Full of Sunshine," is the real score to re-establish name-brand notoriety. This is more than just a pop album. It's a contribution to Britain's balance of trade, which aims to establish Natasha as a diva to represent Britain's equivalent to the likes of Pink and Christina Aguilera. For the prettier Bedingfield sibling was the first British female to top the US singles chart since Kim Wilde. Anyway, the song that did it for Natasha was "Unwritten" - an anthem about freedom and the boundless possibilities of life. The second album finds her in "a different place". Natasha Bedingfield's sophomore album marks a shift in focus that's representative of where she stands today. "I want to make music that matches who I am", she explains. "My first album was about independence and opportunism". "I'm still very indepedent and I find it hard to let go of that freedom. But I'm in a different place now. I've been dating, searching for a partner, looking for Mr Right..." It is all about finding "The One" - impassioned serious songs like "Soulmate", bumptious knockabout songs like "I Wanna Have Your Babies" and songs about the psychology of dating like "Tricky Angel". Standout tracks : "I Wanna Have Your Babies", "Not Givin' Up", "Who Knows", "Tricky Angel" and the title track of the US edition.
