Interviews/Arcade44

## 2011

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 **Location** | New York City, New York, United States

### Transcript

My name is Natalia Kills. I am a Cherrytree/Interscope artist and right now, I'm in Radio City Music Hall in New York, and I'm about to go on stage. I'm opening for Robyn on her US and Canadian tour.

I have a confession to make, to be honest. I'm really not a fashion head. I don't know about all the designers. I don't know where the coolest places to shop are, but I've always just had this way of dressing where, if I see something that I like and I can afford it, I buy it.

"Ah, I like it! It's so nice. These are good ex-boyfriend shoes. What did you say? [Kicks] Get off me!"

"I think it's time for me to move to New York now. I've spent enough time away from shopping. I feel like I'm home."

I had so much fun today. It's so crazy. When you live on a tour bus and you're traveling the world and stuff, there are a lot of things you get to do that most people don't, but the thing that you often don't get to do is the normal stuff. So like going shopping today in New York of all places, one of my favorite cities in the world, was a huge privilege for me. And it's so funny 'cause it's so rare that I'd walk into a shop and almost every single thing I see I wanna buy. [Laughs]

"Oh my god!"

"What do you think? *Other man: Yeah, it's good.* I don't think my mother would like this very much. Sorry, mom."

As someone who started as a songwriter, to be able to then make my own album, and, of course, it's my ideas, it's my life experience, it's my opinion. And then to also learn to direct and to be able to make my own visuals for those things, it's just really great to invite the world into my mind.

I really want people to think about their life experience and for that to be in their music; to have freedom. If there's something you would scream at a boyfriend in an argument, or a secret that you would never say out loud in a room in front of your grandma or, you know, a bunch of strangers, but you'd tell it to your best friend or you'd do it in a moment of impulse, then that's true freedom and I feel like that's what people should be saying in their songs. That's what I do in my songs. You know, whatever I've been through or whatever I think, that's what it is. And I don't want to censor it and I don't want to shelter people from the truth and the severity of life.

"*Marry me.* [Laughing] *I don't want to be a stylist, I want to make dreams come true. We wanna tell like spiked [?] leather shoes and a woman that knows how to kill him, and I got her today. [Laughs]*"

Am I gonna kill it tonight? [Laughs] Well, I wouldn't be Natalia Kills if I didn't try. [Laughs] So funny.

### Description

We're at the storied East Village boutique Trash and Vaudeville, an institution for rockers and people who want to dress like them for the last 35 years. We knew there'd be fireworks when we brought Natalia Kills to T&V. The 24-year-old singer/songwriter has been making waves ever since being discovered by wil.i.am and signed to Interscope/Cherry Tree Records. But don't assume that Kills, whose debut album Perfectionist drops next month, is just another pretty face on the scene. A remarkably self-assured artist, she writes and produces her own material and directs her own videos. Edgy, dark and sexy, her clips add to a self-created mythology of the girl who grew up in Northern England dreaming of one day leading her own motorcycle gang.

Shopping proved to be a welcome return to norm after spending the past few months on a tour bus. Kills has been dotting the country as she opens for Robyn's North American tour, and has hardly had a moment to breathe, let alone visit the local haunts. Guided by T&V's legendary manager Jimmy Webb, who regaled us with tales of everyone from Slash to Angelina Jolie stopping by the shop over the decades, Kills tried on an eclectic mix of gear. Designer Prince Peter, a friend, even stopped by before it was time to pack up and head to Radio City for the night's performance. It's just another night in the life of an artist poised on the brink. Outside Radio City's backstage entrance, Natalia stopped to give hugs to a pair of fans who waited in the rain for a glimpse of her. We were stunned by how open and giving the singer is one-on-one, in spite of her badass stage presence. Natalia certainly kills, but she also has a lot of heart.