Yorkshire's finest Natalia Kills' comeback single Controversy could not have been a better way to describe her career to date. After reinventing herself from TV show starlet and one-time rapper to so-called "darkpop" trendsetter, via allegations of being a budget Lady Gaga, her new alter ego came not without its fair share of criticism.
Despite support from big names such as Akon (producer on her "first" single Mirrors), and will.i.am (her mentor, and collaborator on Free), Kills - real name Natalia Cappuccini - became pop's newest laughing stock. Having moved to the States and adopted a faux American accent a la Joss Stone, her debut album Perfectionist flopped in the US and didn't even chart in her homeland.
Full of references to death, beauty and dollars, the plot wore thin quickly as it was a set full of as much filler as killer. Still, she had her online fanbase to fall back on, and what better way to hit back at your critics than by returning with a song that "isn't a song"?
That's right. When asked in an interview about what inspired Controversy, she replied: "It's not exactly a song... more of a list of everything fucked up with our generation... nothing is shocking or controversial any more". Well, she summed up her new single immaculately - it's neither shocking nor controversial, but without any of the mischievousness that makes similarly scathing Marina & The Diamonds so appealing.
Notwithstanding such desperate attempts at catching the zeitgeist, her delivery of The List is just too similar to Janelle Monae's Many Moons breakdown. Also - who gives a monkeys about the Kool-Aid? What is this, ghetto Alice In Wonderland?
Speaking of ghetto, there's also a whiff of the Lana Del Reys about her in that she also has a dubious, Verbalicious past. The problem here is that it's the only time she's come close to getting a hit (Don't Play Nice, #11 GB).
However, whilst Lana has been a Europe-wide smash, regardless of her insistence on being portrayed as a a poor little rich girl who grew up to be the "gangster Nancy Sinatra", Cappuccino has only had mild success in Germany and Austria.
It's no surprise, then, that newly-leaked track Problem apparently samples the distinctive hollers that pop up in many of Lana Del Rey's offerings.
It all reminds me of when Lady Gaga first came out, and she referred to her sound as "pop music that's meant for the Louvre". While it's just as arrogant a comment to make, the difference is that Gags has shown to have both mouth and trousers by having hit after hit.
It's hard to say who Natalia is trying to be, but whoever it is, it doesn't seem to be herself. Brits don't like popstars who jump ship, and Americans are loving British acts right now - so why she keeps up the accent is a mystery.
Besides, this is the sort of music anyone could be making, and unless she pulls an identity out of the bag (or at least something more like Wonderland), she'll be adding her own career to that pathetic list of hers. Her 2nd album, Trouble, is due out later this year.
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