Bark + Bite

A swing and a miss by Natasha Bedingfield on new album Strip Me

 

If there's one thing that Natasha Bedingfield's music has taught us, it's to love who you are and be yourself. Her songs have inspired us all to be better people, whether it's discovering your own personal "Pocketful Of Sunshine" or knowing that our paths are still "Unwritten." Natasha Bedingfield is the type of artist who makes inspirational music that makes you feel like you have a friend looking out for you. However, the time has come for us to advise our friend that the road she's heading on is quite devoid of sunshine and pretty much predetermined.

On her third US release, Strip Me, Natasha makes the fatal mistake of failing to ascend to a higher plane artistically. You might call it a "plateau." Given that her debut album, Unwritten, and her sophomore follow-up, Pocketful Of Sunshine, spawned guilty pleasure hits that hold a special place in our hearts, you would assume that Strip Me would have followed suit, but alas we wind up stuck with an album that is a regurgitation of classic Natasha Bedingfield. Where's the artistic growth? 

There's a proven formula for album releases when it comes to pop music; the first album is the artist's debut, introducing them to the world (and 9 times out of 10, it's manufactured to death by the record label, but we happily eat it up anyway), the follow-up album usually secures the aforementioned artist's place in the music industry and the third album is a statement of who the artist is and where they're heading throughout the rest of their potentially long career.

So if Strip Me is Natasha's statement, then what does it tell us? That she's really into regressing and churning out the same song with a different title over and over again; a new shade of lipstick on the same old pig.

Instead ripping this album a new one, let's focus on the few (very few) high points/standout tracks.

Kelly Rowland: Phoenix rising from ashes to dance floor

First Kelly told us "Can't Nobody" do it like her, but they did. Then she said no one else could bump "Like This," but they could. It seemed like Destiny's step-child just couldn't catch a break for the longest time, maybe because she couldn't get out from under Beyonce's shadow. But then something magical happened: Kelly met David Guetta.

Producer/DJ David Guetta snatched Ms. Kelly up for three tracks ("When Love Takes Over", "Choose", ", & "It's the Way You Love Me") on his 2009 release "One Love" and introduced her to the new sound that would drag her out from under Beyonce's en-pointe stiletto boot and into her own well-deserved spotlight.

Ke$ha: Someone put this "Animal" down before pop music gets hurt

(A guest post by Bitternut Crunch)

In early 2009, Flo Rida graced us with the greatness that is "Right Round," a semi hip pop cover of Dead Or Alive's 1985 song "You Spin Me Right Round (Like A Record)." This powerhouse #1 single proved that the balance of good and evil is very much alive and thriving. Though the single burned up radio and dance floors all over, a terrible byproduct came about: The world was introduced to Ke$ha.

Though Ke$ha's appearance on Flo Rida's track wasn't necessarily offensive to the ear, her warped ego hit big time when she opted not to be credited (or paid) as a featured artist on the single so that she could gain street cred as a legitimate artist in her own right. The fact that this sad individual, who seems like the poor man's, last resort, Garpage Pail kid version of Lady Gaga, considers herself a legitimate artist is simply laughable.

For starters, Ke$ha has a voice that is comparable to the sound of two cats having sex. And I don't mean two sexy pussycats at their peak, I'm talking about two aged, busted up, starving alley cats, each with one eye and mangy, matted fur.