Up Close & Personal: Natalie Bassingthwaighte
Posted by RSVP on
She has been an actress on Neighbours, a television host on So You Think You Can Dance and a rock chick as lead singer of Rogue Traders. But as Natalie Bassingthwaighte begins her solo career, her new album gets things a little more personal."Sometimes I want to rock out, sometimes I want to be acoustic and emotive and sometimes I want to be as camp as I can be. This album is as eclectic as I am." - Natalie Bassingthwaighte
Natalie Bassingthwaighte is on top of the world - and with 2 songs in the ARIA Top 10 and her debut solo album 1000 Stars to be released on February 21, she has every right to be.
1000 Stars is the sum of all Natalie's musical incarnations, past and present and culminates in an eclectic, up tempo pop record with a positive lyrical message. The album was written and recorded over three months in London, LA and Sweden. Natalie co wrote a number of tracks on the album working along side some of the best pop writers in the world including Paul Barry (Cher, Tina Turner), Steve Anderson (Kylie Minogue), Jimmy Harry (Pink, Britney Spears) and rising Norwegian star Ina Wroldsen.
"This is the first time I've been able to fully express myself creatively. I've had so many amazing experiences in my career. I've been punky with the Rogue Traders and more sophisticated as a TV host and I've played characters on stage and TV and had so many costumes and outfits. This album allowed me to strip back all that and just be the real me. It is the sum of all those things in my life so far" said Nat.
Songs like Catch Me If You Can and Supersensual capture Natalie's musical theatre passions. For Catch Me If You Can, she told writer Paul Barry that she wanted an "Ann Margaret meets Elvis Presley meets James Bond feel". He loved the idea and came up with a funky song about a female spy for Natalie to act out. "It's so much fun and I can't wait to perform it."
Supersensual, written by Steve Anderson (Kylie Minogue), is sexy and camp and bring out the vamp in Natalie. "It's a sexy disco song that makes you want to jump onto the dance floor."
The title track, 1000 Stars, was recorded live using the powerful raw voice Natalie honed during her musical theatre years. "It's all about that moment of falling in love, that moment of perfection," she says. "I remember going into the studio and singing it from it the beginning to end over and over again. I haven't sung like that since my musical theatre days. It's like I remembered a place I used to be in. That's me there, no bells and whistles, no sound effects, it was me in the purest form just having a good sing."
Natalie says the album has a few sad break-up songs too. Why Do I charts the end of a relationship. "It's so beautiful, it's about a moment in life that's happened to all of us where you say, hang on, you said this would be forever, this was meant to be the one."
One of the most moving songs on the album is bonus track In His Eyes, a song Natalie wrote for her Nan. "My grandad passed away and ever since then my Nan doesn't know how to exist without him."
The second single, Someday Soon, was written as a thank you to her friends and family. "It's about having a dream and following it. Yes, there's hard work and times of wanting to throw it all in, but in the end it's a moment of realising life can be more amazing and more beautiful than you can ever imagine if you allow it to be".
Her current single Someday Soon is online and in stores now.
Her debut album - 1000 Stars - out February 20, 2009 through Sony Music