Music Review: Natasha Bedingfield "I Wanna Have Your Babies"

Natasha Bedingfield

I Wanna Have Your Babies

Album: N.B.

Year: 2007

           Natasha Bedingfield thinks of how she can broach the topic of children with her boyfriend in the spineless “I Wanna Have Your Babies.”

          Grating synths open the single, setting a skittish tone. At her sister’s house, her niece kept pulling her boyfriend aside to play. Her sister was teasing her, telling her she has some competition. She laughed at the joke as she watched him pick her niece up and make airplane noises. Ever since she was a teenager, she was uncertain about having children. It was a responsibility she couldn’t fathom and while she liked kids, having one of her own seemed daunting.  Seeing him draw pictures her niece with changed her mind.  She would like to have a family with her boyfriend soon. However, she isn’t sure how her boyfriend would take it. They’ve talked about it but left it at someday. (“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas/But what if it don't/What happens in my head, stays in my head/
But sometimes it won't/What if you knew what I was thinkin'/Would it make you like whoa/I don't wanna risk, putting my foot in this/So I keep my mouth closed/All you hear is.”)

        In the chorus, he gets from work usually and tells her he bought some candy from one co-worker’s kid’s fundraisers. It took all she had not to blurt out “maybe he could repay the favor back in about seven years from now.” Most of her friends send her pictures of their babies sticking out their tongues and sleeping on the couch. She would like to have that, too. “Can I button my lip so the truth don't slip?/Gotta bleep out what I really wanna shout/
Whoops!/Did I say out loud, did you find out?!/I want to have your babies/Get serious like crazy/I want to have your babies/I see 'em springing up like daisies.”)

            She shows him a friend’s picture and jokes   “our baby is going to throwing out devil horns.” He grins, finishes his tie for work and kisses her on the forehead, responding that their baby will also be wearing a motorcycle jacket as well.  He seems to be okay with it but not enough to convince her. He’s a one step at a time type of person who likes to do things by the book. It’s not only babies he’d be considering, it would also be marriage. Two milestones he’s not in a hurry to reach. (“Some of my feelings keep escapin',/So I make it a joke/Nonchalant I keep on faking/So my heart don't get broke/I'm in a big big big big ocean, in a tiny little boat/I'm known to put the idea out there/If I know it's gonna float/All you hear is.”)

            The chorus is sung again.

          In the bridge, she believes they will have a future. It’s something she would like to start right now. He would freak out and run away from her as fast he could, thinking she’s a psycho whose watched one too many reality shows. However, she’s driven by the church where she was baptized and thought her baby would be christened there, too. Eventually, they would be lugging in toys and Cheerios to keep their little girl, Liberty Rose, occupied during the mass. Driving back home, she passes by RidgewoodElementary School, a Blue Ribbon school in the area, and can picture Libertyand her little brother, Brayden, chasing after each other in the playground. It’s a life she wants for herself. Meanwhile, her boyfriend’s main concern seems to reaching the ninth level in some zombie killing videogame. (“Cause in my head there's a slot machine/And I'm betting you’re the one in my hopes and dreams/Trust me it would scare you if you knew what was going on in my brain/Trust me it would scare you that I picked the church, or their school, or their names/If you knew it was all about you/Every wish, every candle, every coin in the fountain/Trust me it'd scare you/That's why I go.”)

       The chorus is sung twice to end the single.

      Bedingfield’s flippant, callow vocals are giggly, clapping her hand over mouth as though she’s said something wrong. While she realizes it’s a tough conversation, she chooses not to say anything and waits for him to bring it up. Which, possibly, may be never. In the meantime, no real communication is going on between them. She can’t even trust him to hear her out on major life choices. Neither seems to be able to handle heavy topics in their relationship, much less children.

      The passive “I Wanna Have Your Babies” hides in the corner, stuck on the fantasy of the perfect suburban life but squirms at the idea once it becomes real.