Perfection takes time.

It was over two years ago–back in December of ’09–that I first wrote about “Zombie,” the lead buzz single from Cherrytree Records’ mysterious new signee. Now, the moment has finally arrived this week for Natalia Kills with the release of her debut album on August 16: Perfectionist.

Last night, my faithful blog bestie Jon (of Jon Ali’s Blog) along with the raddest Miss Hannah (Sheena Beaston) met up on the rooftop of Atlas New York to fete the release of Kills’ debut as part of the Open Air Atlas Concert Series.

As we schmoozed for a bit and…err, familiarized ourselves with the open bar, a crowd quickly drew together on the far side of the rooftop near a tiny stage set directly in front of the Empire State Building. (Gorgeous backdrop!)

The speakers soon died down as a man took to the stage: None other than Cherrytree’s own Martin “Cherry Cherry Boom Boom” Kierszenbaum! After a brief spoken introduction, Kierzenbaum welcomed the lovely Miss Natalia Kills–zipped up tight in a simple black dress and crowned with a tightly bound sky-high top bun–to the stage. The singer quickly tore into a gorgeous acoustic set from Perfectionist, including “Kill My Boyfriend,” “Wonderland,” “Love Is A Suicide,” “Free,” and “Mirrors” (which you can now watch below).

Kills’ vocals were absolutely on fire last night (killer, even…DO YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE?!) as she flawlessly delivered almost half of her debut album–making playful quips every step of the way–before finally heading offstage for the night.

After a bit more flitting about the rooftop and a few more return trips to the still-open bar (that green tea vodka lemonade drink was to die for! Don’t worry, I made sure to have enough on behalf of all you Muusers!), Jon and I headed downstairs to catch up with Kills once again.

We spoke to Kills for a bit about the album, the release party and her birthday celebrations (She got a guitar! But she doesn’t know how to play it yet.) As always, she was entirely sweet and gracious, entirely overcome with joy that her record was finally available worldwide. I couldn’t be happier for her!

A little later in the evening, a few of Kills’ team members quietly snuck away and returned with a giant birthday cake, complete with the words “Happy Birthday Kills!” and a massive axe made of frosting. The tiny singer, clearly flabbergasted, sweetly wished that everyone in the room would someday see their dreams come true as hers did last night as she blew out the candles.

And then, brandishing a knife, the murderous mistress made quick work of the delicious red velvet cake. Quite a pro with a blade, that one!

But the cake wasn’t the only sweet surprise of the night: Since its release yesterday, Kills’ Perfectionist has been floating within the Top 15 of the iTunes Albums chart. Could we see a Billboard Top 200 debut next week? I think so! A much deserved birthday present, indeed.

Thanks to the lovely Alexandra of High Rise PR, Martin Kierszenbaum of Cherrytree Records, Atlas New York and, of course, Miss Natalia Kills for a truly magnificent evening out!

Perfectionist was released on August 16. (iTunes)

Back in December, Natalia Kills–one of MuuMuse’s favorite femme fatales–visited the Cherrytree House to perform a gorgeous acoustic version of her debut single, “Mirrors.”

Apart from positively gagging over Kills’ gorgeous vocal delivery during the performance, I became obsessed with snagging a copy of the “Mirrors” sheet music to learn the piano version of the song for myself.

And so I asked, and Mr. Cherry Cherry Boom Boom himself–Cherrytree Records founder Martin Kierszenbaum, responded with a complete transcription of the sheet music for “Mirrors.” Amazing, right? Thank you, Martin!

But now, Miss Kills has bigger plans for the sheet music–and it involves MuuMuse!

MuuMuse and Cherrytree Records Present:
The Natalia Kills “Mirrors” Sheet Music Competition!

From Cherrytree’s official website:

You and your friends can film yourselves performing Mirrors (Cherrytree House Acoustic Version) using the sheet music provided (download here.)

The deadline for submissions is 8th April and Natalia Kills will personally choose the winning entry. The lucky winner will get to chat one-on-one with Natalia Kills through an exclusive Skype session and will also receive a signed copy of the Mirrors (Cherrytree House Acoustic Version) sheet music.

