(SOUNDBITE OF NATASHA BEDINGFIELD SONG, "UNWRITTEN")
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Back in 2006, this song seemed to be everywhere.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UNWRITTEN")
NATASHA BEDINGFIELD: (Singing) I am unwritten. Can't read my mind. I'm undefined.
SIMON: "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield was the most played song on U.S. radio that year - became an anthem among young people, as the theme of the reality TV show "The Hills." Natasha Bedingfield is now out with her fourth album; it's called "Roll With Me." And we'll get to it, but first, we wanted to find out a bit more about the song that launched her career.
BEDINGFIELD: It's a song that is a very personal song. I wrote it for my younger brother who was 14 at the time, but it's gone beyond just one relationship. It's become a song that belongs to everyone else, and it's just consistently playing all over the world for the last however many years it is since I released it. I think it might be, 13, 14 years?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UNWRITTEN")
BEDINGFIELD: (Singing) I break tradition. Sometimes my tries are outside the line, yeah.
I love when I'm looking at my Instagram and somebody who I follow, like P. Diddy - Puff Daddy - and I suddenly see that his twins are singing "Unwritten" at their graduations. I mean, it just thrills me, and I know that I'm the furthest thing from their mind at that point. They're not actually thinking about me; they're thinking about this whole new stage in their life, that they're graduating, that - the bond between father and child. Like, there's a whole host of things that it means to them.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UNWRITTEN")
BEDINGFIELD: (Singing) No one else can feel it for you. Only you can let it in. No one else, no one else can speak the words on your lips. Drench yourself in words unspoken. Live your life with arms wide open. Today is where your book begins.
I feel like I'm at the beginning again. I just became a mom, and that for me is very exciting, and it makes me feel like a beginner. So in a way, the song "Unwritten" has kind of taken a whole new kind of color for me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UNWRITTEN")
BEDINGFIELD: (Singing) The rest is still unwritten.
I have a song on this new album called "King Of The World," and it is the song that is really directly about my son.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KING OF THE WORLD")
BEDINGFIELD: (Singing) In your eyes, in your eyes.
The way that a child looks at you, you are the king of their world.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KING OF THE WORLD")
BEDINGFIELD: (Singing) Oh, I like the way I become when you're around. And I stand real tall, 60 feet above the ground.
I like the way I become when you're around - that's one of the lyrics. I feel 60 feet tall. I feel like a superhero because of all the incredible things that I've gone through, you know, to even bring a life into the world. Like, how incredible is that, that a woman has that ability to create life?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KING OF THE WORLD")
BEDINGFIELD: (Singing) Oh, you shine, many lights. How it changed the way all the tears fall in my cries.
I brought my son Solomon into the studio almost every day as I was writing my album. He was 4 months old, and he would just come and hang out with us, or he would sleep in the room next door. He really loves it. If he hears it playing, he'll just run into the room. And actually, he recognizes most of the songs on the album.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KICK IT")
BEDINGFIELD: (Singing) Remember how you made me crazy? Remember how I didn't care? Left it all on the kitchen table for my heart to bear.
I have the best job in the world because I write songs, and I get to talk about things that I care about. And to me, a hit song - a pop song - it just means it's anthemic; it's something that is easy to sing along to, and it's hard to forget. It sticks in your mind. And when I write a song, I always feel like I just let it go. Once they know it and hear it, I feel like my job is done. And I love it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KICK IT")
BEDINGFIELD: (Singing) I really want to say I know you.
SIMON: Natasha Bedingfield - her new album is "Roll With Me."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KICK IT")
BEDINGFIELD: (Singing) Telling a lie, telling a lie, telling a lie. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
