Lopez Blogs

Oh Nats. The "broooog". According to Amazon, the UK release date of the quite charming actually "Come to Life" album has been pushed back to 2010. Considering that promo copies of the album have been sent out, reviews are in the printed word (hello Attitude Magazine) and about 11 people on the popjustice forums are gushing at the gash for this set of tunes, it's a bit of a wank decision to delay it. I am no expert in marketing music but delaying the release of an album never inspires confidence in the product. It is, in fact, up there with these other common pop disasters:

• Keisha leaving the Sugababes just as they have a spunky new album "in the can" and a top 2 single with Get Sexy. Frankly, I can't stop listening to Every Heart Broken because this is even worse than when Sean left 5ive just as KingSize was released...
• David Sneddon thinking that Sneddon was a popstar name and then failing to be the next Robbie Williams when Britain criminally ignored the amazing Best of Order...
• Simon Cowell effectively ending the promotion of Gareth Gates' second album and denying the world a single remix of the brilliant Skeletons. Sigh...
• Rachel Stevens not being number one for 11 weeks with "I said never again but here we are". I still mourn this fact on a very regular basis.

Of course there are many more pop injustices in the world, but those are the first few that sprang into my head. It's a shame that the album has been delayed because Come To Life actually contains some very fine pieces of music. Plus Natalie looks a bit like Dannii Minogue on the album cover and this can only be a very good thing indeed. By now, the "promo" single Wild About It (record companies need to ditch the promo single - it's very annoying. It's either a single or it's not!) and first single proper, Want, should be etched into your brains. The former works well as a video-single rather than an actual single - it features Natalie roaming around after a party and shows a more fun side to her that is rarely seen when she is performing darker fare (such as Identify, Beauty On The Fire and That Day). Musically however, it's like an indie version of Sweet About Me and is neither as elegant or as powerful as the music Natalie usually churns out. Want, however, is eerily gothic and subversive and just as much Kate Bush as it is Natalie Imbruglia. It's not exactly what might be expected of a first single, but it gets under your skin and promotes the album far better than Wild About It.

My God is an energetic guitar led opener for the album, with a driving beat that - matched with the sweeping vocal from Nats - powers the song and keeps what could have been a slightly lost melody firmly in check. It's Lukas however where the album really begins to shine. I am assuming this is what Coldplay are referring to when they say they gave away their best song. Written by Chris Martin, it could almost be a lyrical sequel to the Suzanne Vega hit Luka. It's got that epic "end of summer" feel about it - you know, when you need just one song to sum up your entire holiday experience. It definitely deserves to be a single - it tells a complete story and Natalie delivers it with just the right amount of reserve and intensity. Just imagine if this had been the Kylie-Coldplay collaboration instead of what the world ended up with?! The story telling vibe continues in the ever so lovely Fun (another Chris Martin composition). A song about the end of a relationship isn't the most original of topics, but it's universal and when done well, the results can be astonishing. The first few seconds of the tune sound like an Abba ballad, then the song begins to build and crescendo as the backing track grows and Natalie sings "people always ask about you" and it actually feels painful to hear. "Didn't we have fun" is the message of the song and despite the pain, Natalie remembers the good times of a relationship as the music ebbs and flows (just as feelings change in ebbs and flows as you come to terms with the end of a relationship). Quite quite brilliant. (I'd love to know XO's opinion of these two songs!)

Twenty is a perfectly pleasant jangly pop tune and continues the theme of examining relationships. It's not a bad song at all but it does suffer ever so slightly by being wedged between the aforementioned Fun and the definitely should be the second single Scars. Scars possibly would have been a better single to promote the album than Want - it's initially ever so vaguely reminiscent of Torn and is definitely one of the most radio friendly things she has done. It delivers the devastating lines "You got your brand new friends and I got a broken heart/doesn't matter who we are everyone has their scars". Gorgeous vocal, lovely melancholy and melodic chorus, spot on lyrically, just another perfect, clever and sad break up pop song.

Following on from Want, the last half of the album seems to be the more electronic part of Natalie coming to the forefront. WYUT (What You're Up To) is an energetically angry throbbing retort of a song, with some synthy effects permeating the verses and a stacatto vocal that matches the needs of the song. Not the finest moment on the record, but it's nice to see some risks being taken even if they do detract from the near perfect first half of the opus. Cameo, sadly isn't a song about the late lamented group, but rather more experimental bells and master&servant style goth-pop with a rather industrial sounding backing beat. Natalie's voice is quite haunting on it, but overall the song leaves me ever so slightly cold.

Overall, the first half of the album is a quite extraordinary and brutally accurate examination of the death of a relationship. It's steeped in emotional imagery, wistful memory and gorgeous melody. This is the section of the album that really comes to life for me. The more experimental second half is perhaps more relevant to today's music market, and enjoys some interesting production values but doesn't sell itself to me as fully and magnificent as those first five tracks...
Possible singles: Want, Scars, Fun, Lukas

OTHER WORTHY FEMALE SINGER ALBUMS:

• Check out XO's mini review of the new Paloma Faith album...
• Lenka's experienced a bit of a revival with her 2008 album. Check out my review here...
• Ditto Marit Larsen and her stunning If A Song Could Get Me You (number one in Germany, chart fans!)