User:Prism/Trouble

Background and development
Kills launched her debut studio album Perfectionist in March 2011 to mixed critical reviews and similar chart performance. An electropop concept album discussing perfectionism, it was produced by musicians including Theron Feemster and Martin Kierszenbaum. Its singles charted moderately in Europe, with "Mirrors" proving to be her biggest chart success in the continent, and peaking within the top five of the US Hot Dance Club Songs. During 2011 and the following, Kills participated in other musical endeavors. She provided guest vocals for Far East Movement's song "2 Is Better" and guested on "1974" by The Knux. Kills featured on LMFAO's single "Champagne Showers", which became a mild success internationally, and collaborated with DJ Tatana on his single "You Can't Get In My Head (If You Don't Get In My Bed)". Kills confirmed in June 2012 that the development for her second album was nearing completion. Dubbing the project boisterous, she clarified that it would transition from dance and electro music, while detailing it as intimate and in-depth. The next month, she predicted to Time Out Dubai that "the world is going to think I'm a twisted human being" upon listening to the record; the magazine announced the fall of 2012 as a tentative release date for it. black magazine interview
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Writing and production
Kills began recording new material in Los Angeles in Marc. The project, released in March 2011 to mixed critical reviews,had its bulk produced by Martin "Cherry Cherry Boom Boom" Kierszenbaum and Jeff Bhasker. It yielded three singles which, similarly to their parent album, performed moderately on European charts.

Kills conceptualised the album with her problematic early life as a central theme, to offer a different perspective from what she viewed as "happy" contemporary music. She commented that, at the age of 21, she attempted to get "food and transport and opportunities" without having to go to jailwithout being arrested." Considering that retaining a confident theme to contrast was fundamental. Viewing the concept as contrasting the "happy" musical panorama, she elaborated, "My album's not for victims; it's a middle finger to right and wrong, and almost me taking stock of my life and being like here it is." The writing process was a difficult task for Kills, who found it tormenting and "reliving something I wish I never had to". She admitted, nonetheless, that it was an engaging process and equated it to a "confession". Althoughg


 * "The entire album feels very happy. It's a defiant "f**k you" to the problems. No matter how much bulls**t follows me, I'm going to carry on. The funny thing is, everyone has always said to me all my life, 'Don't let those bad thing define you. Brush it off. Think positive'. I don't want to do that - I want to do the f**king opposite. I am all of my worst memories in melodies. Every bad thing that's happened to me has defined me, has shaped, has moulded me. I'm sick of running away from things. I guess this whole album is me feeling glorified and vindicated by all the worst moments in my life."


 * "My album's not for victims; it's a middle finger to right and wrong, and almost me taking stock of my life and being like here it is." "Trouble is a whole album that's the opposite of that. You want all of my worst moments? Here you go. All the controversy, the family trouble, the mistakes I've made. "

Read more: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/interviews/a504478/natalia-kills-interview-i-thought-i-would-be-dead-by-now.html#~oL46eA9Uj0T29U#ixzz38SpkYSek Follow us: @digitalspy on Twitter | digitalspyuk on Facebook "

During an interview with Harper's Bazaar, Kills stated that she didn't identify with "happy" music due to her troubled adolescence. "I wasn't 21 and having the time of my life", she revealed. "I was trying to figure out where food and transport and opportunities were coming from without being arrested." Kills thus conceptualised the album as an ode to the feelings of "having no control", since she felt that her past problems had defined her personality. She compared the writing process for the album to a "confession", revealing that she "couldn't stop" when she began; nonetheless, she noted that confronting her past was difficult. Trouble was written by Kills, with additonal writing from Bhasker, Doubet, Sky Montique and Emile Haynie.

Music and lyrics
According to Kills, Trouble is a departure from Perfectionist. While the latter featured prominent synthpop traces, the former employs strong beats and electric guitars. Kills described its sound as "high-impact pop", and marketed the album as "wild and beautiful". Its lyrics are personal and mostly narrate her upbringing and adolescence, deviating from the themes of Kills' previous album, in which she narrated her dreams and ambitions. Christoph Büschen from Redbrick denoted Trouble's electro rock influences, and musical variety, noting that its songs range "from very electronic and edgy to dramatic, stripped-down ballads". "Darker pop" was the designation attributed by The New Zealand Herald writer Paula Yeoman to the album's music; Yeoman compared it to the works of Lana Del Rey, Lady Gaga and Gwen Stefani, whereas Matt Collar of AllMusic likened it to Stefani, Grimes and Courtney Love.

