Natasha Bedingfield Reimagines ‘Unwritten’ For A New Generation

Fifteen years have passed since Natasha Bedingfield released the hit song “Unwritten,” and it continues to carve out a place in culture. 

The English singer-songwriter says people of all ages still often share with her how much the song means to them. “I love when people tell me about big changes in their lives and that the song really encouraged them,” Bedingfield told HuffPost at Build Series. “A lot of people play it at their graduations. P. Diddy ― his kids ― just recently sang it at their graduation. He posted about it.” 

“Unwritten,” which also served as the theme song to MTV’s “The Hills,” was recently remixed for “The Hills: New Beginnings,” the new revival of the hit reality series, which originally ran from 2006 to 2010 and featured Lauren Conrad, Whitney Port and Audrina Patridge.  

“I heard that ‘The Hills’ was relaunching, and we just came to them with this idea — why don’t we redo ‘Unwritten’ because it would be fun. It was just for fun, really. But it’s also just to celebrate that ‘The Hills’ really did mean a lot to people, and my song is really attached to it,” she said. 

The origin of “Unwritten” stems not from the popular TV show, but from Bedingfield’s own life. 

“Initially I wrote ‘Unwritten’ for my younger brother. He was 14 years old, and I was really thinking about what was in the mind of a 14-year-old. There’s a lot of pressure to become what you want to be. Everyone’s asking you,” she said. “But now I feel like the song is even more about me as it has evolved.”

Bedingfield, for one, has evolved both personally and professionally since the release of the song, which appeared on her debut album. In 2009, she married businessman Matt Robinson, and she’s now mom to a son named Solomon. 

“It really opened me up to seeing what people go through,” she said about becoming a parent. “It was actually a hard time being pregnant … but my baby is so amazing.”  

Becoming a mom partially inspired “Roll With Me,” Bedingfield’s first new studio album in nine years, due out Aug. 30. 

“I’m actually just full of emotions, and I think I really channeled that into the music,” she said.

Bedingfield, who teamed up with producer Linda Perry on the new album, said she wanted to make music that makes people move and dance, or moves them emotionally.  

“I’ve always made positive music, but the very important thing with positive music is that it should not be cheesy,” she said.  “The way to do that is that you have to talk about real stuff, that’s emotionally deep to you.”

As she looks to the future, Bedingfield also is using this time to reflect. 

“I can’t even believe that it’s been 15 years since I released ‘Unwritten.’ That’s just so crazy because it went by in a blink of an eye,” she said. “I had no idea that it would do that it would become an international song or that people would feel like it’s their generational song.”

Looking ahead, Bedingfield has a lot more writing to do. She dreams of one day collaborating with Eminem and writing a soundtrack for a film. “I’ve written so many songs that were in movies, but I’d love to actually do a whole film score,” she said. 

When asked how much her own future remains “unwritten,” Bedingfield said, “It’s just the same as anybody. It really is what I choose to make of it. Life throws a lot at you. Don’t lose your fire. Don’t lose your hope. No one can take that from you.”

Check out the full Build Series interview below.