PAPARAZZI; Natalya Denisova Pendergast
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𝄆 NATALYA PENDERGAST 𝄇
Full Name: Natalya Denisova Pendergast (Nat’s mother agreed to name her after her paternal great-grandmother, Natalie, on one condition; if they used the Russian spelling. She also followed Russian naming conventions by giving her a Patronymic, but made it Nat’s middle name.)
Nicknames: Nat (pretty much everyone), Natalie (people who aren’t paying attention, or the willfully ignorant - like some of the people on her father’s side of the family), Natasha/Tasha (her mother and some of her older relatives), Nash (the 3SE crew; based on Liam misremembering what she preferred to be called and it stuck)
đť„ž THE BASICS đť„ž Born: June 20th, 1994
Zodiac: Gemini-Cancer cusp (yikes! jk but she likes to joke about it)
Hometown: Los Angeles, California
𝄞 THE SURFACE 𝄞 Likes: discovering new music, her mother’s cooking (particularly when she cooks more traditional recipes), nostalgia trips, taking polaroids, that spooky feeling in fall, minor chords, long car trips, going unnoticed in public, floral perfumes, finally getting a new dance down, adapting covers in her own style, taking friends around the city, visiting art museums, writing, cooperative boardgames, binge-watching shows on Netflix, travel (particularly to new places), dancing, layered jewelry, making new friends, what she calls “spa days”, talking music with others
Dislikes: hearing her own music on the radio, sitting still for extended periods, the cold/fall weather (the internal conflict), when her roots get too long, biphobia, ambushes from the paparazzi, that one toenail that’s still messed up from ballet, Twitter drama, messing up on stage, couples that make out in the theater, feminism without intersectionality (because what’s the point?), remixes that make her music more “radio friendly”, damaging her clothes, being misquoted
Style: One of the things Nat’s most known for is the way she dresses. It helped having a mother who worked in styling. Not only did it give her all kinds of access, but her mother also supported Nat’s fashion antics from a young age. Her hair is, obviously, not that color naturally and her mother started helping her dye it when she was still in high school. It’s been blue since her junior year of college, the only difference is she can afford expensive salon visits to really maintain it and get creative with it now. When she started her career, it was with a similar blue/teal ombre to the one she has now. Leading up to the release of her second album, she started adding purple in. There was actually a brief phase where she went fully purple, but that proved difficult to maintain, so she’s back to the blue for now.
Fashion-wise, Nat’s known for her dark, “witchy” style. It fits her aesthetic. Lots of dark colors (mostly black), lace, and silk. She loves wearing large amounts of jewelry, dark lipstick, and heels. In her red carpet appearances, Nat tends towards long, flowing dresses with some kind of edge. Recently, Nat’s been playing up the whole “seducing the wicked and eating their souls” angle of her second album. That means more leather, spikes, and bondage-inspired elements. She’s been baring more skin and adding a harder edge to her style.
Due to her dance background, Nat will always prefer something that allows for a wider range of movement. On stage, that’s a necessity. Her most recent tour wardrobe was actually designed in collaboration with Sarah Burton and the house of McQueen.
In real life, Nat dresses much the same way, dark lipstick and all. She lives for the drama. It’s not necessarily as flashy as what she wears in public appearances, but she’s never been one to shy away from attention-grabbing outfits. Of course, she’s learning that grabbing the attention of the public also means grabbing the attention of the paps and maybe she doesn’t want that all the time.
When it comes to interior design, Nat’s still trying to figure herself out. Growing up with two creatively-inclined parents meant they kind of took over decor. She only just purchased her first apartment and is in the process of moving in. Nat’s finding that she really likes the industrial feel of her loft, as well as the open space (more room to dance around in!). So far, she’s hung up all her signed horror movie posters and installed a waterproof speaker in her shower for her early-morning jam sessions. (She’s also eventually going to turn her balcony into a mini-forest to provide a little escape from the city and give herself some privacy.)