Songs
"Television" and "Rabbit Hole" contrast their foreboding thematics with upbeat production. The former, described by Romy Olutski from Harper's Bazaar as a "more alternative" song, opens with the sound of police sirens and its instrumentation contains vocoded electric guitars and percussion. The Red & Black reviewer Andrew Plaskowsky viewed it as an "introduction" to Trouble, and highlighted its lyrics "Hello mister officer / we're just having fun / you can take the handcuffs off / I promise we won't run". "Rabbit Hole" contains explicit references to recreational drugs and sexual intercourse, comparing falling in love to "falling down a rabbit hole". "Problem" emulates garage rock and pop rock; the last genre is also incorporated in Trouble's title track, which finds Kills singing in a raw and "exhausted" voice backed by "arena rock choirs".

"Daddy's Girl", which Kills deemed her favorite from the album, includes a "thumping beat" and samples "Rich Girl" by American duo Hall & Oates. Described as a "love song", it discusses her mother's support and "devotion" towards Kills' father when he was incarcerated. The new wave music-inflected "Saturday Night" is based on synthesizer arrangements. Its autobiographical lyrics discuss growing up in a house where domestic abuse occurs. The sole ballads found on the album see Kills pondering suicide—"Devils Don't Fly" and "Marlboro Lights". The latter uses only a piano to accompany Kills' sentiments relative to being abandoned by her suitor; an organ and keyboards are featured on "Devils Dont Fly". On behalf of MuchMusic, reporter Allison observed Motown influences on "Outta Time", a melancholic love song. The New York magazine journalist Kat Stoeffel compared "Controversy" to the Canadian artist Peaches. The track, in which Kills mentions controversial items, contains a rapid beat and a chorus where Kills raps "Drink the Kool-Aid / Don't drink the Kool-Aid".

Release and promotion
Trouble was released on September 3, 2013 in the United States and Canada, as a digital download. The Australian and German digital releases of the album proceeded three days later, whilst the Compact Disc version was released on September 9 for the latter country. The digital form of the record was released on that day for Czech Republic, United Kingdom, France, Spain and Italy whereas the Compact Disc of the album was available the following day in the United States. In Canada, that version was released a week later.

Release and marketing
The promotional schedule for Trouble began with the release of a music video for "Controversy". Described as a "video teaser" for the album, it was uploaded on YouTube on 14 September 2012. The album's cover art was unveiled on 30 July 2013. Handmade by Kills, it features an image of her dressed in a Prabal Gurung outfit amidst objects, such as expensive watches and champagne bottles, which function as symbols relative to Kills' early life. She told Billboard that she meant "the cover to be a real collage of all of the items and articles and moments" referenced in the album. Aside from including a photoshoot of Kills done by Doubet, the booklet of Trouble encompasses photographs of Kills as a toddler.

Kills performed various tracks from the album during an after-party which followed the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, held on 25 August 2013. Two days later, "Outta Time" was released for free on a French Polydor Records-sponsored newsletter, and on 3 September, it was offered on the American iTunes Store as a promotional single. The album was released in the United States and Canada that day, as a digital download; the date was also marked by the Glamour magazine premiere of "Boys Don't Cry". From 6 to 9 September, it was released in Australia and European countries including Germany and Spain, preceding the US and Canada release of Trouble's CD form—respectively, on 10 and 17 of that month.

Cherrytree Records organized concerts for Kills in several minor venues. She performed in nightclubs including Cosmopolitan offered a remix of "Boys Don't Cry" starting 18 October.

Singles
"Problem" was selected as the lead single from Trouble. On 12 March 2013, it was digitally released, an international release proceeded on 21 June. Allison of MuchMusic exclaimed that the song made her "excited to hear what else Natalia has in store with Trouble". Characterised by Idolator editor Sam Lansky as Kills' best song, "Saturday Night" served as the album's second single. The song, which peaked within the top 10 of the US Hot Dance Club Songs and reached number 23 on the singles chart of New Zealand, was released on 28 June. An extended play (EP) including remixes of the song was released four months later. A remix of "Trouble", produced by Kierszenbaum and featuring guest vocals from Peaches, was commissioned as the album's third single and released on 8 March 2014.

