Life for Rent

Personnel includes: Dido (vocals, programming); Adam Zimmon, Paul Herman (acoustic guitar); Rick Knowles (guitar, keyboards); Rusty Anderson, Dave Randall (guitar); Sister Bliss (piano, keyboards, programming); Mark Bates (harmonium, keyboards, percussion, programming); Aubrey Nunn (bass); Andy Treacy, Mako Sakamoto (drums); Carlos Paucar (percussion); P*Nut, Steve Sidelynk (programming); Pauline Taylor (background vocals).
"White Flag" was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Imagine Beth Orton with a bit more of a pop lilt, and you'll have a good idea of the general approach on LIFE FOR RENT, UK pop siren Dido Armstrong's long-awaited follow-up to her 1999 debut album. Dido's light, feathery voice and simple, purposefully delivered melodies sit atop a mixture of Jewel-like folk-pop and more contemporary, electronics-laden production a la her former group Faithless. Like Orton, Dido injects a touch of highly accessible trip-hop into her sound, as on the moody, clever "See You When You're 40," with its loping, funky groove, or "Who Makes You Feel," with its evocative, atmospheric samples. The mood throughout is a soft, girlish one, as Dido weaves gentle portraits of a woman going through the whole emotional spectrum, with the lightness offset by smarter-than-your-average-pop-star lyrics and small surprises in the arrangements.