As for everything else...Well, Nat likes it dark and spooky. Her IG feed is filled with stormy colors and imagery. She loves horror and art with dark subject matters. (Baroque and gothic are her favorite periods of art history.) She also likes playing with ambiguity and the horror of the unknown, incorporating both into her own self-mythologization.
𝄡 THE CORE 𝄡 Nat is one of those people who comes off as intimidating without meaning to. She’s tall and her personal style is intentionally off-putting. The combination of the shape of her eyebrows and naturally downturned mouth give her a serious case of RBF. While she uses this to her advantage for her stage persona, real-life Nat is almost the exact opposite of Spectrum. In fact, she makes a conscious effort to smile as often as possible so people don’t get the wrong impression. Nat’s actually very outgoing and bubbly. So much so that it circles back around and anyone who’s spent more than an hour with her is surprised by the type of music she listens to, despite what she’s wearing. She has a very expressive face, does little dances to music only she can hear, and makes the occasional funny sound effect. Really, she’s just a giant goofball.
If she’s not careful, Nat will absolutely take over a conversation. She has a big voice and easily gets carried away when talking. She’ll go off on tangents when telling stories, or ramble endlessly about topics she’s into. Sometimes she worries that she talks too much about herself, but she just likes relating funny stories because she likes making people laugh. (And maybe it’s a bit of a performing thing, too.) It’s all jokes all the time with her, which can give off the impression that she doesn’t take anything seriously. This isn’t necessarily true. Nat’s incredibly hardworking, she just needs to be in the right environment. It’s like a switch for her - she’s either 100% on or 100% off. But when it comes to serious subjects outside her work? Forget it.
There are some people who try to be quirky on purpose, but Nat’s just Like That. At least in terms of that, what you see really is what you get with her. Her way of thinking and interpreting experiences is different than most and she isn’t afraid to seem a little eccentric in the eyes of others. (Better than being seen as a mean person or a downer in her opinion.) Really, she has no shame when it comes to seeming like a weirdo. Because, well, she is.
People remark that they don’t understand how one person can be so happy all the time. In reality...she’s not. One of Nat’s biggest fears is being a burden, or leaving a negative impact on someone, so she often refuses to tell people when something’s been bothering her - particularly if they’re the one who upset her in the first place. Her “it’s fine, I can deal with it myself” attitude has landed her in a bad place on more than one occasion, but she refuses to change tact. She refuses to acknowledge negative emotions in front of others unless she can make a joke out of it. She’ll turn her complaints into comedy routines. Only when she’s really close to someone does she actually let her “weaknesses” show.
Usually, Nat fulfills the role of the “mom friend”. She’s the one who carries band-aids in her bag and will scare away fukbois at the club. This can occasionally turn from mothering into smothering. Nat has pulled multiple all-nighters after friends forgot to send “home safe” texts. Really, she’s terrified of losing another close friend - particularly in a way that she could’ve helped to prevent.
This need for control also extends to her work life. Nat’s name appears under a lot of different credits on her albums because of how involved she becomes in her own process. One time, she walked into the orchestra pit during run-throughs for an awards show in order to tune a piccolo that was off. She’s a natural leader and has a hard time stepping out of the role until she consciously recognizes what she’s doing. Nat also has a lot of causes that she feels very strongly about and can get kinda self-righteous about her views. At the same time, she hates interpersonal conflict and will run out of a conversation at lightspeed the second it looks like it’s getting heated.