Music videos
Kills revealed in 2012 that she intended to distance herself from the creative processes of visual projects including music videos, conversely to her work during the Perfectionist era. She expressed interest in collaborating with "some genius who can project their own interpretation of me upon the world, and I'd just be the muse." Kills, however, was involved in the conception of music videos for Trouble. Guillaume Doubet directed the visuals for "Problem" and "Saturday Night", and the lyric video for "Outta Time". Kills co-directed and co-wrote the first video, released on 12 June 2013. It depicts Kills and her boyfriend, who is portrayed by Adonis Bosso, involving in illegal activities and being arrested by the police. According to the former, the video was designed as a reenactment of her early life in Hollywood, where she lived a deplorable life. The visual of "Saturday Night" was released on 15 July. Kills wrote its script and picked the actors that would play her parents on the video; she commented,

"It was really interesting because when we walked on the set and had everything figured out to film it, it did feel like I was walking back into my memory. It was the strangest thing in the world to be able to recreate it so directly and in such detail. So walking back to this place as an adult, you go through being retrospective to being submerged into the whole feeling again. That helped me make the emotion in the video more honest and real [...]"

The result sees Kills repeatedly entering a set in which her on-screen parents interact. Each time she walks through them, they are shown in contrasting moods. During the initial frames, they dine and toast happily, while in later scenes Kills' father counts money and argues with her mother, who applies blush over a bruised eye. On 14 Juea 2014, the lyric video for "Outta Time" was unveiled, featuring Kills dressed in a variety of outfits, in front of projected images. Emile Rafael served as the director of the music video for Trouble's title track. Exploring her relationship with her boyfriend as a teenager, it portrays their drug abuse and sexual involvement. Kills expounded on its inspiration, "Sometimes it feels that reality is bad—much worse than the drug that helps you escape it for a few short hours. I wanted to make an honest video that showed both my realities with all the disaster, delusion, and desire."

The album's packaging

Reception
Trouble elicited a positive response from music critics. Matt Collar of AllMusic awarded it a rating of three and a half stars out of five, characterising it as a "pantomime that artists have been trying to pull off ever since Madonna sang about a sexual experience so revelatory it gave her back her virginity". He also noted that Kills' personality, although similar to that of Pink and Lady Gaga, was "enough [...] to keep your attention". Writing in Idolator, Sam Lansky highlighted Bhasker's production, which he credited with making the album cohesive. Lansky opined that Kills had evolved as a songwriter and given legitimacy and "richness" to Trouble 's songs.

On behalf of The New Zealand Herald, Paula Yeoman stated that pop listeners "should pay attention to" the album, to which she gave a rating of three and a half out of five points. Mike Wass of Idolator chose Trouble as his favourite album of 2013, while David Byrne and Tony Peregrin for Windy City Times said the album was one of 2013's "excellent efforts". The record entered the US Billboard 200 at number 70, becoming her highest-peaking album on the chart. It opened with sales of 6,000 copies, almost half of Perfectionist's total sold copies, and left the chart the following week.

Track listing
Song credits obtained from the liner notes of Trouble.


 * Notes
 * undefined denotes a co-producer
 * undefined denotes an additional producer
 * "Daddy's Girl" contains elements and excerpts from "Rich Girl", as performed by Hall & Oates and written by Daryl Hall.

Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Trouble.


 * Jeff Bhasker – production, programming, guitar, keyboards, engineering, mixing, piano, organ, background vocals, executive production
 * Guillaume Doubet – co-production, programming
 * Natalia Kills – vocals
 * Glass John – programming, co-production
 * Pawel Sek – engineering, background vocals
 * Tony Maserati – mixing
 * Chris Tabron – mixing
 * Justin Hergett – mixing assistant
 * James Krausse – mixing assistant
 * Chris Athens – mastering
 * Emile Haynie – additional production, programming, production, keyboards
 * Mike Will – programming
 * Tyler Sam Johnson – engineering
 * Rob Suchecki – engineering
 * Jimmy Messer – guitar, engineering
 * Danielle Haim – guitar