What's going on with Natasha Bedingfield?

In the old days, before corporate "synergy" gave us global brands like Cif and Snickers and the Wonderbra, products used to have different names in different markets. What we now know to be Starburst used to masquerade as called Opal Fruits; painful ladyhair remover Veet used to be known as Immac in certain parts of the world; For many years, Pepsi was called Honking Nob Juice in Scandinavia (Are you sure about that last one? - Ed)

Most of this confusion has now been cleared up, except in the case of the Milky Way. A fluffy nougatine confection in the UK, in the US it is to all intents and purposes a Mars Bar. It can cause literally seconds of confusion.

It now appears that Natasha Bedingfield has turned into the pop equivalent of a Milky Way. Her perfectly lovely NB album, released in the UK earlier this year, is completely different to the album of the same name she's about to release in the US.

The first single for US fans is a duet with that twat Sean Kingston which, to my surprise, isn't that bad. But the song has never been released in the UK, where it doesn't even feature as an album track.

Natasha Bedingfield ft Sean Kingston - Love Like This (fan video)

Now, we find she's doing the same with her second single - a poppy little R&B number from Rodney Jerkins (Brandy, Destiny's Child, that Spice Girls album we prefer not to talk about). Again, its a completely new track just for the US.


Natasha Bedingfield - A.N.G.E.L. (clip)

Clearly, someone at Sony US has decided Natasha's first attempt at a second album wasn't good enough, and has forced her back into the studio to try again. The results are actually quite good - but it makes you wonder why she was allowed out with a substandard product by the UK arm of her company in the first place.

Next week from the tortured pop-confectionery metaphor department: Why Robbie Williams is at the end of his FUSE, how Britney has turned into a FLAKE, and Brandon Flowers shows us his CURLY WURLY. Geddit?!

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