Wiki
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Release Date
1 January 2011
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Length
15 tracks
Perfectionist is the debut studio album by English singer Natalia Kills. It was released on 1 April 2011 through will.i.am Music Group, Cherrytree Records, KonLive and Interscope. Despite having started out as an actress, Kills later became a rap artist and released a single in 2005; however, her label went bankrupt. Songwriting remained her principal activity until 2008, when she was signed by will.i.am and started recording the album.
Kills worked with musicians including Fernando Garibay, Jeff Bhasker, and Martin Kierszenbaum, and created a concept album based on perfectionism. Its lyrical content contains references to love, sex, and money, complemented by a sonority rooted in synthpop and dance-pop. Perfectionist received mixed reviews from music critics, who asserted that the singer's visual projects were superior to her music. Obtaining top 50 positions in some European countries, the album performed moderately on international record charts. In the United Kingdom and United States, the set attained chiefly low positions; in the latter, its sales as of September 2013 were of 14,000 copies.
The album spawned three singles—"Mirrors", "Wonderland" and "Free"—which were generally successful in Europe and were accompanied by music videos. "Mirrors" managed to peak within the top 5 of the US Hot Dance Club Songs. In association with Guillaume Doubet, Kills produced a web series titled Love, Kills xx in order to promote the album, based on her secret thoughts and desires. Comprising 10 episodes, it features Kills seeking revenge and hurting men.
Background
Kills was introduced to singing and dancing at the age of 3, and until she was 12, she studied in the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Kills initially pursued an acting career, appearing in some TV series including All About Me and The Archers; however, in her hometown of Leeds, she developed an interest in hip hop music. She subsequently entered various rap battles, for which she started writing lyrics, and in 2003, Kills won a BBC Radio 1-sponsored "MC Battle". From there on, she began writing songs for artists and film soundtracks. Kills released her first single on 21 February 2005, titled "Don't Play Nice", under the moniker Verbalicious and with label All Around the World; it peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. She was also recording for her debut studio album, then-scheduled for an Easter 2006 release. However, the label entered bankruptcy, causing her record deal to be dissolved and the album shelved. Kills continued to work in the music industry, mainly as a songwriter with the alias of Verbz. In 2007, she relocated to Los Angeles; the next year, she lent guest vocals to French artist M. Pokora's song "They Talk Shit About Me", and changed her stage name to Natalia Cappuccini, under which she self-released an extended play (EP) titled Wommannequin.
One of Kills' demos, "Shopaholic", was remixed by the Remix Artist Collective. After it was posted in American blogger Perez Hilton's blog, Kills' MySpace received a high amount of views, and she reached the top of the social network's unsigned artists chart. While shopping, she was noticed by a man due to her clothing, and gave him her website address; he subsequently introduced her to a DJ, who took Kills to the American musician will.i.am's house. In November 2008, she signed a contract with the latter's record label, then an imprint of Interscope.
Composition
Perfectionist is a concept album which focusses on how perfectionism influences Kills. "All the songs revolve around my ambition, celebrations, frustration and disappointments of being a perfectionist", she stated. "I think we're all perfectionists – we're all looking for the best to fulfil our ideologies and dreams. Kills was also inspired by "women's obsession" with fashion in general. She described the album's sound as "dark pop" due to its "opinionated" and "confrontational" lyrics which, according to her, differ from mainstream music. The lyrical content is occasionally comical and uses metaphors frequently.
Perfectionist is a dance-pop and synthpop album, characterised by "driving rhythm sections and edgy minor-key melodies". Its opening track, "Perfection", runs for thirty seconds and sees a "robotic-sounding" therapist listing Kills' flaws. "Wonderland", which fantasises about romance and a relationship's "perfect ending", includes synthesizer arrangements and choir sections; the line "Take me to wonderland" is repeated throughout the song. A track including a bassline, piano, club beats and synths, "Free" samples "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush. It was written by Kills when she worked as a waitress, and discusses "bailing on a budget". "Break You Hard" is an industrial pop song with "hypnotic rhythms", which talks about "breaking a lover", while "Zombie" incorporates electronic organs and "mumbling bass" in an electronic R&B sound.
"Love Is a Suicide" follows, detailing the "self-destruction" that comes with love, as Kills sings, "It's so surgical, how you dissect every mistake I make, you’re like an animal, you bite me hard". "Disco-pop" track "Mirrors" references sadomasochist sexual practices, while portraying Kills with a dominatrix-like persona; it contains electric guitars, and a bassline which Robert Copsey from Digital Spy compared to that of Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)". The song's chorus features Kills singing in a falsetto note. Writing for Consequence of Sound, Alex Young opined that the song discusses "the duplicity of identity, hubris, and objectification". "Not In Love" is styled in electronica and influenced by acid house. AllMusic writer Jon O'Brien wrote that it "provides a welcome respite from the album's constant floor-filling leanings".
On "Acid Annie", Kills plots a revenge on an ex-boyfriend, while on the synthpop track "Superficial", she confronts her "consumptive impulses" and appreciation of "finer things. "Broke" sees Kills talking about money; "Nothing Lasts Forever" is a duet with Bhasker, who performs under the alias of Billy Kraven. It was noted by O'Connor for its prominent use of Auto-Tune. Perfectionist closes with "If I Was God", in which Kills asks her partner if he would love her if she was poor. For musicOMH, Blair Kelly likened its chorus' melody to that of Bush's "Running Up That Hill".
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