Walking on 'Sunshine'

Bedingfield is poised for pop stardom

Natasha Bedingfield, shown performing in New York last month, is starting her first US tour. (Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)

A few weeks back Natasha Bedingfield spread her brand of sunny cheer at the annual Kiss 108 concert, where she got to check out the recently reunited New Kids on the Block. "That was fun," she says with a giggle. They must have been equally impressed, because the vocalist has scored the opening slot on the man band's upcoming reunion tour. But before she faces those screaming masses Bedingfield is hitting the road for her first proper US tour, including a sold-out stop at the Paradise on Tuesday. British by way of New Zealand, Bedingfield has become a pop superstar overseas and is on the verge of becoming one on this side of the pond.

If she does, it will be thanks to her string of "you go girl" singles over the last three years, including "Unwritten" - known by some as the theme song to "The Hills" - and the recent "Pocketful of Sunshine," currently ensconced in the Top 10 of the Billboard singles chart. That song is the title track to her second US release, which is a rejiggered version of her 2007 UK album, "N.B." We chatted with Bedingfield by phone from Dallas last week.

Q. Since "N.B." was a hit overseas, what was the thinking behind swapping out tracks and retitling the record?

A. I just like to keep people up-to-date with where I'm at. And I like to carry on writing songs as I go. I wrote these new songs like "Pocketful of Sunshine," and I didn't want to wait another whole year until my next album.

Q. There is an alive-ness to your performances that isn't exactly captured on record. Why do you think that is?

A. Oh yeah, alive is the word, and it's harder to catch that in the studio. The beauty of being in the studio is you can get more perfect performances. But in the gig accidents happen and you fix them and sometimes that's the beauty of it.

Q. You also look like you're having fun instead of trying to hit your marks.

A. I really do. I don't like going to gigs where it sounds exactly the same or worse than the record. (Laughs)

Q. Your radio singles tend to have a lot of pop gloss, but when you go deeper into the record you've got more of a soul sound on songs like "Piece of Your Heart." Where does that influence come from?

A. Soul, yeah! I grew up in church, so I grew up with that culture of singing every Sunday and knowing that a huge part of singing is putting your emotions and soul into it. But also I just like soul music, any music that has that kind of energy and dynamic to it. Anything from Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin. To me Jeff Buckley is soul as well.

Q. On that same song you crystallize a concept a lot of people can probably relate to: trying to share your problems and people, usually boys, wanting to solve them instead of just listening.

A. It's also when your friends or even your parents try and tell you how you should live your life and really you just need a heart, not [to be told] what to do. I actually was signing autographs yesterday, and a lady came up to me and she said that was her favorite song because her daughter just died and she kept on telling all her friends to listen to that song because everyone was [offering] her all this advice.

Q. Does it remind you of times when you didn't think you were going to make it through a weekend without listening to [Stevie Wonder's album] "Innervisions"?

A. Oh yeah, but it was "Songs in the Key of Life." I actually got it from the library and never took it back.