Natalie Imbruglia - 'Glorious'
The funny thing about popstars is that they're often a lot like the villains in slasher movies. Let me elaborate: in the same way that the Candyman appears if you chant his name five times, or Bloody Mary if you say hers three times (although the number may depend on which specific folk tale you've heard), quite often all you need to do is think "hmm, I haven't heard anything of so-and-so for ages now, I wonder what happened to them?" and then suddenly - ta da! They've got a new single out.
The difference of course, between summoning Bloody Mary and invoking Natalie Imbruglia, is that Natalie Imbruglia is probably not going to scratch your eyes out. Unless you got her out of bed for no good reason at four in the morning or something, in which case she'd probably be quite justified in doing so.
Aside from a brief but pivotal role in Rihanna's recent unending chart topper ("You can stand under my imbruglia-ruglia-ruglia-eh-eh-eh"), it's been a bit quiet on the Natalie front since she last returned from her out-of-the-blue hideaway - in 2005 to score a couple more hit singles and her first No.1 album - but while this is an attention-grabber for her forthcoming greatest hits rather than a bone fide comeback (although the interwebs assure me that said comeback is scheduled for next year), this is still something I'm filing under 'welcome return'.
It's strange, really, because there's absolutely nothing revolutionary about this (other than the motion of the CD while you're playing it, arguably). I can't really make much of a case for this, beyond the rather arbitrary statement that I Like It. I think essentially it works because it's not a demanding song - it's swift, it's well-targeted and it has that lovely dreamy strumminess that reminds me of the summer we didn't quite manage to have this year. You know, the sort of song you'd have been playing in your car with the roof down if it weren't for the fact that you'd end up driving around in a mobile swimming pool.
Interestingly, I think this works for me for the exact opposite reason that I liked the Robyn single: whereas that was a stirring but ultimately pessimistic song, this song is so cheerful and optimistic that it's pretty difficult to harbour any negative feelings towards it. It just kind of grabs you by the belt loops and whirls you round until you're filled with this sense of possibility and ultimately grinning like a bit of a crazy person, even if by the time you've finished being spun you don't really remember it that clearly.
It's no 'Wrong Impression', which is a shame; it's not even a 'Beauty on the Fire', but it is what it is, which is to say a well-crafted and breezy power-pop track. And you'd be surprised how hard it is to pull off one of those, so fair do's, really.
Download: Out now
CD Released: August 27th
(Steve Perkins)
Comments
yeah...nice song...
she's had some really good ones in the past though...hasn't she ?
she's one of the best female pop singers nonetheless...
wish she could pull one more hit though..
i don't think this is going to last too long in my playlist after the summer has ended, but it's quite pleasant nonetheless...
It's a decent track. Not as good as Smoke, Torn and Big Mistake but it's a cheerful track to listen to in the sunny climbs of Tenerife :)
Im a massive fan of her work.. i think this is a pretty good song its not as good as torn n shiver but its still worth a place in the top ten
WELLCOME back!!!!!