There will also be one runner up who will receive a signed copy of the Mirrors (Cherrytree House Acoustic Version) sheet music. The lucky runner up will be chosen by our friends over at MuuMuse.com.

You can submit your videos below as a YouTube embed or you can upload your video to Cherrytree Records (Click Here) and embed the player.

Winners will be announced after 8th April. The winning Rec’er must have a Skype account with webcam and microphone.

So there you have it: Not only will the entry I choose win a signed copy of the sheet music, but a shiny new picture disc vinyl copy of “Zombie” too! Doesn’t that just chill your blood with delight?!

So go on and grab your piano, your guitar, or perhaps even your bone-crafted xylophone and get cracking. I can’t wait to see all of the entries!

In the meantime, I’m off to go practice this myself…and the mirror’s gonna fog tonight!

GOOD LUCK!

“Mirrors (Live At The Cherrytree House)” was released on March 1. (iTunes)

Oh my God.

Here is my darling, the unstoppable Miss Natalia Kills singing a gorgeous, acoustic rendition of her debut single “Mirrors” live at the Cherrytree House (with Cherrytree Records president Martin ‘Cherry Cherry Boom Boom’ Kierszenbaum on the piano, no less!)

I knew this was going to be good…but I wasn’t prepared for it to be this good. We’ve never heard her sing like this before!

Stripping away the heavy synthesizers and vocoders for a hot second, we discover that Kills comes equipped with a devastatingly fragile, yet reliably strong set of pipes. Who knew I could become even more of a fan?

For both Kills fans and detractors alike, this is the must-see video that proves Kills has got more than just a bloody dagger hidden under her sleeve. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Now bring on the album!

The Perfectionist will be released in March. (iTunes)

PS: Have you read my interview(s) with Natalia Kills yet? Check them both out! Plus, read the MuuMuse review of Natalia’s performance at the PopJustice/High Rise CMJ Showcase in October.

PPS: I want that sheet music, Martin!

How can you become the best at anything? The way you do it is you just try to kill it every time.

Natalia Kills is a very new kind of radio killer.

Starting with the release of her murderously good buzz single at the end of 2009, “Zombie,” the soon-to-be superstar began capturing new fans left and right with her noir-gone-glam style and urban-meets-dance sound, immediately awarding herself the title of “Most Anticipated of 2010″ here at MuuMuse.

Now, with her self-produced, self-directed “Love, Kills XX” web series (check out the fifth installment, which just premiered yesterday), the singer has prepared herself a unique platform to introduce herself, her creative vision, and her music to the world.

As one of Cherrytree/Interscope’s newest artists on the brink of debut (with an album to be released in the fall), Kills was nice enough to chat with me on the phone last Friday about her background, as well as providing plenty of hints for what’s to come.

Check out our full conversation below to learn more about Natalia’s influences, ambitions, and plans for world domination. And yes–she’s deadly serious about all of it.

Hey Natalia! How are you?

I’m fine, thank you. How are you?

I’m doing great. You’ll have to forgive me. I’m getting over a bit of a cold, so my throat’s kind of scratchy today.

No problem! I hope you feel better.

Oh, thank you! So, you are, of course a very new artist under Cherrytree. I was wondering how you ended up under the label?

Actually, it was quite a while ago. Basically, I’m from England and I made a demo and put it on the internet in 2008. Perez Hilton blogged about me and I got all of this buzz. One of my songs got two million plays in a very short period of time. So, I went to L.A. and had kind of been going for a while hoping to make some contacts and follow my dreams–you know how a lot of people go to Hollywood to make it and such. So I went back to L.A. and I met a lot of people, but it wasn’t that hard to know if you go with Will [Will.I.Am].

I met with labels and a lot of other producers and artists: Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and just many people that had a really creative connection with Will. He signed me to Interscope. He has a label at Interscope and one of the labels I had actually met with that I was very excited about was Cherrytree at Interscope. So, once I signed with Will to Interscope, he has a really good relationship with Martin Kieszenbaum, who runs Cherrytree and is the head A&R of Interscope International and we kind of navigated my project back to there while Will was on the road with the Black Eyed Peas

Would you say that the image or narrative that you’re projecting right now is something that you started out with when you were searching for labels–the whole persona of Natalia Kills?

