Welcome Back... Natalia Kills

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.

Little Boots | Hands

Victoria Hesketh, the 25-year-old singer behind the pseudonym Little Boots, has had a momentous first few months in the music business. After working with Lady Gaga’s producer RedOne on Remedy, (this was before Just Dance came anywhere near British ears), being voted #1 in the BBC's Sound Of 2009 poll and collaborating with her childhood idol Philip Oakey of Human League on Symmetry, you would be forgiven for expecting an immense album of intelligent, retro-futuristic electropop. Unfortunately, the futuristic side of things ends with the cover design, but the retrospective leanings of Hands stand firm with a handful of possible Kylie Minogue leftovers.

Stuck On Repeat, the focal point of her EP from earlier this year, bucks the trend of the 80s revival occurring on the majority of the album by sounding very 90s dance and wouldn't have been out of place during the Kylie’s moody Confide In Me era. 

Elsewhere, Tune Into My Heart, (the title, theme and chorus of which are laughably twee), could easily have been snatched from Kylie circa Stock Aitken & Waterman, whilst Hearts Collide, the only track to warrant attention in the 2nd half of the album, at last utilises Hesketh’s forgivably plain vocals in a seductive song that mirrors the sultry Australian pop poppet of recent years.

That’s not to say that Hands doesn't have its more original moments. Debut single proper New In Town opens with a startling melody of stop-starting synths, as does the next track, Earthquake, with its bittersweet lyrics and euphorically melancholy chorus.

Remedy, the planned second single, is a triumphant romp that will undoubtedly be a club smash, and this, or even the sophisticated Click, could have won us this year’s Eurovision.

Little Boots is clearly unafraid of a good batch of cheesy pop, and although her credibility as an artist rises with the knowledge that she co-wrote most of the album, it’s no use being a singer-songwriter with average vocals and average lyrics. For instance on Symmetry, the clichéd opening line is – "You’re the night to my day, and the left to my right", sung without a hint of irony, as Hesketh’s authentic performance throughout confirms.

Yet, even if her lyrics lack depth, her tunes certainly don’t. Intriguing and inventive, it’s a shame that some of her more adventurous arrangements are wasted on songs sang, at times, almost half-heartedly, such as on filler tracks Meddle and Ghost. Unfortunately, the only time the full power of Hesketh’s voice is showcased is on hidden title track Hands, but here she has gone into Kate Bush mode with only a piano as a backdrop. (Note too that her stutter-singing is remarkably similar to that of Kate Nash on Skeleton Song, a track from her own debut, Made Of Bricks).

Relying too heavily on metaphors for Mathematics and closer No Brakes, (in which love is compared to driving a car, ladies and gentlemen), Little Boots assumes that naive persona of young Kylie Minogue singing I Should Be So Lucky with the carelessness of newfound fame. Whether Hesketh’s own fame will last as long as her counterpart’s remains to be seen, but for now it’s clear that Hands is a half-good album at best that, in full, doesn’t quite deserve the status of being Stuck On Repeat.

Lady Gaga | Poker Face

Just Dance mark II arrives with Lady Gaga's debut single still stuck in our minds. The tribal 'mum-mum-mum-ma's are attention-grabbing, and will never be removed from your mind, but the rest of the song is rather unremarkable. The line 'I'm just bluffing with my muffin' in the bridge should provide a few giggles, but Poker Face is just too repetitive to be anything more than mildly amusing. 3/5.

Ladyhawke | Paris Is Burning

Despite being hailed by many as one of the best newcomers of 2008, New Zealander Ladyhawke, aka Phillipa Brown, is still struggling to shift copies of her eponymous debut set. The reason why is clear - The Hawke's pastiche of 80's music draws its influences from some of the worst candidates, such as Ghostbusters hit-maker Ray Parker Jr. on her last single Dusk 'Til Dawn. In attempt to be the best straggler of 2009, she re-releases a Blondie-esque single from last July, Paris Is Burning. It's no doubt her catchiest tune to date, but that's not saying much. It's still the aural equivalent of tepid tea, and in a music world dominated by another Lady (Lady Gaga, to be precise), it's unlikely that this will save her album from the bargain bins.