We've been long due for a steady torrent of Gaga copyists and the first gush is here. . .sort of. At first face, Natalia Kills seems like she might be trying to ride this gravy train. For example, "Break You Hard" sounds painfully Gaga albeit with more soul.
This slightly more r&b bent of Kills music does help distinguish her, to a degree. For example, it would be hard to confuse "Love is a Suicide" with Gaga as far as music goes but again, there is something that is reminiscent. The recurrent themes of blood, violence, and darkness have gotten popular for a lot of pop princesses but it seems like Gaga has a veritable trademark on them.
It's no longer that ironic for a pop diva to be "dark". Even though she was certainly not the first, Gaga used this method while it was still relatively fresh. When Gaga started it was quasi-edgy to be morbid as a reaction to fluffy, pink, pop divas like Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson. Kills is just starting her career with this dark diva persona even though it's been done to death over the past three years. Maybe it's just bad timing rather than lack of originality but songs like "Love is a Suicide" make me groan a bit.
The non-Gaga tracks succeed well enough as standard, radio-friendly, pop. "Broke" and "Wonderland" show she's got her own style. It will be hard to judge exactly what is going on until her sophomore release.
Grade: C-
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