Natalia Kills - Artist Profile & 'Perfectionist' review

How did Natalia Kills get her start as a musical artist? What Flo Rida song feautures background vocals from Natalia? Why is her name 'Natalia Kills'? Here's a rundown of her musical career and my track-by-track review of her debut album "Perfectionist", released April 1st, 2011.

Natalia Kills, born Natalia Noemi Keery-Fisher, began her career starring in several U.K. television series and transitioned into music with the end of "All About Me". She has recorded and released music under a variety of personas; Verbz, Verbalicious, Verse, and Natalia Cappuccini, adopting her grandmother's family name. She's British and has been writing her music since she started in that arena. Currently, she is signed with Interscope Records, first under Will.I.Am Music Group, an imprint of the record label, and also Cherrytree Records and Kon Live Distribution, Akon's music label, all of which exist under the umbrella of Universal Music Group. Due to her album's lead single "Mirrors"s success in the area, Natalia released her debut studio album "Perfectionist" today, April 1st 2011 in Germany only.

Official Single Cover

Following the series end of "All About Me", Natalia released her debut single "Don't Play Nice", at the age of 18. The track was only released in the U.K., and peaked at #11 on their singles chart, an impressive accomplishment, however the song failed to sell enough copies to make plans for an album (allegedly, however seeing as how the track only charted for 5 weeks total, it makes sense.)

Official Single Cover

"They Talk Shit About Me" was a single released by French singer Matt Pokora featuring Natalia, credited as Verse. The song peaked at 24 on the French Singles Chart. The song bears some resemblance to her later work, combining rapping lines with a melodic chorus. You can see the official music video here, her style back then was 80's rapper combined with 90's fly-girl; half her scalp in cornrows, wearing a lot of metallic fabrics, animal print leggings and hoop earrings.

Natalia garnered attention in America due to Perez Hilton blogging about some of her music at the time; "Shopaholic". Due to the created buzz, Natalia moved to L.A. and met with several record labels before signing with Will.I.Am. According to Natalia, she was approached while shopping because of her "interesting looks" and asked if she was a singer. She replied yes and gave the man her MySpace page at the time. He then connected her with a DJ who introduced her to the Black Eyed Peas star.

Natalia cites Will's interest in house and electro music at the time, while working on the Black Eyed Peas album "The E.N.D.", as being helpful in creating her unique sound, though she says her image as an artist has been a result of her own imagining, musically, Will.I.Am had a hand in crafting her new sound.

In between being noticed for her hip-hop work and meeting Will.I.Am, Natalia self-released an EP on October 9th, 2008, as Natalia Cappuccini and this work can be seen as bridging the gap between her old and new sound. A music video for "Real Woman" was shot by James Sutton, a director and photographer, responsible for the above photo, and has a mannequin theme, taken from the EP's title; Wommanequin. The mannequin theme here would later inspire the theme of perfection in her album. Visually, you can start to see Natalia Kills; the hat, the red lips, however she was a lot more bright and colorful here, something that changed with "Perfectionist". The tracks are great and you can listen to them all on her MySpace page and buy the EP on iTunes.

A post on her MySpace page of the time, it changed with each of her transitions (first .com/verbzonline, then /nataliacappucicini, now /nataliakills), says that she was featured on the Flo Rida feat. Akon track "Available", a track intended for release as a single included on his sophomore album "R.O.O.T.S.", and if you listen to the song, there is indeed a female vocalist heard during the verses. The song was produced by Will.I.Am and released on the album in March of 2009, signifying the first track the two had worked on together.

The name "Kills" was taken from the slang meaning of the word, as she describes it "giving 100% of yourself into something that defines you, we would say 'you killed it'...dressed to kill, killer heels". Sometime in late 2008/early 2009, Natalia adopted this title, and it became her 5th overall artist name to use. As she put's it: "my real name is Natalia Kills...you don't let anything hold you back, you kill it."
December 21st 2009, Natalia's promo single "Zombie" was released, with the music video premiering on the artist's YouTube account on March 15th 2010. The track was produced by Jeff Bhasker, who appears frequently in the credits of this album. Shortly after posting this video, Natalia began uploading episodes of her film series, "Love Kills xx".

