Friends, join me in heading way back to 2015, when we as a society witnessed the first case of an artist absolutely eradicating their career in a single blow. Never before has someone managed to fuck up their life so egregiously as one Natalia Kills, and it truly is a moment in history we need to talk about.
First, an introduction for those who have no idea who this pop music icon (for all the wrong reasons) is.
Natalia Kills is an artist who popped off on the scene with her 2012 album ‘Perfectionist’. Yep, that’s more than 10 whole years ago, how time flies.
She was regarded as the next big thing in pop. Tumblr loved the hell out of her, and her edginess and grit was something that automatically likened her to Lady Gaga, of all people.
Kills had this unique brand of rich girl, troublemaker, daddy’s princess who wants the world to burn that wasn’t really around at the time, and boy did everyone froth it.
Then came her 2013 album Trouble, which ironically marks the beginning of all the… well, trouble. Keep in mind that the lead singles off this album were ‘Problem’, ‘Trouble’ and ‘Controversy’. Honestly, you can’t make this shit up.
Although the songs slapped, and Kills was on an upward trajectory for herself and her career, nothing gold can stay.
In comes her stint on 2015’s New Zealand version of The X Factor, where she was joined by her husband, the rather unknown Willy Moon, Melanie Blatt from the iconic band All Saints and Stan Walker, who we all know and love.
Unfortunately, that’s where Kills decided to absolutely cook her career and then some, with this lengthy spiel about how contestant Joe Irvine was ‘copying’ her husband by uh… wearing a suit on stage. Yes, you read that correctly. Famous and notorious artist Willy Moon invented the suit.
“As an artist who respects creative integrity and intellectual property, I am disgusted at how much you’ve copied my husband,” says Natalia Kills in her rant.
“From the hair to the suit, do you not have any value or respect for originality?”
You can watch the full thing below. My favourite part is how the audience cheers at the beginning because they think she’s joking, and then realise she’s being serious.
Now for the fucked part.
Sure you may have your feelings about this moment in time, but it was six years ago now, and Kills definitely doesn’t deserve any more hate for her egregious mistakes.
After the fallout of this live TV outburst, Kills was removed from the show, and had a difficult time performing or being able to make music. She legally changed her name from Natalia Keery-Fisher to Teddy Sinclair, and with her husband began performing as the band Cruel Youth.
The repercussions of this television moment were so extreme, that she couldn’t even carry on with the name Natalia. Other celebrities have done far worse and far grosser things, and yet carry on with their fame all the same. 2015 was definitely a different time, lemme tell you.
Here’s the thing though, if you go to any Cruel Youth post these days you’ll still see swarms of hate comments under every single post. The hatred that society has for Kills is unprecedented. We’ve never seen an artist cancel themselves so hard before, and just completely vanish from the public eye, while still copping hate and finding themselves in a position of being unable to save their public image.
Truly, as someone who studied communications at uni, I could write about it forever. It’s truly a phenomenon.
I mean, just look at the comments of a random post I’ve pulled up. You can look at any post in the last six years and see the same cruel jokes and hate comments.
Anyway, respect for this moment in television, which in my eyes will always be iconic. Not only is it ridiculous and outrageous, but it’s also the first instance in entertainment of someone completely dismantling all they’ve been working for in a single night.
Godspeed Kills, may your future endeavours be fruitful.
