Natasha Bedingfield looks back: ‘I had hits in the US that weren’t released in England. It was like being banished’

The singer-songwriter on her unconventional education, her brother Daniel, and her quest to write a classic like Purple Rain

Born in London in 1981, Natasha Bedingfield is a singer and songwriter. Her 2004 debut album, Unwritten, sold more than 2.3m copies and featured the No 1 single These Words. She has released three further albums, scoring UK Top 10 hits and success in the US with Pocketful of Sunshine. Nearly two decades after it was released, her single Unwritten became a viral TikTok hit in 2021. Her new single, Dot Dot Dot, is out now.

This was taken at Hilly Fields park in south-east London. I’m dressed in a sweet little tracksuit. I was a cute kid: I sucked my thumb until I was 11 and I had a sheepskin that I sniffed. But if anyone actually said I was cute, I’d reply: “No, I’m not!” I wanted to be taken seriously. That word made me think that nobody was listening to what I had to say.