𝄡 HEADCANONS 𝄡 - Nat speaks fluent Russian because it was her mother’s first language and because it’s the language most of her relatives on her mother’s side prefer. Reading Cyrillic is a different story. There was once a time where she was much better, but a stop at St. Petersburg on her most recent tour has her realizing that she’s gotten rusty
- After years of dealing with migraines, one doctor just prescribed caffeine. While it’s been working pretty great, Nat’s now a raging coffee addict. She’s also a bit of a coffee snob and likes seeking out fancy coffee places in new cities whenever she’s one tour
- Besides art, one of the things Nat’s parents bonded over was their shared love of Star Trek. They even called her nicknames like “my little tribble” while she was growing up. It comes as no surprise that Nat’s a huge sci-fi fan herself - particularly retro and/or notoriously bad movies. (Fantasy, genre fiction, and horror are also pretty high up on her list.) She’s filled with obscure nerdy references and fun facts
- There are two rituals Nat completes for good luck before any performance. One is a call-and-response game with her band and dancers. The other is knocking on the stage entrance three times
- Ever since she first started, Nat has made sure to post an “unflattering paparazzi pic of the week”. She likes to say it’s to keep herself humble, but she’ll take any opportunity to poke fun at herself
- Something Nat regularly forgets; her old YouTube channel still exists. She hasn’t touched it since spring break her senior year (senior semester didn’t give her any time to put out content). Quite a few of her videos have gotten hit with copyright strikes, or had the audio stripped. Not to fear; the fans have reposted them all multiple times. She’s also totally forgotten about her old SoundCloud account
- Nat was absolutely an internet kid growing up and loves a good meme reference. Her favorites are the really obscure, or just plain old ones. She might just be the only person to reference “all your base” in the year 2020
- Over the last few years, Nat’s become a vegetarian. A struggling vegetarian. While she’s on the road, it’s easy, but then she gets home and her mom makes matzo ball soup...
- Nat has lot of leftover habits from ballet. Nat’s natural stance is in third or fifth position and she sometimes lifts a leg out to balance herself when leaning over
- Nat swears like a sailor. As much as she hates censoring herself, she knows it’s necessary in certain situations. She also loves throwing middle fingers, but reserves those for people she’s close with who will understand that she’s only joking
- Her number one pet peeve is when people leave hair in the shower (a legit concern when on a tour bus)
- Nat’s a very touchy-feely person. Hugs, leaning her head on others, platonic hand-holding. It’s absolutely one of her love languages, but she’s that way with literally anyone. However, she’s also pretty good at gauging someone’s comfort level and is careful to never move past that
- Due to all her years in dance, Nat is still really flexible. She sits in all kinds of weird positions (“I’m queer, what do you want from me?”) and stretches when she gets bored. It’s mostly because she wants to stay limber, but part of it is def just her showing off. Her attention deficit may also play a part. She takes any kind of ledge at eye-level or higher as a challenge. One she will conquer by sticking her leg on top of it
- Nat does that thing all athletic people do where they’re always testing their physical capabilities. It’s a little like the stretching thing. She’ll start doing heel clicks if she realizes she’s in the right shoes and will jump for doorways or ceilings if she feels she can reach them
- To balance out her natural athleticism, Nat is also an unwitting harbinger of doom. It’s not that she’s clumsy, she’s just a bit of a black cat. (Or that she’s maybe a lil oblivious.) She’ll break speaker systems with a single touch, accidentally lodge drumsticks in the ceiling, lean against the only part of an unsupported railing - that sort of thing
𝄢 BIOGRAPHY 𝄢 Born and raised in sunny, sunny Los Angeles, Natalya Denisova Pendergast was always destined for the spotlight - she just thought it would be in a different field. Given her parents’ jobs, she had a pretty comfortable upbringing. She was placed in ballet lessons from the time she could walk (her mother’s family is heavily steeped in dance) and excelled in her classes. She was pre-professional by age ten, dancing for a respected company. Nat also started taking piano lessons in elementary school. At first, it was so she could gain a better understanding of the music she was dancing to. However, Nat quickly grew to love it and picked up cello a couple years later.
Unfortunately, puberty hit her like a freight train, wrecking her neck and spine. This not only spelled the end of her dance career, but caused her chronic pain for years. She was finally able to get corrective surgery when she stopped growing at nineteen, but attends physical therapy to this day to help her manage the pain. Around the same time, Nat lost one of her closest friends in a tragic accident. Nat still struggles with doubts about how accidental her death really was. To this day, she absolutely refuses to touch hard drugs.
Things quickly took a turn for the worse. Already predisposed to depression, Nat began to spiral deeper and deeper. Music quite literally saved her life. Even though she could no longer dance, she still had music. She tried getting into theatre for a bit - acting was fun and all, and she’d always been in the school choirs, but it was the chance to perform in front of crowds again that she was really after. After doing so many musicals, Nat decided to try her hand at making her own. Poetry had always been one of her biggest creative outlets. Combining the two seemed like a natural progression.
