Music Review: S Club 7 "Natural"

S Club 7

Natural

Album: 7

Year: 2000

         Rachel Stevens calms her boyfriend’s fears during their first sleepover in the wangling “Natural.”

             The Pavane sample by composer Gabriel Faure, opens the single, setting a coaxing tone. He says he’s fortunate to have met someone like her. They have such a great relationship. It’s hard to believe it’s worked out so well. She says it’s both pre-determined by science and fate. She’s read that people look for partners with similar characteristics. He gives her a stunned look. She says it’s all true. It was in a magazine. (“Loving you is not/Just luck or illusion/It's in the make-up of our DNA/It's not by chance/We make the perfect solution/Don't fight it baby/You know that it's just destiny's way.”)

            In the chorus, she says helping him make dinner or knowing to wait for him is something she does without thinking. He’s the one she’s supposed to love. (“Baby lovin' you/Comes easily to me/It's what I'm livin' for/It's all in the chemistry/Baby lovin' you

Is how it's meant to be/It's something that is/Oh so natural to me/Natural, oh baby, baby.”)

She tells him their emotions are proof although it is tough to nail down how her specific cells blend well his. However, as his hand grazes her arm, she can hardly breathe. It takes a couple minutes for her to remember what she was doing. (“We got the answers/But there's no explanation/We got each other baby/Come what may/It's in the science/It's genetically proven/'Cause when you touch me/The reaction it just blows me away.”)

                The chorus is sung again.

                In the bridge, as he gets into bed into her, he leans over to switch the light off on the lamp. She puts her arm around her chest. She tells him she wants to cuddle with him. She tells him that intimacy isn’t as scary as it seems. (“Turn off the light/Lay your head next to mine/Take it slowly/A step at a time/C'mon get close, closer to me/It's oh so natural/It's oh so easy to see.”)

             A edited chorus is sung three times to end the single. (“Baby lovin' you/Comes easily to me/It's what I'm livin' for/It's all in the chemistry/Baby lovin' you/Is how it's meant to be/It's something that is/Oh so natural to me.”)

               Stevens’ dollish vocals try to sway his opinion to sleep with her. She gets out the educated argument, then she says love is instinctive and it was supposed to happen. She can feel him shaking and all she can do is walk him through it. Usually, it’s the men who are outright coercive. It may turn the cliché on its head but it’s still as uncomfortable and out of line.

             The  writhing  “Natural” won’t take no for an answer and continues to push long after it should have stopped.