No, it’s definitely been an evolution. It’s definitely been a growing process. When I made my demo, it was actually called Wommanequin. It was under my real name, Natalia Cappuccini, and the whole thing was about searching for perfection. Being a girl; a mannequin being the perfect female form as a woman. So, I definitely started with the idea. My album is called Perfectionist. It’s literally the next step up from that demo; that idea. So, that idea hasn’t changed.

Developing who I am and making it more obvious was the first thing I was really encouraged to do once I was signed. You know, “Black Eyed Peas”–it says something. It’s a group. There are groups out there like The Knife, and certain words are very easy and invoke a certain feeling so that fans immediately identify. I thought to myself, in this quest for perfection and this great life and everything, “What do I want to do? How can you become the best at anything?” The way you do it is you just try to kill it every time. So, the label said “Maybe that’s what your name should be,” and I stuck with Natalia Kills.

I can see all of the influence that channel into the image because you have a sort of Tumblr style website with different pictures and quotes that inspire you and there’s of course the “Love, Kills XX” series. What sort of influences or references inspired the series?

I’ll give you a really small background of how I got into the film making. Basically, before I decided to do music, when I was quite a bit younger I was 14, I was doing a lot of acting. And you know a lot of creative people slide in and out of music, acting, and theater because it’s all a kind of system of being an expressionist. You have to express. You have to perform. So, I was doing that before I realized that music was what I really wanted to pursue.

I was on all of these sets learning lines and seeing how it was really done for years, and I have learned to a certain degree how it works. You write the script, you write the characters, you find locations, you find a director, you find a producer. and you make the show. So, when I was actually signed to the label they said “Look, I know you’re into all of this [Alfred] Hitchcock, [Stanley] Kubrick sort of stuff. But how are you going to translate that to people? What you need to do is be on the internet and make a diary or talk to the camera while going to the studio.” And I said that was silly to me, because I didn’t really want to be talking to the camera like “Yo, guys! I’m in the studio!” That’s not who I am. That’s not what I like.

So, I said “Well, how about the fans really get to know me through film?” They get to see me being me, but in almost imaginary and extraordinary situations. I’m writing, producing and co-directing it, so really, they’re getting a full-on take of my imagination, and that’s how they get to know me. Not just by seeing this Natalia Kills running around being a femme fatale maniac. They also get to see exactly what I think about, exactly how I feel by me writing all of this and actually directing it and making it real.

So, that’s kind of the general idea of the show, and we’re going to have twenty episodes. I’ve done most of them, but obviously you have to wait until they come out once a week. I’m very glad people are responding to it because it basically brings a very direct and visual impact to show people what it’s about instead of just pictures and interviews or whatever. It’s a different level of entertainment.

Are they leading up to something? Will there be a single or album release when they’re all said and done?

Yes, absolutely. We finished the album and it’s been wonderful. The single will hopefully be going on air in the summer and building from there.

Oh, good! Because you released two buzz singles..

Well, it’s funny. They were really buzz singles. “Zombie” was the first song I even recorded for the record, but I do have a first official uptempo–could be played radio; could be played pop single.

I’m so creative that it’s hard for me to hold back and make people wait for so long, so it was really good that the label allowed me to officially leak a couple of the songs so that people could get a really good feeling. The first single won’t be either of those songs, but definitely in the same vein. Same sound, same style.

You also gave a little preview in the latest series of another song..

Yep, and that will continue to happen, actually. That will keep happening, but if it was up to me, I would want my music to go out into the world and want people to hear it. I would be playing full versions, but I definitely have to leave a bit of mystery so when people get the album there are surprises on it.

Who have you worked with on the album besides Will.I.Am?

I’ve worked with really incredible producers. I’ve worked with Jeff Bhasker. He’s done work on Kanye West’s last two records and the one that’s coming up. Alicia Keys and Jay-Z’s albums as well. He did “Zombie” and is very rhythmic, dark and creative. It’s a lot of fun.

