Natasha Bedingfield

Looking back at her breakthrough successes in the early 2000s, pop singer Natasha Bedingfield knows exactly why her music connected on such a massive scale. As she tells Apple Music, “It had this innocent positivity that comes from real-life situations and sometimes a lot of pain—but going through that and being uplifted.” Born in 1981, the West Sussex native comes by that inspirational power honestly: Among her pre-fame pursuits was writing and singing for the London branch of the Hillsong contemporary-worship empire. But with its shimmering fusion of Alanis’ edgy alt-pop and Lauryn Hill’s empowering R&B, Bedingfield’s 2004 solo debut, Unwritten, refashioned her as secular crossover star, albeit one whose catwalk-ready swagger was undercut by a self-effacing relatability. On her first UK No. 1 hit, “These Words,” she demystifies her own songwriting process in a manner that suggests you should try it too, while the album's dew-sparkled titled track is a rapturous ode to tapping your inner creativity (a message that got somewhat clouded when it became the theme song to MTV’s posh-kid hate-watch The Hills). Bedingfield continued to radiate positivity throughout the decade, via upbeat funky bops like “I Wanna Have Your Babies” and 2008’s self-explanatory “Pocketful of Sunshine.” After taking an extended hiatus—marked by one-off collaborations, TV gigs, and new motherhood—Bedingfield resurfaced with 2019’s Linda Perry-produced Roll With Me, which saw the singer coloring her motivational stories with an expanded musical palette of Caribbean rhythms and old-school ‘60s soul. “When you write a hit song, you can easily get caught in a trap where you’re trying to write songs that everyone will like,” Bedingfield tells Apple Music. “But we’re all in our own lane and we all have to evolve and grow.”