Released September 3, 2013
6 / 10
Favorites
Boys Don't Cry, Outta Time, Controversy
Least favorites
Watching You, Marlboro Lights, Trouble
In "Trouble", her final album under the pseudonym Natalia Kills, Teddy Sinclair is both vulnerable and aggressive. The music is energetic, reflecting her attitude towards past hardships: they happened, they've made her the way she is today, and that's that. Don't expect her to work for your pity, she's clearly not after that. Natalia Kills is deeply troubled and "Trouble" is the origin story of her inner chaos, assisted mainly by Jeff Bhasker (Kanye, Fun., Mark Ronson) and Emile Haynie (Kanye, Cudi, Lana) on production. Melodies are largely driven by electric guitars and resonating percussion, providing a cushion on which to lay Teddy's rich tone. Hiding behind a different name didn't stop Teddy from rooting her work in her painful upbringing. The narrative throughout the album is consistent but not repetitive: she builds the Natalia prototype along, opening up more and more as the tracks unfold. In Television, a fair intro to the album, she's already bleeding out little drops of an agitated household which make aspirations and dreams all the more necessary for a young girl - "Nicotine and low life dreams have never felt so warm / When your father's on the bottle / And your mother's on the floor". She chirps along to a punky and playful sound that will probably remind you of Gwen Stefani. The following tracks draw the picture of a woman hardened by her adolescence until Daddy's Girl comes up. The song opens with a 1977 sample of "Rich Girls" by American duo Hall and Oates. It operates a shift in narrative as Teddy puts herself in the shoes of her mother wishing her husband would come home from jail despite chronic abuse. The country arrangement compliments her voice but the song goes through hymn-like passages obviously tuned for radio that break its magic - and will probably remind you of Kesha, excuse the comparisons. Daddy's Girl then leads to Saturday Night, a synth-pop tune that elaborates on her adolescence. Teddy sounds unbothered as she tries to explain how she coped with her home situation. She has previously said the song was about "feeling OK when everything is not", and juxtaposes the mundane with the tragic for full effect. It makes for a good track, right before the first ballad on "Trouble". Natalia Kills is revealing more and more cracks in her strong persona. She alludes to finding refuge in drugs and brings up the struggle of self-esteem, projecting what you think people think of you onto your own perception of yourself. The song is not the most innovative but her voice ties in everything together. It would be a much better track if not for the rolling drums. Lyrics are some of the most affecting - "I give my best smile, my last dime / But I always get it wrong", "What's a girl to do when she's not strong? When everyone that holds my hand / Gets cut from all the thorns?". In spite of her dark past and cause for desperation, the music is not mournful at all. Natalia Kills' philosophy is more a 'brush it off and move on' one. Problem is a decent track with elements of garage rock that showcases this attitude pretty well (and it was the lead single of the album). Her voice is well mastered but the song is over-produced; it could do without the frat boys shouting in the background and some clapping. Stop Me picks up where Problem leaves, adding more cheekiness - "I put my high heels on so I'm closer to God" - and daring others to stop her (which later we understand could also be interpreted as 'asking' rather than 'daring'). Outta Time tells the story of a relationship gone awry to a pop country sound. It's not a sad break-up song, more a matter-of-fact acceptance that the two have run their course. If features muted synth arpeggios as its foundation (which can be heard with good headphones if you pay close attention) and strives to convey a retro feel. It's inspired by 60s girl groups, motown and pop soul and blends these inspirations remarkably well, while playing as if it was packaged as a vinyl recording with a lo-fi, scratched quality. She took a kind of hopeful nostalgia and worked it in every aspect of the track - and, as a result, Outta Time ends up being one of the stronger tracks on "Trouble". The trouble with the album is that it attempts to present a darker flavor of pop that can sometimes feel a bit gimmicky or forced, and at other times doesn't feel committed enough to its credo. The style oscillates between those two extremes and rarely lands in the right spot right in-between. Television's intro sends signals flaring about, warning of this tendency: it makes you smile and I'm not sure that was the goal. Rabbit Hole feels a bit unnecessarily trashy. Teddy seems to have gone in that direction to illustrate the previous track on "Trouble", taking the controversy schtick slightly too literally - it's one of the rare times when the cohesiveness feels inorganic. Then comes Watching You, with some of the creepiest lyrics on an anxious melody that turns into the strangest of hooks. I can't help but cringe the stalker in "If I can't have you then no one can / When you wake up I'll be here outside / Oh oh I'm watching you". It might be unfair of me to quote her back to herself, but Watching You is really "like a bad, bad dream". Conversely two tracks stand out as not taking things far enough: Stop Me and Marlboro Lights. The former feels too tame; plenty of its vocal effects don't land right with distorsions that are too subdued to be effective and megaphone tricks. The latter features some ghost-like background vocal effects that could really enhanced the track had they been more present and woven into the musical fabric more clearly. As it stands, Marlboro Lights feels all over the place despite its stripped packaging. It's somewhat unfortunate that the album ends on the note it does. The title track sounds like a wishy-washy radio-friendly version of Natalia Kills both lyric and sound wise. It's audibly catering to younger listeners and has the lamest lyrics on "Trouble" ("One, two, for your bad tattoos and / Three, four, sneaking in through my window"). I'd rather remember the impeccable pop rock combination of Boys Don't Cry or the corrosiveness of Controversy, perfectly tailored for a vogue drag show. Say what you will about "Trouble", Natalia Kills is not turning an inch in her pseudo-grave.
Favorite lyrics
"It's not cause I'm young or from a broken home Maybe I just fight cause I don't know where I belong"
Devils Don't Fly
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