Natalia Kills - Perfectionist, a review

Copycat accusations are thrown around a little too liberally nowadays. Most of all by pop fans, whose endless range of starlets and generally replaceable drones can be seen to be heathens for simply borrowing something as trivial as a black and white tint to a music video. However with Natalia Kills, a British singer ready to burst onto the world scene with her debut album, there's something a little more weighty behind the tag "GaGa rip-off". It's all there, and it's not exactly unjust - her voice has the same twang, she has the same producer behind songs The Fame, Eh Eh and Starstruck, the same outlandish outfits, the same genre music, the same taking-herself-seriously-by-acting-like-a-wanker-in-interviews shtick, and it's all a little bit embarrassing.

But I'll try my best to overlook the comparisons. She made a brief journey onto the pop scene in 2005 under the alias Verbalicious, with a single called 'Don't Play Nice' that I personally love, but she's now virtually unrecognisable as Natalia Kills. Perfectionist opens with a 30 second diagnosis in a vague attempt to try and build interest about Kills, as if her strive for perfection is a burden, before we're treated with 'Wonderland' and if you're questioning my GaGa allusions after this track then frankly you need a to see a doctor yourself. There's something refreshing about the track in that it reminds us of early GaGa, before she became all self-righteous and obsessed with being the gays' voice - it's a pretty catchy tune and is sure to pick up plenty fans with its universal dance appeal; the bridge before the chorus being a particular highlight. The same obsession with glamour, freedom and materialism is dabbled with in 'Free', a pretty unimaginative cast-off that lacks any real hook unless you want to be a fan.


With the ambitious opening of "I'm about to break you" with shattered glass effects, 'Break You Hard' is a pretty ballsy effort that slightly comes undone at the chorus, which could really do with some diversity in the lyrics. Nevertheless, the production is slick and it's more than likely going to be a grower. Deadly synths signal 'Zombie's arrival before descending into a disappointing orgy of autotune and boring beats just asking to be shot in the head.

There's further GaGa in 'Love Is A Suicide', from the fatal/love lyricism to the almost hypnotically overbearing synth-pop but it all just...works. It's a pretty nifty tune. Rated R era Rihanna is thrown at us with 'Mirrors', with its mentions of sadomasochism and guns and similar twangs to her voice - and in fact it can't really be overlooked. To be this blatant a carbon copy of such already massive popstars is just shameful - and the fact there's been so much production put into this track (with the slight overlook of putting in a tune) is shameless.

Even the moniker "Cherry Cherry Kills Kills", a play of words on GaGa's "Cherry Cherry Boom Boom", introduces 'Not In Love', and you have to concede that she's probably aware of the comparisons - but this isn't an excuse. It'd be pretty fucking rich for me to get up stage with an Aladdin Sane face stripe and then start singing "Is there life on Jupiter?", and one should have more ambition than playfully ripping off your contemporaries. The track itself is a whole barrage of shit, although my judgment might be swayed by a newfound hopelessness. Even the 911 call to introduce 'Acid Annie' is a nod to Lovegame. Oh fuck this all.


Fuck you, Natalia Kills. Fuck right off. Because whilst there are undeniable catchy moments on this 'Perfection' there's a severe lack of personality. I don't even know who this girl is - and whether or not the fans will come with excuses like "The management made her this way!" or "she was born this way!" - that doesn't change the overwhelming lack of individuality about this record. It's all very well putting out Just Dance and Paparazzi rip-offs because they're very much the perfect pop records at the moment, but if you were to listen to this record you would be absolutely clueless as to who this girl is.

'Broke' is a step into unfamiliar territory that's a little welcome respite, with some cute allusions of heartbreak to poverty, whilst 'Heaven' is all sugary sweet comedowns that aren't particularly interesting. The GaGa tribute returns in 'Nothing Lasts Forever', an almost demonic series of distortion and synths I can only imagine are the electronic representation of malaria, but it all worryingly works - it's annoyingly catchy. And we finally reach 'If I Was God', complete with church organ intro to round off the sanctimony, and a pretty way to round off the album but it's still only average at best.

Rating: 2.5/10
Highlights: the ones that sound like GaGa (Wonderland, Love Is A Suicide, Break You Hard, Nothing Lasts Forever); Broke
Avoid: the ones that sound like something GaGa would have told to fuck off (Zombie, Not In Love, Perfection, Acid Annie)