Natasha Bedingfield has revealed the song in her discography that deserves the lip-sync treatment on RuPaul’s Drag Race.
The British pop icon recently made her debut appearance at Mighty Hoopla 2023, where she performed classics such as Single, These Words, Unwritten, Love Like This and Pocketful of Sunshine.
Mighty Hoopla, the UK’s ultimate celebration of iconic and enduring pop music, featured additional sets from stars such as Kelly Rowland, Loreen, Years & Years, Jake Shears, Kelis and Sophie Ellis-Bextor. The extravaganza takes place annually in Brockwell Park.
Speaking with GAY TIMES, Natasha praised the “gay and colourful event, which is very me”: “I’m loving that it’s in South London. This is like my childhood. The dreams I never had as a kid are coming full circle. I never knew I would be doing this when I was a kid.”
Unsurprisingly, Natasha revealed that her 2004 anthem Unwritten garners the most uproarious response from LGBTQ+ crowds. “I just sang at one of the biggest LGBTQ raves in New York and Unwritten is definitely the one,” she said.
The pop smasher, which became her first top five hit in the United States, memorably served as the theme tune for MTV’s The Hills. Additionally, Unwritten featured in media such as Ice Princess, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Ugly Betty and The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. With over 500 million streams on Spotify, it also ranks as one of the most-listened to singles of 2004.
While Unwritten’s status as her most crowd-pleasing anthem is unshakeable, Natasha shared that Wild Horses is the “one I get most messages about”.
Although the soaring ballad was never released as a single, it has become a cult classic amongst LGBTQ+ listeners as a result of its empowering lyrics such as, “All I want is the wind in my hair, to face the fear but not feel scared.”
Natasha explained: “It’s about freedom in who you are and being wild.”
Natasha’s conversation with GAY TIMES turned to RuPaul’s Drag Race, where – shock fact incoming – not a single song in her discography has been used for a lip-sync smackdown. The star said she would “love” to make it happen.
“Which one do you think?” she asked, before naming 2007’s “camp” I Wanna Have Your Babies, which served as the lead single from N.B, her sophomore album that was repackaged in the U.S. as Pocketful of Sunshine.
“That was so controversial,” she recalled of the hit, which reached the top 10 in the UK. “They wouldn’t play it on Radio 2, they thought all the young girls would wanna go and have babies. It’s so ridiculous.”
Natasha added: “Soulmate would be amazing [on Drag Race] even though it’s one of my slowest songs. I think These Words would be great.”
It’s been four years since Natasha released her fourth studio album Roll With Me, featuring fan-favourites such as Roller Skate, Kick It and the Angel Haze-assisted Everybody Come Together. Natasha revealed that she is “going to release new music soon” but is unsure “what shape it’s going to be”.
“I’ve thought about saying I’m going to quit music because then you get a big farewell tour!” she joked. “But, I’m too real to pretend. I have lots of music sitting there ready to come out, so we’ll do it bit by bit. I don’t know if I’ll do another album or just song after song.”
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