Dido: Life For Rent : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Eminem's "Stan" and the soundtrack to TV's Roswell gave Dido the exposure that proves how pop with a little depth can outsell cookie-cutter crap if people get the chance to hear it. Like No Angel, her 1999 debut, Life for Rent isn't groundbreaking, but it has its own kind of integrity. The smooth-voiced Brit has been singing achingly over lush synths in her brother Rollo's club-music act Faithless since 1995, and their continued collaboration prevents the usual second-album slump.

It also helps that she has experienced some heartbreak with her 12 million sales, having split with her longtime fiance last year. The resulting album packs messier emotional complications than its predecessor: When she admits, "I'm in love and always will be," on "White Flag," it's after having struggled and lost -- and in this case, her loss is our gain.

BARRY WALTERS
(RS 933, October 16, 2003)