Natalia Kills is the newest nom du pop of the 24-year-old British performer born Natalia Keery-Fisher, one she adopted not long after signing with the great “indie pop” (or as I call it, “hipster pop”) label Cherrytree Records, which specializes in experimental and cutting-edge (and usually great) pop acts including Robyn, La Roux, and a partial share of the early Lady Gaga releases. Though the name is undeniably superior to her previous alias, "Verbalicious" (and less ethnically misleading than "Natalia Cappuccini," as she was before that), as a stage name I'd say this one ranks somewhere between Marina and the Diamonds and I Blame Coco among the Most Awkward Stage Names for Female Solo Acts - Ever. Is “Kills” supposed to be a verb or a surname, or the least subtle nominal double entendre since Alicia Keys? (If Natalia Kills, then perhaps Britney Spears?)
It seems Natalia is attempting to create not just music, but a character as well. Not that this is an especially unusual thing, as most major pop music icons perform in some sort of character. Some do it pointedly (Beyoncé's Sasha Fierce bit) while others go for broke and incorporate their character into their entire public persona (see Kesha Sebert's successful irreverent garbage-chic brat act under the stylized mononym Ke$ha) although it’s often a temporary or transitional persona. Then there are those who perform fantastically unbelievable characters, only with such commitment that it's hard NOT to believe in their veracity (Lady Gaga, following in the footsteps of Freddie Mercury).
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Any questions? |
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Beyoncé as Sasha Fierce Kesha Sebert as "Ke$ha," grunge-chic brat turned tribal dance commander |
Did Natalia Kills maybe miss this memo? Admirable as it is to aspire to emulate an erudite, worldly, and talented musical and cultural steamroller like Lady Gaga, as an actual battle plan it's something like setting out to be Meryl Streep or Michael Jordon or other freaks of nature whose greatness is so tied to individual, inborn abilities that it cannot be equaled by another through effort alone. The character of Natalia Kills, granted, remains to be more clearly defined, but this in itself is already an issue: from the evidence I've gathered, which is more than the average consumer will have done, I don't yet get what the whole Natalia Kills thing is up to, but I get the feeling that the undefined character here is trying to be something sweeping and avant-garde a la Lady Gaga. For what reason I can't guess, nor to what purpose, and all of this vague uncertainty has had on me, at least, an effect that is both unfortunate and probably the complete opposite of what Natalia Kills aims to achieve with this muddle of metafictional identity. Plus, there's kind of a Lady Gaga/Madonna thing going on with Natalia Kills and...Lady Gaga.... Observe:
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Eh eh, there's nothing else I can say... |
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I'm your biggest fan, I'll follow you until you love me... |
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I'm a freak bitch, baby... |
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I see dead people. I hump dead people. |
"Mirrors," the second U.S. single, is a dark, pounding, engrossing thumper about all sorts of delicious little kinks that can occur in the bedrooms of the more adventurous sexual athletes, with a chorus of "And the mirrors gonna fog tonight." While it sounds like it could have been pulled from Rihanna's Rated R, the singer gives it just as appealing and convincing a delivery as the "S&M" queen (see my review of said video) might have done. Her sex appeal oozes through her rich alto voice, in which she delivers a string of deliciously evocative commands to a partner that titillate the knowing listener but could pass by the innocent pre-pubescent without leaving a scratch.
The follow-up, "Activate My Heart," is even more dramatic, the first of Natalia Kills' singles containing the surprising emotional punch that peppers her subsequent work; one that elevates the track to something that sticks around a while after the music stops. There is the same deep richness to the production and layering of sound here as in "Mirrors," but with a far more somber pace, tone and lyrical theme, which recalls Robyn's "Fembot" in its use of robot metaphors to represent the limitations of the unstirred female heart (sample lyric: "I came equipped with all the same parts/ I'm not just megabytes/ So hold me close while I push restart").
The follow-up, "Activate My Heart," is even more dramatic, the first of Natalia Kills' singles containing the surprising emotional punch that peppers her subsequent work; one that elevates the track to something that sticks around a while after the music stops. There is the same deep richness to the production and layering of sound here as in "Mirrors," but with a far more somber pace, tone and lyrical theme, which recalls Robyn's "Fembot" in its use of robot metaphors to represent the limitations of the unstirred female heart (sample lyric: "I came equipped with all the same parts/ I'm not just megabytes/ So hold me close while I push restart").
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Natalia Kills in her sexy video for "Mirrors" |
There's a video, as well, the third from Natalia Kills (following the steamy video for “Mirrors” that would make Rihanna blush, and an abbreviated, minimalist conceptual clip for "Activate My Heart" that one should not watch if prone to seizures or ocular migraines), and while the previous two were already better than most newcomers' early videos, "Wonderland" is clearly the first project on which the artist gets to explore the self-consciously artistic, high concept, metaphor-stuffed visual style and ideas she's apparently wanted to tackle, as well as clearly having a heftier budget than on the others (basically it's her "Poker Face"). Observe below.
The result of this new “Money + Freedom” equation, unsurprisingly, is a minor mess, at least to the new or casual fan unfamiliar with the darkness that plays a major part in the Natalia Kills credo, but it’s an interesting one nevertheless, and is gorgeously designed and shot. I hope potential new listeners won't be put off by the clip and mentally file Natalia Kills in with M.I.A. and her assaultive "Born Free" video and general "irritating provocateur who can't sing" thing; even I, with my moderate background knowledge of the artist and her work, lost interest once the dinner party - with its threatening masquerade-like costuming and a meal of internal cardiovascular organs - ended and the screaming began (nothing puts a damper on an appealingly deep female voice, at least for this alto fetishist, and a generally badass female style and attitude like a whole lot of high-pitched screaming). The aim, I'm sure, was for something dramatic and powerful, and no doubt that will be the impact for many viewers; I felt it was trying too hard for dramatic effect, like a high school play. She'd lost me for the remainder of the video once things started getting shrill. On the whole, it kind of felt to me like a Lady Gaga wannabe who got lost on the set of Lily Allen’s “The Fear.”
I want to like Natalia Kills, the character/concept/project, the way I like her music thus far, and I don't want to have to make the effort to ignore the superfluous distractions keeping me from simply enjoying the noise. I want to listen to the upcoming debut album, Perfectionist, with a mind open to the excellent and perhaps experimental music I expect it to contain, without it being hampered by the messiness that makes it hard to remember that, to paraphrase President Clinton, it's the music, stupid. Natalia Kills has so far made some decidedly respectable music leading up to her debut LP release, and at the end of the day, that's what I'd much rather be consuming and experiencing than some unnecessary, artificial and hifalutin character that's being created to deliver it. I've already been sold, Natalia... perhaps you should just be yourself.
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Perfectionist will be released July in the UK. A US release date has not been made official. "Zombie," "Mirrors," "Activate My Heart," and "Wonderland" are available in the US on iTunes and/or Amazon. |
Visit Natalia Kills at www.nataliakills.com;
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