Sigh.

Cherry Tree or whatever that record label are called, must have been convinced that when they launched Lady GaGa, they could easily do it again. I mean after all, a little competition is healthy, right? And every major female popstar has had contemporaries who reached her stratosphere and enacted vaguely parallel career paths. Madonna had Cyndi, Tiffany had Debbie Gibson, Britney had Xtina, so Germanotta should have a pop frenemy right? Someone who could at least replicate her success in the early days, even if she (or they both) fell by the wayside later on.

That was us imagining that Cherry Tree Records have a soul. If we turn our cynical dial up, we imagine they just wanted to make more money and signing a 'quirky chick' who made melodic euro dance pop and made high budget videos full of outré (for the pop world at least) references just seemed like good business sense. It couldn't fail, right?

Something struck us whilst one of Natalia Kills' songs came on shuffle the other day. The song in question was "Break You Hard", which isn't going to change your life, but is an enjoyable, frivolous little pop ditty anyway. Suddenly we forgot what we were listening to and for a split second thought it was "Paparazzi" by that other lady. How far, exactly, had Cherry Tree taken this whole thing? Maybe none of it is intentional. Maybe Natalia Kills is a visionary genius who's just been unlucky with the comparisons. Maybe not.

We've discussed this sort of thing before, but Natalia Kills seems like she only would have existed in a post-Germanotta world. And even though we've gone off Ms. GaGa so much that we don't even wanna see her next tour (especially if it has a cringe-inducing hackneyed and forced plot like the last one) she has blazed a trail for a new era in female popdom and Ms. Kills feels like a product of that.

Anyway, Cherry Tree must be scratching their heads and wondering why the whole Natalia thing hasn't taken off, worldwide. "Mirrors" is a mighty pop song, right? Certainly as catchy as "Just Dance". And "Wonderland" is as mad and euphoric as "Poker Face", even though they don't sound anything alike, they are similar quality-wise, surely? So why the flops?

It probably has something to do with a lack of charisma. This video is all good and 90s. We like the 90s. We like 90s-styled stuff. But Kills lets the styling wear her, instead of the other way round and instead of commanding the video, simply inhabits it. Also: a song like this needs at least the most cursory of dance routines, but nothing happens in this except a bit of posing and casual flailing. Is this really the song that will make Natalia a star and household name, or will that never happen?