Interviews/Aced Magazine

## 2010

### Text

We had a sit down with actress/producer/director/singer/song-writer **Natalia Kills** a few weeks ago at Lil' Frankie's Italian eatery just down a piece from the **EVR Radio** studio. She was about to go in for an interview with **Sheena Beaston'**s Hannah Rad for her "Belly of the Beast" radio program in the company of three other killer ladies in the game of indie music, **My Gold Mask**'s Gretta Rochelle and **Marina and the Diamonds**' Marina Diamandis (swell name, that). Our conversation was one of the most interesting and layered that we've had with an artist in a while. The petite British Femme Fatale demonstrated quite effectively that she has indeed got it all figured out.  All we had to do was listen, and we liked what we heard. Read on to discover **Natalia Kills** ...

Natalia, a former actress turned song-writer, was discovered by **Black Eyed Peas**' super producer/front man **will.i.am** back in 2008 off the back her self produced/written demo EP *Wommanequin.* From the EP, the song "Real Woman", about her challenge of society's view of the perfect female form, caught the producers eye. Now signed to **Interscope/Cherrytree** **Records**, she is preparing for the release of a conceptualized full length, *Perfectionist*, due out early next year.

Her current single, "Mirrors" is buzzing around the Internet blogosphere and ushering her brand of darkly sensual electro-pop into the spotlight. We wanted to ask about the mini-series of short films, entitled *Love Kills xx*, and the feature *Exhibitionist* that is to accompany the release of her album *Perfectionist*. Not since **Michael Jackson** (we said it) and now (we sort of *have* to say it) **Lady Gaga** have we seen such an all inclusive, perfectly executed trifecta of creative projects, designed to usher an artist into the stratosphere. Each aspect of her persona is designed specifically to attack and invade all of your senses and evoke some sort of emotion. It is as complete a package as there can be, leaving no room for confusion about who or what **Natalia Kills** is.

For starters, she is small, stylish and quietly polite. Very complimentary, effusive and loquacious. We can tell we're going to have an easy time of it. After blushing and waving off our astonishment at how tiny (and well dressed) she is, she immediately offers us a good seat at her table, smiles and begins to demonstrate just how simultaneously human yet larger than life she *actually* is. Her intelligence and expressive, thoughtful nature shines through easily, and it is quite fascinating to witness.

We hardly need to ask a question. But we do ask a few, and learn a great deal in the process.

**We have to say, we like your style.**

**NK**: Really? It's called "trying not to let people know you're a starving artist"! I like that because the less you have, the more ambitious you have to be. So whether it's your sense of style or not, customizing a $10 jacket to make it look like a $1000 jacket or just fringe shopping trying to find all the right pieces, I think it's within all of us. The same rules apply, it's nothing to do with success, financial status or money. It's literally just how you put it all together.

**Tell us about the short film series designed to accompany the album. How did you develop the concept behind them?**

**NK**: When you're brand new, you get the chance to make your first impression on people and I wanted people to have like the most literal and all-inclusive way of really getting to know me and who I am genuinely. And for people to know that I'm not just - I don't want to say the word manufactured - but it's you know, 'conceptualized'. I think of everything I do and am quite conscious about everything from my lyrics to my 'non-following-fashion' sense of style, to the way I direct and produce the music and the show.

I thought the best way for people to get to know me is to take a look inside my mind and my imagination. So for a while I thought: "Well, how can I translate that?" If I have a dream or nightmare, or just a creepy daydream and am distracted when I'm just riding around town, I would just write it down. Then, it's really cool because people get to see what's inside my brain. I just put myself - being me - in those situations. So you'll see me reacting to the circumstances that my subconscious has invented.

**You're like a dark Femme Fatale in them.**

**NK**: I told that to someone and they said "Well obviously you have a totally masochistic mind. You're chasing guys and beating people up and killing people! And I'm not really! I celebrate an adventure, whether it's a violent one or a vengeful one. Not everything is a happy one. Maybe I am  a dark person like that, but that's just how my mind works.

**Most people don't get to physically act out their fantasies in the way that you get to**.

**NK**: You're right, but I think a lot of people *do* do that, just in different ways. Like blogs. They'll take pictures on their Blackberry's all day long and then they'll upload them and you'll get to see what their eyes have seen. But I want to show you what my mind sees when my eyes are closed. I want people to see my imagination, my paranoia and my neurosis and hysteria. I want them to see the good and the bad. That's very hard to document. That's why the show is almost a fantasy.

