Daniel Bedingfield is just too good to be true. He prays to God, is kind to children and animals and doesn't even believe in sex before marriage. It would be easy to hate him, or at least to dismiss him as nothing more than the new Cliff Richard. Unfortunately, his second album proves that he's closer to the new Prince - a dazzlingly versatile songwriter who can turn his hand to anything from tender power ballads to sweaty R'n'B. Perhaps his near-fatal car accident earlier this year left him convinced he was destined for true greatness, since many of the prissier lyrics here sound uncomfortably like a young man with a Messiah complex. On standout track 'Sorry', for example, he manages to apologise for teasing his sister Natasha when they were kids (she's now a rival pop star) and still sound smugly convinced of his own superiority. Overall, this second impression of Daniel Bedingfield confirms the first - a very talented songwriter who badly needs to loosen up.

Your Comments

No comments have been posted for this article yet. Be the first!