I strolled into Barnes and Noble the other night to pick up this CD. I got a latte, sat down in a large, soft chair, and was ready to absorb Bedingfield’s compositions, to let you know what I think of it.

Well, I think that it’s a “chick” CD. Let me explain: It’s a woman singing about women’s issues, with feminine melodies and instrumental undertones. Suffice it to say, if you like Ellie Lawson, this should be your next purchase. However, if you never appreciated the consistent (flirting with monotonous) and simple flat lines of the ’90s one-hit wonders, you probably just want to catch this one on the radio.

She needs to decide if she wants to be a modern-day Barbara Streisand or a parallel No Doubter.

All but one song starts out with a mellow beginning and still manages to end with the same beat.

I think: “OK, I can really relax and reflect about life,” and then surprise, it belongs on the dance floor, but only for groovin.’ Just a placid rocking back and forth motion is all you can do to this music. It would hardly inspire me to even get out of my seat.

The first track, “Three Words (I love you),” had a disco sound. There wasn’t too much romance going on, but it was light and fluffy. The “Silent Movie” was pretty sultry and delivered some emotion. Her title track, “Unwritten,” probably had the best vocals out of any of them. There was a mystical background sound, too.

The track that tipped the scale toward an estrogen fest was “Drop Me in the Middle.” All I could picture was an effort to transfer girl talk into a song. Keep it in your journals, please.

“I Bruise Easily” was actually more of a romantic song than the romantic titles. It was surprisingly heart felt. Then the tongue-in-cheek title, “Size Matter,” is not what you think.

Overall, the piano playing was great, but most songs became too busy after the intro. They didn’t fall into a distinctive category of “dance” or “easy listening.”

I left Barnes and Noble a little frustrated, not knowing if I should go clubbing or stay and read.