I’ve worked with Akon, who is a wonderful person. I was kind of wondering how he’d be before I met him because I had no idea, and you see people all over TV and they have a certain sound of music. But, when I met him he was very intelligent and creative. I totally understand why he and Will.I.Am. have achieved the level of success that they have because they’re really, really, really good.

I’ve worked with Fernando Garibay and Cherry Cherry Boom Boom [Martin Kierszenbaum] who have worked with Lady Gaga on her new album that no one has heard. She’s working on it right now.

I’ve worked with Ron Feemster who worked with Dr. Dre for five years and Michael Jackson for four years. He was Michael Jackson’s protégé. Michael’s new album that no one has heard (and probably won’t hear now) was all done with Ron. He was looking for a new artist and project after the passing of Michael, and it was really wonderful to work with him. He’s phenomenal, and I believe he could probably change the world with his music. He’s excellent.

That’s a great mix of producers. It sounds like some different sounds all in one..

Yeah, but you know what? The best thing was I got into the studio with Jeff and he started playing away. I do this thing were I choose all the sounds, so we’re kind of musically creating the actual music together. Once we found the sound and all of the different synths and rhythms and stuff, I went to all of the other producers and said “The songs we make have to marry this. They have to out-do it, they have to undo it, they have to re-do it, they have to all be absolutely consistent.”

So, even though I’ve worked with a couple of people on my album, all of those sounds and all of those ideas are absolutely consistent and flowing one after the other. It doesn’t sound like a patchwork of different sound, one in pop, one in hip-hop, one is urban or whatever. It actually sounds almost like the same person might have done every song, but just taking it to another level.

Do you know at all when it will be released?

Yes. In fall, my album will be released while we’re still growing the first single over the summer. I’m very excited for my album to come out. I am.

A lot of my readers were tweeting “When does new music come out?! Finally!”

Yeah, I know! I really want everyone to hear the music! At least the through the webisodes I can kind of leak little snippets so that people are already familiar.

Final question: A lot of artists in the industry are being compared to the same artist: Lady Gaga. What would you say to critics who may try to compare you to Gaga?

I would say thank you for comparing me to someone creative and talented, and not somebody who relies on other people or other sides of the industry to manufacture who they are. That’s what I would say. Thank you very much.

Good answer!

Thank you! Feel better!

Thanks!

Bye.

Bye.

Special thanks to RJ Kozain for transcription assistance.

Click here to visit Natalia Kills’ official website. To hear more, click here to preview and purchase songs from Natalia Kills on iTunes.

If last year’s theme was the circus, this year’s is truly the freakshow.

Meet Natalia Kills, a new artist preparing for her debut under the hit-making machine better known as Cherry Tree Records (as well as a co-sign under Will.i.Am‘s label.)

Grabbing an intentionally Autotuned vocal cue from label mate Lady Gaga and an aesthetic note from classic noir (and subsequently, Rihanna‘s latest output), Natalia Kills’ “Zombie” is a killer visual and aural debut by any and all definition.

The track simply bleeds from the speakers with electric, spine-tingling potential. Just try and resist the militant, robotic beat and the icy chorus: “I’m in love with a zombie boy, but his heart is so cold.” Then again, it only took the first three seconds of that beat to have me hooked.

…And this isn’t even the first official single.

Along with her debut album set to be released sometime in 2010, Natalia also directs her own videos. According to a transcribed faux-conversation on her MySpace, her debut film will be released in time with her album–both of which dealing with the theme of perfectionism.

Earlier on in the conversation, Martin “Cherry Cherry Boom Boom” Kierszenbaum (head of Cherry Tree) refers to a song of hers as “Grace Jones meets Kate Bush at La Femme Nikita‘s apartment.” High praise doesn’t even begin to describe that statement.

Time will soon tell what becomes of Natalia Kills. To me, she is the artist to watch for 2010.

“Zombie” is now out on iTunes. I highly suggest you go and grab it now so that when she blows up in a few months, you can tell all your friends that you saw her coming way back in 2009–and all thanks to MuuMuse!

I’m in love with a zombie. Are you?

Purchase “Zombie” on iTunes | MySpace | Official Website