"Love Kills xx" (pronounced 'kiss kiss') is a series of online short films created by Natalia, and when I say short, I mean the longest one is 5 minutes. Conceived as a companion to her album, the intent of the films is for Natalia to express how she feels to her audience; "it's me being me in my own head". The title may come from the Queen song "Love Kills", which Natalia said was one of her favorites, and has a dual meaning; literally "love kills", a theme explored in "Love is a Suicide", and also how one might sign a letter; love, Kills. xx. Creatively, the films draw on Tarentino, David Lynch, Dali, Hitchock and Film Noir, including elements of humor, danger, lust, murder and being on the run. Natalia Kills and Guillaume Doubet directed the films, with Martin Kierszenbaum, a.k.a. Cherry Cherry Boom Boom, executional producing. Appearances are made by label-mates Far East Movement, Akon, and Colette Carr. The music on the films is a combination of snippets of the finished tracks, instrumentals, and some beats made especially for the series. It is intended to be released as a full film when completed.

Almost 1 year ago, Natalia's second promotional single "Activate My Heart" was released on iTunes, though the music video was released only 3 months ago. The track doesn't appear on her album, unlike her earlier promo single "Zombie", despite being quite good. The track was written by Natalia Kills and Martin Kierszenbaum, who also produced the track. Combining techo synths, vocoded vocals and shrill strings, the song is a melancholy number with haunting vocals that have Natalia singing about love in an almost robotic way; "show me how to love" she sings over computerized sayings "malfunctioning" "memory damaged" and "artificial heart".
Just recently, Natalia collaborated with label-mates Far East Movement, taking an older song they had recorded with R&B singer-songwriter Lil' Eddie and replacing him on the chorus. The track was included on the European release of their album "Free Wired" and is their latest single, released in the U.S. The music video was directed by Guillaume Doubet, the man behind her "Love Kills xx" films, you can view the music video here.
"Perfection is a state of mind, if you can find some sort of perfection through your imperfect medium, that's perfection. Hope through heartbreak, love through destruction."

"We're all perfectionists... when you're a child, you decide what you want to be when you grow up... every time you go on a date or you're shopping or anything you do, we're all looking for the ideal, we're all following and chasing our ideologies and that's what being a perfectionist is about... the disappointments and the triumphs that come with it and a lot of the struggle and frustrations that we all suffer while we're trying to just have the best and do the best that we can." 

Natalia says she had the idea for the album before she even wrote any of the songs, essentially making this a concept album. She stated in an interview that there were originally only 11 tracks on the album, so as to coincide with the release of the accompanying films "Love Kills xx", of which 10 episodes have been released. She has described the album as a soundtrack to her life.

"Perfection is finding it when everything's going wrong... it's nothing to do with having everything in order... it's the opposite"

1. Perfection - A 32 second album introduction that set's up the album's theme, written by Natalia. It's interesting to listen to when you play the album as a whole, it introduces some words that stick with you through the listen; control, satisfaction, disappointment, self-sentimental, denial, lack of remorse.

2. Wonderland - Written by Natalia Kills, Theron Feemster (Michael Jackson, Ne-Yo), Michael Warren and Martin Kierszenbaum, "Cherry Cherry Boom Boom", this serves as the album's second single and was one of a couple tracks that had leaked before the album's release, so I've been listening to this track since November 2010 and it's one of my favorites from her. She references Disney Princesses as symbols of  "all of the things's that we're lead to believe are that are perfect", but twists the stories so they take a darker turn; "I'm not Snow White, but I'm lost inside this forest". The track can perhaps be best summed up by the line "who needs 'true love' as long as you love me truly". The production on this track is exciting, so much of pop music recycles beats that have been heard before, however on this number, a ticking clock is interpolated over electric guitar, knife-sharpeningly piercing bursts and an echo-y wooden clap board. Here, you can hear a reoccurring element in the album and that's the use of the 'choir' chords, giving the track an appropriate Gothic tone; this track epitomizes her dark-pop sound. - 10/10

