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"  Where did you grow up? My family comes from New Zealand, but I&amp;#039;m a London girl. I was born and raised in London, but I&amp;#039;ve got the blood of a New Zealander, so I always kind of felt like I didn&amp;#039;t belong \u2014 in a good way. Were you a good student? I did actually like school. When I was 17, I was in college, but before that, I was home-schooled. I was very social. I liked to know everyone. I liked English and art and did a lot of painting. And for some reason I was good at math, but I wasn&amp;#039;t an A student. I really had to work hard to get good grades. Did you have an after-school job? I got a job as soon as I could \u2014 11 or 12. I started babysitting and then I got a part-time job at a pharmacy in England. I just remember loving the feeling of going out and buying my own clothes! I&amp;#039;d go bargain-hunting and get secondhand vintage stuff. What was the worst popular trend when you were going to school? Scrunchies! People would make their own, and put their hair in a ponytail. I wore them all the time. Do you have a quote in your high school yearbook? We didn&amp;#039;t have one, but &amp;quot;Unwritten&amp;quot; was really a song I wrote for myself. &amp;quot;Live with your arms wide open&amp;quot; \u2014 I think that&amp;#039;s what I&amp;#039;d write in a yearbook. What did you want to be when you grew up? The thing is, I really started to have dreams for myself when I was 17, but I was always afraid people were going to laugh at me. I finally just said, &amp;quot;Alright. I&amp;#039;m going to write songs, even if they&amp;#039;re bad. I&amp;#039;m just going to keep writing until I get good.&amp;quot; That is what &amp;quot;Unwritten&amp;quot; is about \u2014 just not worrying.  What is the craziest thing you ever did to get a guy to notice you? Before I was 17, I really wasn&amp;#039;t into boys. I was quite shy, so I didn&amp;#039;t really want them to notice me. I&amp;#039;d push them all away! I never really did anything big [for them]. I just started dressing nice and making eye contact. Find out how Natasha&amp;#039;s life has changed from then to now on the --&amp;amp;gt;. What was your style when you were 17? What is it like now? It was kind of vintage. I wasn&amp;#039;t wearing any designer stuff and I didn&amp;#039;t like wearing jeans very much. I still don&amp;#039;t. I&amp;#039;d wear skirts and dresses, and trouser pants. It&amp;#039;s changed a lot. You can be more over-the-top as a performer, experiment more, and be more of an individual. Now, I&amp;#039;d call it individual/classic/quirky. What kind of clique were you in back then? Now? I wasn&amp;#039;t really in a clique. I just tried to be friends with everyone. Now, I have my own little clique. I have the best friends ever. I like taking them away on holidays and long weekends. We&amp;#039;ll go somewhere like Italy or Brazil. We&amp;#039;re really crazy together! What were your hobbies back then? Now? I was interested in art (I loved painting), music, being with friends, and shopping. Now, [I&amp;#039;m into] music, water sports, the gym, going on adventures, and trying to find new places I&amp;#039;ve never been. What rumors were people spreading about you then? Now? I just remember being conscious of what everyone thought back then. I&amp;#039;m not so self-conscious now, because my job has forced me to not care what people think. I think I used to think up what people were thinking of me, which they probably weren&amp;#039;t.  What nicknames did you have back then? Now? Tasha and Tashy. That&amp;#039;s about it. Now, my boyfriend calls me Twinkle Toes, because if I&amp;#039;m doing something, I kind of pick up on my toes a little bit. Who was your best friend? Are they still your best friend now? My sister has always been my best friend. She&amp;#039;s two years younger than me, but she&amp;#039;s very wise. I did have a best friend in school, but we don&amp;#039;t keep in touch anymore.  What did you do for fun? Now? I would make music. I&amp;#039;d love to just jam and go shopping. Now, if I&amp;#039;m in New York, I go out clubbing at night or I&amp;#039;ll go and just be in nature, which I really love. I love to go to New Zealand and just swim and sunbathe. I love going online and checking out YouTube. I actually like blogging and going on MySpace and Facebook as much as I can. What advice did your parents give you when you were 17? Now? &amp;quot;Choose your battles, because you&amp;#039;re not going to win every fight but you should choose the important ones. You can let a few slide.&amp;quot; My parents are so good for advice. They&amp;#039;re very supportive. I&amp;#039;ll stop home and my mom will talk about her charity, Global Angels, which helps children all over the world. It puts a perspective on everything. What did you worry about back then? Now? I wanted to be liked by everyone. I worried about meeting someone and not remembering their name, or offending them, or making mistakes, or whether I was normal. Now, I worry about stupid things like &amp;quot;What&amp;#039;s the next album gonna be like? How do I make sure I have enough time for this person?&amp;quot;  What was your high school boyfriend like? What is your boyfriend like now? I don&amp;#039;t really want to talk about [my high school boyfriend], but my current boyfriend does a lot of different things. He&amp;#039;s very talented and very creative but he&amp;#039;s not in the industry, so it&amp;#039;s very nice. He&amp;#039;s much more balanced.  Who was your idol back then? Now? I didn&amp;#039;t have any posters on my walls of any boy bands or stuff like that. I loved Brandy, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and Sting. Now, I listen to as much music as I can. I fill my iPod up with Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, the Beatles, John Mayer, Feist, and Goldfrapp. What would you say now to your 17-year-old self? Dear Natasha, Make the most of every day. It doesn&amp;#039;t matter if you fall over. You can get back up again. Love, Natasha Natasha Bedingfield is 26 years old. Her debut album,  Soulmate, is out now! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/interviews/a1989/natasha-bedingfield-wiw17-52808/>