When it came time for college, Nat wanted to study music. Her parents, despite their involvement in the art world, tried to convince her out of it. After all, they’d experienced firsthand just how difficult that world could be. Nevertheless, Nat picked a college known for its art department and pursued a degree in songwriting.
During college, Nat began her YouTube channel. It was originally a way for her to upload class assignments, but then it became a place for her to put personal projects as well. She developed a small following for her creative song covers and the occasional choreographed number. Eventually, she wound up combining the two. Her subscriber count skyrocketed after she posted a dance cover of Evanescence’s “Going Under” in which she actually sang live. During her senior year of college, she was even invited as a guest at VidCon. Towards the end of senior year, Nat was approached with a recording contract from Warner Music Group. She signed two weeks before graduation and has been with them ever since.
Nat put out her first album (“An Ocean of Stars”) towards the end of 2016, but it was her song for The Shape of Water that launched her into stardom. The song was her first number one single, was nominated for “Best Original Song” at that year’s Academy Awards, and won her the Grammy for “Best New Artist”. Given the genre of music she makes, Nat never thought she would receive mainstream recognition and is still trying to process the fact that she’s “get recognized on the street” famous.
“Microfractures”, Nat’s second album, was (for the most part) written and recorded while she was still on tour for her first album. It wasn’t necessarily panned, but critical consensus seems to agree that it’s not as good as her first. As a result of the timing, her first two world tours were back-to-back and she’s spent nearly every moment since her graduation on the road.
With her second tour wrapping in December of 2019, Nat’s finally home for the first time since graduation and she feels...Worse than she has since high school. Success is a major trigger of depression after all. Combined with creative burnout and homesickness, Nat knows she’s headed for a bad place. And then the final push; Nat’s girlfriend of nearly five years just broke up with her. Nat’s terrified of where she's headed.
𝄢 IMPORTANT PEOPLE: 𝄢 FAMILY
Yelena Mikhailova Kahnovich | mother, 52 | Natasha Stefanenko
Born to Russian parents, Lena spent her childhood roaming the world. Her work as a production designer took her all over the world as a young woman, but she eventually settled in Los Angeles to be closer to her parents, who had retired to a nearby suburb. She met Dennis at an art opening and they married after two years of dating. Two years later, Nat was born. Now in her forties, Lena decided to switch to photo editing and work from home, which is why she and Nat are so close. Lena is also where Nat gets her accidentally intimidating nature from. In reality, she’s very friendly and a great storyteller. While she’s quite progressive - she’s been helping Nat dye her hair since she was fifteen and supported her all the way through her coming out - there are some aspects where she’s a bit more traditional. (Her reaction upon hearing one of Nat’s more risque songs for the first time was a comical eye-widening and a hushed, “Tasha, this is not appropriate!”) Recently recovered from a major health scare (a bone infection from a broken ankle) and typically uses a mobility aid.Dennis Pendergast | father, 54 | Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Born to a large Irish family in the suburbs of Long Island, Dennis never thought he would find himself in LA, but love is a hell of a thing. Not romantic love (though his marriage to Lena certainly kept him out west), but his love of art. The son of a CPA and a liquor store owner, his parents could never quite understand why Dennis wanted to spend every waking moment in a museum, much less a city. He originally went to school to study accounting, but quickly switched to art. After getting his MFA in art management, he took a gamble when he accepted a position at a gallery in LA. Within ten years, he’d worked his way all the way up to the Getty, where he still works to this day. Though he was always the one pushing Nat to get a more practical degree, he changed his mind when he realized he was once in her shoes and hasn’t stopped showing his support since. While Nat’s probably closer to her mother, she shares a lot of her personality with her father. Dennis was the one who instilled in her his “work hard, play hard” motto, as well as his sense of humor and love of performing. (He is, to everyone’s surprise, an actual triple threat and still does community theatre.) Nat and her father occasionally clash, but it’s mostly out of their concern for each other. He’s even more of a workaholic than her and shows no signs of retiring any time soon.FRIENDS