3. Free - Written by Natalia Kills, Kid Cudi,  Dion Wilson, a.k.a. No I.D., and Jeff Bhasker, with the last 2 producing. For a track with half it's composers being in the hip-hop/rap game, one would think that this track would be in the vein of her earlier work, something that proves true and false. Musically, the sound has a hint of hip-hop in the beat, but the jaunty piano melodies and humming synths classify the track as a pop ditty. However, this is the one track on the album that has her rapping the verses, recycling lines from her previous material; "get your 5's, get your 10's, get your 20's out" is a line taken from her early song "Shopaholic" and "I could look fresh in a potato sack" is a line taken from the leaked demo "Hot Mess". This song is about feeling free, despite spending all your money and has the theme of being consumed by superficial items, specifically clothing. Sometimes her inflection on this track is a bit bizarre sounding, a combination of nasally and being out of breath, however she does being some of her trademark swag and lyrical cleverness. And this is one of the album's lighter moments, both musically and lyrically; it get's darker up ahead. - 7/10

4. Break You Hard - Natalia Kills co-wrote this track with it's producer, Theron Feemster. This is one of the more interesting records sonically as the shape of the track changes several times before it finds a continuous flow, opening with some heavily filtered guitar and spoken intro "I'm about to break you", glass shattering serves as a transition to a rain-drop like melody, soon accompanied by an eerie synth line reminiscent of a haunted house. With a lowered-pitch "ha ha ha" from Natalia, the song's true beat kicks in, and it's another interesting and original one; wooden clap board keeping time with a 3 note electric guitar melody combined with something akin to scraping a saw against a tree. It's a decidedly more rock influenced track, though some other's on the album have rock tones, this one doesn't rely on synths to produce the dance-pop tone. However, it is still a pop tune, and has Natalia singing about the downsides to love, both through disappointments you'd find in a partner, "everything was working honey, when we kissed and never spoke at all", and something found in heartbreak, "take my love before I go cause you should know I'm about to break you heard". It's interesting that her pronunciation of "break you heard" sounds suspiciously like "break your heart", intentional or not, the dual meaning is interesting. - 9/10

5. Zombie - Natalia Kills & Jeff Bhasker wrote this track that sounds right out of Kanye's "808s & Heartbreak"; the dark tone, AutoTune'd vocals and tribal beat. Borrowing the haunted house synths from the previous track and adding a buzz to them is what the track opens to, changing to a bass synth + wooden clap-board driven beat that has some tribal drums and creepy, atmospheric background vocals from Natalia. This track was released back in December 2009 to create buzz for the work she was doing, and indeed it attracted attention; it's the kind of track that's hard to forget, love or hate it, and has enough repeated verses about being in love with a zombie to stick in your mind. This was a statement piece that really sums up her approach to taking about love, taking something usually discussed in a lovey-dovey way and making it into a horror story. - 9/10

6. Love Is A Suicide - This is the first of 2 tracks Fernando Garibay produced on the album, co-written with Michael Warren and Natalia, and he uses some of the textural elements that appear in some of her songs; choir for the chords, hard synths and a hard-hitting beat, in fact, this is one track where the instrumental alone would be a great listen, and it's a very industrial, hard production, similar in tone to "Mirrors". That said, I am very glad that Natalia's voice is paired with the dark beat, and she performs this track a bit above the level of most of the song; singing with AutoTune is a tricky thing, you can come off sounding like you can't carry a tune at all, but in Natalia's case, the Tuning gives a sharpness to her vocals and really plays up her infectious vibrato. This is the track that she said means the most to her; "it's something I believe in, when you find the perfect love, you give all of yourself to them... and they have the potential to destroy you". Indeed, the track discusses the dangers of giving your heart to someone; "am I the epitome of everything you hate and you desire, you love me like an enemy". This is one of the songs that leaked before the album release and was instantly another favorite, mainly because of the Natalia-formula; package though-provoking concepts in clever lyrics and disguised as a radio-friendly tune. Genius. - 10/10 

7. Mirrors - Talk about the song that started it all. This was the first taste I had of Natalia, sometime back in the summer of 2009, and it was one of those songs that I added to my 'Shower' playlist, quite an honor in fact, it has to be a song that I can play over and over and not get tired of singing it (in the shower. REALLY loud). Natalia Kills co-wrote the track with Akon, who provides an opening shout-out to himself, Giorgio Tuinfort and Martin Kierszenbaum. Superficially, the song is about sex, "I'll make your love grenade explode", however, it has a deeper meaning, "the pleasure of control". As Natalia puts it: "singing about sex and singing about the club doesn't devalue music, it doesn't make it unintellectual.. it's how clever you are, how much identity you put behind it...people are looking for a certain honesty in music". I couldn't have put it better myself, the track is a dark slice of electro-pop with a bit of menace packed in with guilty-pleasure metaphors for sex; "the mirrors goin' fog tonight". - 10/10

