You might not realize it, but Australia is actually a very good country when it comes to pop music. Two of their previously successful female pop singers, Natalie Imbruglia and Delta Goodrem, are back with new singles and this is of course exciting news. But are the tracks any good?

Single Review: Natalie Imbruglia – Instant Crush
You all remember Natalie Imbruglia, right? The singer, actress and model shot to world fame when her cover of the song ‘Torn’ became a huge hit in 1997. Ever since she released a couple of albums full of lovely tracks (the most recent one is already more than five years ago, though), but she never made the same impact in the charts again. Now, Imbruglia is back with the new single ‘Instant Crush’ taken from the album Male, that will only contain covers (a thing which she proved to be good at) of songs by male singers. The first single is a Daft Punk cover and this is actually as exciting and unexpected as it sounds!

Natalie made the song her own and turned it into something completely different, but at the same time did not undermine the quality of the original. In an interview on her new work she stated that she loves the original of ‘Instant Crush’, but wanted to bring the story that is told to the front in her own take on it. She more than achieves this goal with her absolutely beautiful and crystal clear vocals. Her band sound version, topped off with some violins, sounds like a respectful, undressed, vulnerable version of the Daft Punk and Julian Casablancas track. You know the hook of a track is brilliant if the chorus hits home in both an electronic production with a heavily autotuned voice and in an acoustic performance with a sweet and fragile vocal. Thanks for pointing this out so convincingly, Natalie! Can’t wait to hear more of the album Male, which is supposed to come out in May.

Oh, and this is the original:

Single Review: Delta Goodrem – Only Human
Delta Goodrem is still one of Australia’s biggest pop stars. Just like Natalie Imbruglia, she started her career as an actress in the soap Neighbours and in 2003, she ad international hits with the singles ‘Born To Try’ and ‘Lost Without You’. This year, Neighbours is celebrating its 30th anniversary and they convinced Delta Goodrem to return to the series temporarily. She thought she might as well release a new single called ‘Only Human’ after her latest record Child Of The Universe (2012) and single ‘Heart Hypnotic’ from 2013.

There is no news yet on a new album, but it seems logical that ‘Only Human’ is taken from an upcoming new record. It is not exactly clear if it is the official first single, but I would say it is not, as it sounds more like an album track than a song that should launch a project. This does not mean it isn’t beautiful though, because it most definitely is. Delta’s vocals sound gorgeous once again and she seemed to have grown and become more mature on this one. The lyrics seem really honest and are delivered in a convincing and understated manner. There is no huge chorus but a song like this does not need that. Her voice, a piano, an enchanting melody and an honest story is really all she needs to impress. Still, I would love to hear an ‘In This Life’ style pop banger next!