FOR THOSE intending to buy the new Dido album — and no doubt it will go straight to No 1 next Sunday — a word of warning: Dido isn’t hip any more.

Not that it matters much, nor should it. But three years ago, if friends came over you could slip on Dido’s debut No Angel and expect all-round approval. Today, playing Life For Rent is more likely to land you in a discussion about whether the sweet British singer was ever that special in the first place.

Call it second-album syndrome, if you like. Many female solo artists have a second-album slump — citing Alanis Morissette and Jewel here always helps.

Or just blame Eminem — he’s used to taking the flak for everyone else. After all, if it hadn’t been for the Detroit rapper sampling Dido’s song Thank You on his huge hit Stan, she wouldn’t have been cool to begin with. The question is, did Dido ever deserve to be? And why did 12 million people buy No Angel? The problem with Dido — and the reason for her phenomenal success — is that she’s not so special at all. Or at least, that’s how she tries to be perceived. Dido would rather we forget the fact that she’s upper class — all those ridiculous middle names and the well-to-do family. Though she has never pretended to be working class to drum up some street cred. Then there’s her look. Dido doesn’t turn up at parties in skimpy designer dresses, aiming to make the front pages of the next day’s papers.

But she’s no scruff either — in the States, her expensive, layered hairdo was the most requested cut since “the Rachel from Friends”. So she’s classy and rich, but in a girl-next-door way. In other words, she is ordinary enough for her fans — mostly women over 30 — to relate to. And on Life For Rent, she’s on hand to see them through their troubled love lives. All at once.

Lyrically, Life For Rent covers just about every boy/girl relationship-gone-wrong angle you can imagine. Stoned is about a boyfriend who shuts Dido out by refusing to show his emotions; the title track is about a commitment-phobe; See You When You’re 40 about a man who behaves like a boy; Sand in My Shoes about a holiday romance; Don’t Leave Home about a couple who miss each other when they’re apart and Who Makes You Feel is about suspecting a partner may be cheating. As complex as Dido gets is Mary’s in India, a letter to a friend whose man she starts seeing.

Her ordinariness extends to the music. There’s nothing brash or groundbreaking here — instead, it’s mostly the usual mix of unobtrusive beats, gentle electrical and acoustic guitars, lots of piano and sparingly used strings. Occasionally she does try to be a little more adventurous, although it doesn’t always work. Stoned lays her vocals over a so-so Faithless-style dance track (Dido’s brother Rollo, Faithless’s main man, co-produced the entire album) which simply draws attention away from her best asset. Far better are the quirky beats and strange sounds that crop up throughout Who Makes You Feel and the spooky, Portishead-like ambience of Do You Have a Little Time.

But the music hardly matters. Whether you like Dido or not depends almost wholly on how you feel about her voice. Or more specifically, whether it draws you in or not. Dido’s no Whitney or Christina, that’s for sure, but there is something oddly hypnotic about the way she sings. At her best, she has that Eva Cassidy ability to make time stand still. And if you don’t mind the numbingly mundane lyrics or the general lack of action here, Life For Rent will do just fine. The cello-backed White Flag, See You When You’re 40 and Don’t Leave Home are as good as anything on No Angel.

So is Dido special? There are certainly enough people who think so. As for the rest of us, there are plenty artists out there who don’t want to be ordinary we can listen to instead.