Claire Dufour | best friend, 23 | Jill Kortleve
Sometimes, Nat forgets to mention Claire when asked about her closest friends because she honestly thinks of Claire as something more. The Pendergasts and the Dufours were next-door-neighbors for most of their lives and both families are very close. Nat and Claire shared a sitter and were practically raised as siblings. They act like siblings too. Sure, they bicker and compete all the time, but there’s nothing Nat wouldn’t do for Claire and she knows the reverse is true as well. Claire is Nat’s other half, her ride-or-die. (She even promised to let Claire both officiate her wedding and be her maid of honor.) Like Nat, Claire is incredibly outgoing, but in a different way. The textbook definition of a Leo, Claire is usually the mastermind behind group shenanigans. At the moment, Claire is finishing up her MBA and Nat’s already anticipating the day Claire’s name appears in the Forbes “Thirty Under Thirty”.Ashley Sangsorn | close friend, 23 | Marizza Delgado
For a professional dancer, Ashley got her start late. (At the ripe old age of nine.) Her parents originally enrolled her in dance classes to get her out of the house during their messy divorce. Not only did it work, but Ashley fell in love with it and decided to pursue it into adulthood. She’d only just graduated from a local conservatory when she auditioned for Nat’s traveling dance troupe. The moment Nat danced with her, she knew they had great chemistry and immediately cast her as her partner for her now-iconic “Exit Stage Left” music video. Shortly afterwards, Ashley came out as gay herself and continues to use her platform as a LGBTQ+ activist. She and Nat have great chemistry in all aspects except romance. They have the same eccentric way of thinking, though Ashley is more of a go-with-the-flow improv comedy type. Ashley is both her co-choreographer and closest confidant on the road. However, they have yet to completely open up to each other. The de facto leader of Nat’s dance troupe when Nat isn’t there herself.Gil Soares | manager, 40 | Oscar Isaac
Nat’s hesitant to call Gil a friend, seeing as he’s her manager, but she really likes him. Her original manager was a newbie like her, but when Nat’s career took off, the higher-ups at Universal wanted her in better hands. Gil’s been in the business since Nat was in elementary school and really knows his way around. More than her old manager anyway. Plus, Gil’s just a cool dude. His policy is that you can only make it to the top by making friends, and he’s generally very friendly. However, he isn’t afraid to push Nat or even scold her when necessary. He actually reminds Nat a lot of her own father. (She may or may not have called him “dad” once, but there were no witnesses, so no one gets to know about that.)
EXES
Selena Nunez | the almost, 26 | Rosa Salazar
The woman who Nat wrote “Exit Stage Left” about. Selena was in the year above her at university and in the theatre department. They met when Nat took part in one of the school musicals and the attraction was clearly mutual. They were never officially a couple, instead hooking up and hanging out for a turbulent three months. When Nat pursued her seriously in the hopes of becoming her girlfriend, Selena pushed back. Nat was open about her sexuality by then and everyone in the musical knew they were a thing. Selena, however, wasn’t ready to come out yet and turned her down every time. Nat eventually ended things because she wanted a serious relationship and she knew Selena didn’t. They still saw each other around campus, but they weren’t really amicable after that. Nat’s never publicly disclosed who she wrote “Exit Stage Left” about, but with Selena’s star slowly rising, she wonders if it’s only a matter of time before their paths cross again.Emery Young | the artist, 27 | Oslo Grace
Emery and Nat first met through a mutual friend on campus back when Nat was a freshman. For the next couple years, they didn’t interact much outside of waving when they spotted each other across the caf. It wasn’t until they were reintroduced that their romance blossomed. Emery was a couple years out of college and working as a prop-maker production company at the time. They were also both dealing with a lot in their personal lives. Emery’s parents were in the middle of a messy divorce and Nat’s mother got sick shortly after. Nat helped them through everything and they promised Nat they could do the same. Instead, Nat withdrew and they became concerned, checking up on her all the time. This only pushed Nat farther away until she couldn’t bottle up her emotions anymore...At which point they suddenly couldn’t handle her anymore. (Is this where Nat’s fear of opening up to people stems from? Maybe so…) They were on-and-off for a bit until Nat just couldn’t deal with the nature of their relationship anymore. Looking back, Nat can’t help but feel like Emery was treating her with kid gloves while they were together, like they couldn’t reconcile her bubbly personality with all her darker innerworkings. Their relationship was the basis of Nat’s second album’s eponymous track, “Microfractures”.Remington Devereaux | the heartbreaker, 25 | Romee Strijd