8. Not In Love - Natalia Kills wrote this track with producer Martin Kierszenbaum and the first thing that popped into my mind when hearing the intro to the track was "this sounds like the Robots to Mars remix of LoveGame". A little digging and I found out that "Robots to Mars" is another one of Martin Kierszenbaum's aliases. However that intro lasts only a couple seconds, which leads to the second thing I noticed about the song; it changes tone a couple times throughout, something that happens on a couple songs on the album. The intro is very moody and bass-driven, with some guitar overlayed, and then it changes to just electric guitar strumms and Natalia singing, and it's more optimistic than the intro, but that changes with the pre-chorus, adding a sprinkling of creepy synths. The intro also appears on the chorus, and Natalia's vocals are produced in a cool way; she speaks with urgence; the song is about not being in love and cautioning her lover to not get too attached "we're not in love, no matter what, it's not enough. Martin Kierszenbaum also appearing on the background vocals during the chorus, and he does a great job, it adds to the atmosphere. Something that happens here, and on many other tracks, is Natalia's spoken word verses overlayed during other portions of the song. - 7/10

9. Acid Annie - The GaGa comparison was inevitable, however this was the only track that made me think of Natalia's label-mate, and even then, it was solely the intro; "This is 911, what is your emergency? There's been an accident". Reminds me of the "Paparazzi" music video. However, this is where the similarities end, they are two different artists with different visions and products, this track especially demonstrates their differences. Natalia Kills wrote this number with producer Martin Kierszenbaum and it's probably the most rock track on the album, it has an Alanis Morissette-vibe goin on, specifically "You Oughta Know", and lyrical content like that on "Bust the Windows" by Jazmine Sullivan; "". There's also an almost Arabian-Nights sounding melody in the instrumentation of the song, complete with finger chimes, but the track does stick with the over-driven guitar as it's backbone. This track has the least vocal production on the album, something that is refreshingly raw to hear. - 7/10

10. Superficial - Here again we have a combination of the unique elements that make this album so undeniably Natalia; choir chords, an intro with a different tone than the rest of the song, clever metaphors and repeated 4 word lines that could be stand-alone poems. Theron Feemster produced this track that borrow a lot of rock cues from his other track "Break You Hard", but overall plays like a rock-take on "Radar". This is probably the lest-impressive vocal effort on the album, with Natalia resting on the trifecta; rap-singing + AutoTune, but the effect is not grating on the ears, but rather a stylized sound. Quote of note: "my love is something money can't buy", something she echoes on the next track. - 7/10

11. Broke - The team behind "Love is a Suicide" reunite for one of the more emotional tracks on the album: Michael Warren and Natalia Kills writing with Fernando Garibay producing, and it would seem that this is a new dream team; where their previous track was still a stomper with a melancholy tinge to the lyrics, this song commits itself fully to ballad-status. Natalia's singing is in it's finest form on the album, bemoaning the mistakes of a love gone wrong. This is one of those songs where almost every line is my favorite, so I'll focus on what's notable  mostly some lines consistent with themes she touches on earlier. On "Free", she talked about money in relation to material items, on this track, she says "my hands are empty, I'm richer without you" and "if I had a dime for every single time you ever made me cry I'd be a millionaire", using money as a metaphor for the piece of herself that you give up willingly in a relationship, however they can be used against you if all goes wrong; "Love is a Suicide". Garibay produces one hell of an electro-ballad, opening the song with an echo-y drum part that leads to a kick-drum + wooden clap board beat that sometimes drops for emphasis, and is joined by a rapid, drum machine tapping on the chorus. The chords are provided by deep bass notes and occasionally bright synths. This track is a highlight for sure. - 10/10

12. Heaven - Written by Natalia Kills and Jeff Bhasker, "Heaven" is truly one of the lightest tracks on the album, though there's some humming synths, their effect is electro-ballad rather than club-jumper. The track is "about finding the perfect way to miss someone that you lost", and while parts of it are clearly specific to the person it was written about, she expresses sentiments that we can all relate to; "I see you when I'm dreaming, but it doesn't feel the same". For a sentimental song, it's funny to note that she is nearly rapping the entire track, though her lighter sing-rapping on the verses seems more on the 'singing side' when her full-on rapping bridge comes on. It's a sweet song and gives some heart to the album. - 8/10

