Pocketful of Sunshine is the North American and regional reissue of British singer Natasha Bedingfield's second studio album, N.B. (2007). It was released on 22 January 2008, through Epic Records, eight months after the release of its parent album.
The album was originally conceived as the North American release of N.B., but was repeatedly postponed from its initially planned August 2007 release. During this time, Bedingfield continued to work on new material, leading Epic Records to make the decision to release seven new songs alongside six tracks from N.B. as a retitled, repackaged version of the album, titled Pocketful of Sunshine. The album was generally well-received by music critics and was commercially successful, peaking at number 3 on the US Billboard 200 and at 13 on the Canadian albums chart. In both countries, the album was certified gold.
Four singles were released from the album. The lead single, "Love Like This" with Sean Kingston, peaked at number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and at 9 on the Canadian Hot 100. The second single from the album, the title track, was largely successful. In the US, it peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified double platinum, selling three million downloads and becoming her most successful single there. In Canada, it peaked at number three on Canadian Hot 100 and was certified platinum. The follow-up singles from the album, "Angel" and "Soulmate" did not replicate the success of the first two, but the former was a number one hit on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart.
Background
On 27 April 2007, Bedingfield released her second solo studio album N.B. in Europe. It was initially reported that it would have a North American release in August 2007.[1][2] However, following the relative commercial disappointment of its first single "I Wanna Have Your Babies" and the album's sales overall, Epic Records chose to delay the release of a single and the album in the United States.[3][4] On 9 August, the album was delayed to a 30 October release, and it was confirmed that a new track not on N.B. would likely serve as its first single.[5] On 28 September, Billboard reported that the album had been delayed a second time to 18 December.[6] In December, the album was reported to have been retitled Pocketful of Sunshine and delayed to its final release date of 22 January 2008.[7]
Throughout 2007, Bedingfield continued to work on new material which would later be featured on the reissue in favor of older songs. She explained: "What happened is I'd written a whole load of new songs by the time I released the album in the States. I really liked those songs and felt they were better, so I wanted to use them."[8] Epic Records president Charlie walk noted that "Natasha was in a really different place in her life when she did the U.K. version of the record. Coming to the States and working here really influenced her sound."[9] Epic head of marketing Scott Greer also noted that "she came off her tour [...] with a bunch of great new songs, and we certainly weren't going to tell her she should just put them on the back burner and wait for the next record."[9] A UK release of the Pocketful of Sunshine album was planned following the UK single release of "Love Like This" in April 2008, but these plans did not come to fruition.[9]
Singles
"Love Like This", featuring Sean Kingston, was released on 25 September 2007 as the lead single from the album.[10] It was released for online music stores on 2 October 2007. The single was a top twenty hit in the United States, reaching number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100 and number ten on the Pop 100.[11] The single was released in the United Kingdom on 7 April 2008. "Pocketful of Sunshine" was released on 11 February 2008.[12] The single reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Bedingfield's second top ten single.[13] It also peaked at number three on the Canadian Hot 100.
"Angel" was released on 11 August 2008. It reached number sixty-three on the US Billboard Hot 100, number thirty-five on the US Pop 100, number one on the US Hot Dance Club Play and number forty-one on the Canadian Hot 100.[14][15] "Soulmate", previousy released as the second single from N.B., was released as the fourth single from Pocketful of Sunshine on 9 December 2008.[16] Bedingfield performed the song in a medley at the American Music Awards of 2008 and on Dancing with the Stars.[17] The song peaked at number ninety-six on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Pocketful of Sunshine received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 65, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 14 reviews.[18] Kerri Mason, Billboard reviewer, gave the album a positive review. Mason wrote, "The album has an undeniable flip-flop feel throughout; like the unplugged soul-chick hoedown Beyoncé tried to conjure at the end of the "Irreplaceable" video."[23] Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone wrote that "Bedingfield doesn't have much to say", but commented that "the packaging in which she wraps her openhearted thoughts makes Sunshine a decent little pop record".[24] Bill Lamb of About.com noted that "unfortunately, her second solo album, massively reworked from her corresponding second album in the UK, is simply another professional, corporately polished pop record. Songs and vocals are reasonably solid..." but, he added, "it's hard to hear inspiration."[25]Los Angeles Times was disappointed that "I Wanna Have Your Babies" was not included on PocketfulofSunshine and wrote that "as awkward as the song is, it fleshes out Bedingfield's vision better than Jerkins' Mary J. Blige "Angel" or Rotem's Fergalicious "Piece of Your Heart". The album ending up receiving 2.5 stars out of 4.[22]AllMusic gave the album a mixed review and described it as "awkwardly assembled", and added that it "feels inorganic in a way that Unwritten did not, less personal and more vetted by various A&R executives".[20] Glenn Gambo in a review for Newsday gave the album C+ rating, and wrote that the album "barely registers" and was "full of pale copies of other successful pop [songs] that don't necessarily work for Bedingfield".[26]
Commercial performance
Pocketful of Sunshine debuted on the Billboard200 albums chart in the United States at number three, selling 50,000 copies. The first-week sales surpassed her debut album, Unwritten, which sold 34,000 copies its first week of release.[27] The album has become the third highest debut by a United Kingdom-signed female artist in Billboard history, after Joss Stone, who entered at number two and now Leona Lewis, after her debut at number one.[28] After performing on American Idol, sales of the album and single "Pocketful of Sunshine" increased considerably. The album jumped from number 97 to number 24 on the Billboard 200, while the single charted within the top five on the Billboard charts. The album was certified Gold on 12 December 2008. In Canada, the album debuted at number thirteen.[29]
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