**Explain the name Natalia Kills.**

**NK**: When I found the name Kill, I had to explain that it doesn't mean "to kill". It's in line with the phrase that means when you want to be the best at something you "kill" it. The album is called *Perfectionist* so it's all in the quest of living the dream and being the best that you can be; not to be overwhelmed by disappointment and struggle.

**You've developed this complete package and presented it to people, and so far they seem to really be responding to it.**

**NK**: When I first got signed everyone was doing that thing where's it's like: "Someone will follow you around with a camera when you go to the studio, New York, or whatever you do and we'll just upload it to Youtube and people will see the real you." I'm like "Nah!" That's not the real me, that's 'behind-the-scenes'; that's the 'production' of me.  It's like ... there's nothing exciting about seeing how Coco-Cola is made in a Coco-Cola factory. But actually drinking it out of the nice cans and bottles - that's excitement! So I want people to have that.

It's as a magician, you don't want to watch him put the rabbit in the hat and pack everything up ... you want to see him on the stage ... with the actual prestige of pulling the rabbit *out* of the hat. That's music to me. We live in the see-it-to-believe-generation so why shouldn't people see my mind? Why should they see all the mundane stuff? It's quite irrelevant. The thing that's inspirational for my music is what I'm thinking about. Not driving to the studio, being invited to an event or meeting a celebrity. That's just extra.

**It's rare that artists concentrate on the entire package and concept behind their music and persona like you. This is Micheal Jackson, Madonna, Lady Gaga ingenuity we're talking here.**

**NK**: That's such a compliment! I'm a creator. An artist. Someone who expresses and spawns emotion for other people who can't put their finger on what they're feeling so that they have a way to express their experiences. Trying to find people to work with me over the last few years and just the struggle of trying to make it in general ... it's a lonely journey. The ideas themselves come from me. I write the songs, I produce and direct the films.

**When did you decide that you weren't just going to be an actress, but a complete artist that writes, sings, produces and directs as well?**

**NK**: When you're a creative, you know you must express yourself. It's a compulsion. There's no way to escape it.  I knew I wanted to express, but then actually reading the lines and being on the stage and in front of the camera - I wasn't the creator. That's the problem with just being an actor. You get to display emotions and move people, and that's amazing, but I have to be the creator as well. I want to write the lines! I have a very distinctive personality. I'm decisive and opinionated and it's sometimes very hard to play characters that I don't relate to because I'm so set in my own mind. So for me, even though acting is something I would quite like to do in the future, actual creation is what I'm more interested in.

I'd been writing songs and I thought maybe I'll be like a play-write because I had all of this poetry. But then there's something about music. I started exploring it and after a while some of my songs have gone into films and television shows like Entourage. Even Disney films; all sorts. Obviously people are having a reaction to the way I write, maybe if I express just me through it, that would be the most complete way to express myself.

**With that, you seem to be on a bit of a trajectory. How do you feel about the enthused response you're getting?**

**NK**: It's amazing. It's gone from just me believing in me to all of these people believing in me. And then, people admiring you. Right now I'm in a position where I'm just being discovered and for people to actually be responding so observantly ... it's not only very gratifying, it's everything I've been trying to portray to people, they can actually see and understand it. Just the fact that it's something people are interested in and can relate to ... I'm really grateful. I have no idea where it's going. I'm not interested in fame, I just want to meet interesting people and have the accomplishment of people enjoying my work. It's the best feeling.

**How're you fitting into Far East Movements upcoming new album?**

**NK**: Well you know we're label mates and I love them. They're so nice and have wonderful energy and really good songs. I feature on one of their songs on their new record. We're really good friends as well.

**What are your current plans surrounding the release of your own album?**

**NK**: My first single has just gone onto iTunes and we shoot the video for it in like a week in a half.  From the 1st of October to the end of October, I'm opening for Kelis on all of her European dates. I'm so excited! And then I come back here to the East Coast and open for Robyn. I'm so excited because I've been listening to Robyn for years. Her music blows my mind! She's so emotional. I could listen to a song of hers and in three minutes I could go from crying my eyes out to punching a wall, to dancing. She's amazing!

Purchase "Mirrors" on iTunes, look for *Perfectionist* to drop early 2011 and don't forget to catch **Natalia Kills** on tour with the phenomenal **Kelis** in Europe and then with powerhouse **Robyn** here in the States. Check Natalia's official site for more details.