13. Nothing Lasts Forever - Sandwiched between more sentimental, ballad-y tracks is a sexy, AutoTuned thumper of a track that has some Apocalyptic-vibes goin on; "kiss me like the world will end, you can be my last regret, nothing lasts forever". Natalia's opener is a comination of Lolene-"ohh!"s and Nicki Minaj-accented spoken-word "wanna hear you tell me things I like", and she turns on the attitude for this number, sounding impatient, really embodying the lyrics "cut the chase and get right to it". The track is about a sensual encounter with a guy, but interestingly enough, you get a chance to hear the other side of the story with a feature by Billy Kraven, a really unknown artist, and I mean really, 340 Twitter followers 'really', though now he has 341 :-). Jeff Bhasker produced the track which is one of the more produced tracks on the album, especially vocally, both in the form of vocal snipping and some T-Pain status AutoTune.  Highlight: Natalia's higher register shining on the final moments of the track, 2:40-3:10. - 9/10

14. If I Was God - Natalia Kills described the idea behind the track as "if you were fully in control, what would you make perfect, what would you change", however she turns the 'change' aspect on herself, listing some insecurities and asking if the person-of-the-song would still love her if she were different. However, on the track's chorus, she embodies the title more, asking "if I was God, what would I change?" while a crowd chants "love, war, lies, money", that's where the political aspect of the track lies. Theron Feemster produced this thought-provoking number, using an old-school organ to open the track and using distant tones for the musical chords, really focusing on the words and their inflection, driving home the track with an industrial beat made up of drum sticks clacking and kick drum. Offensive, no. A track that makes you think, hopefully yes. - 8/10

15. Mirrors (Live at the Cherrytree House) (Bonus Track) - The rest of the bonus tracks are remixes so this is the only one I'll be mentioning, and it definately deserves it. One of my favorite things musically is to hear an artist do an acoustic rendition of their danciest single, which is exactly what she does her. Martin Kierszenbaum provides the piano playing for this live track, and Natalia kills the vocals (see what just happened there?), proving that she has the pipes to perform the AutoTuned tracks on the album, something that makes swallowing the fact that the majority of the tracks are tinged with it a bit easier. It's a beautiful rendition that changes the songs original key as well as it's overall tone, a lot of which can be attributed to the piano playing. It's fun if only for the contrast, and to consider this is how she may well have constructed the track. - 10/10

"The only way to achieve perfection is to realize that it doesn't exist."

This album is perfect, as perfect as a piece of art can be considered, opinions vary of course. From the innovated and styled production to the metaphorical and thought-provoking lyrics, the album is a bit of an odds-defy-er, packing deep thoughts into a mainstream package. Her earlier work is less melodic and focuses more on rap, but had a certain infectious quality to it that has remained constant; she knows how to flow with the rhythm, whether spittin' rap lines or singing an electro-ballad. One of the most fascinating thing about her is her unique accent that seems to shift from perfect North American English, adorable nerdy inflection and some other accent, presumably from her region in the U.K.; though it's the size of Texas, the accents vary as much as they do in the U.S., sometimes even more so. It's interesting to note that when asked if she played any instruments, besides the drums and saxophone, she hadn't played any for a while, meaning the composing of the tracks is something that the producers have more of a responsibility in. She has said that sometimes an instrumental will inspire songwriting, but also that she works the other way around, writing the songs first and then working with the producer to build the song, however that is a lengthy process that could be why the album took a while to complete. The album has intensity and a purpose, right or wrong, she has a solid view point, and she's saying something; "Love is more than going to the club and hooking up with someone". You have to respect someone that's trying to say something with their words, and she's saying a mouthful hear, it'd be smart, and a joy, to listen.
Perfect ending words: "selling my soul is my desire; I put my heart and soul into my work... I'm selling my soul on iTunes". Now this isn't true for most of the world, yet, however she just announced that it will be released in the U.K. mid-April and Cherrytree Records said that a U.S. release date is planned soon.
Sources: Google, YouTube, Twitter, Arjan Writes, Album Booklet, and MySpace. Note: if you see this information appear on Wikipedia, I added a lot of it, did not go there for my information.