"Imbruglia another pop also-ran "

Friday, March 1, 2002
By DARRYL STERDAN
Winnipeg Sun

WHITE LILIES ISLAND
Natalie Imbruglia
(BMG)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Remember Natalie Imbruglia? It wasn't that long ago that she was pop music's next manufactured It Girl. She had a hit single called Torn. She was on the cover of Spin. She dated that doofy guy from Friends. Pity nobody filled the general public in on the marketing plan, so they didn't exactly storm the stores for the Australian chanteuse's debut disc. So now, like a lot of former It Girls, Natalie is just another pop also-ran trying to make up lost ground. And White Lilies Island, her long-overdue sophomore album, is just your standard set of swirly, girly-pop tunes. She's still a little bit Alanis in the way she crowds words together (but not nearly as neurotic), a little bit Lisa Loeb in her quirky frailty (but not nearly as irritating) and a little bit Portishead in her trip-hoppy arrangements (but not nearly as coldly calculating). It's all nice enough, to be sure -- but no more memorable than it was the last time around.

More Articles