The romantic in Nat likes to think the universe was trying to push her and Remy together. They first met in the lobby of the modeling agency they both happened to be signed to. And then in the elevator of their not-quite-on-campus apartment building, where it turned out they were living on the same floor. Of course, Nat was still with Emery at the time, so nothing came of it at first. It wasn’t until a Halloween party their senior year that they finally got to talking. Once they got started, they couldn’t seem to stop. Remy didn’t share all her hobbies, but her endless curiosity meant she was always willing to try things at least once. She never stopped trying to understand Nat either, and her psych studies meant that she was actually willing and had the tools to do so. Nat had never felt so comfortable with another person before. They got serious fast and even introduced each other to their parents before graduation. After college, both their careers picked up - Nat had just signed her recording contract and Remy walked her first international runway show as an exclusive for Louis Vuitton. Even though they were so busy, Nat always assumed they were fine. The breakup completely blindsided her.Comments (2) -
𝄆 SPECTRUM 𝄆
Nat originally created the name “Spectrum Music” for her YouTube channel back in 2013 as a reference to her auditory synesthesia. Sounds, particularly music, create images in her head that can best be described as Jackson Pollack-like splatter paintings. Typically, each instrument or melody is represented by a single color, which she can then isolate if she wants to focus on a single part of the instrumentation. She tends to use very full, lush instrumentation on her tracks as a way of filling her field of view with color.
When she’s on stage, Nat becomes someone else. Spectrum’s personality is almost a complete departure from her own. She’s a femme fatale; seductive and dangerous (total “pls step on me” stan twitter bait. Early on, Nat also worked to cultivate a distinct stage persona. Spectrum is...well, no one’s really sure. She might be an ageless witch, or maybe even an Eldritch deity. With each album, Nat tries to focus on a different concept for the persona. Her first album involved a lot of cosmic and ocean imagery (natch), giving it a very Lovecraftian feel. For “Microfractures”, Nat made Spectrum a morally grey, city-dwelling entity that feeds on the hearts of the wicked. In the beginning, Nat wanted to use the persona as a way to separate her public and private lives, as well as protect herself from fame. She would rarely break character while making appearances, even in interviews. However, Nat’s steadily realizing that there’s so much she wants to say, and she can’t do it disguised as someone else. She still defaults to her stage person when performing, though.
Speaking of performances, they’re what she’s known for. Nat is very comfortable on stage and loves playing to an audience. For her live shows, Nat brings back the song-and-dance routine from her YouTube channel, this time with a whole troupe behind her. (She has a dozen dancers in her group and they’ve all stuck together since the first tour. They’re also the same dancers that appear in her music videos and awards show performances.) Nat wears a wireless mic for all her performances to accommodate the dancing and she’s also her own lead choreographer, but that’s mostly out of necessity.
♪ MUSICAL STYLE ♪ Genre: Like most artists these days, Nat doesn’t ascribe to a specific genre. Her sound blends together dreamwave, alternative, chamber pop, art rock, prog, and psychedelic. She tends to favor full, lush instrumentation because it creates the prettiest pictures in her mind. Nat’s lyrics are typically complex, though critics occasionally call her “wordy” or “obfuscating”. Sometimes, she’ll even throw in a pun. Nat also prefers minor chords because they create prettier mental images. In general, Nat gravitates towards more experimental elements, like odd time signatures. Of course, those aren’t typically thought of as radio-friendly, so her singles typically adhere to standard keys and time signatures.
Vocals: It’s pretty immediately obvious that Nat’s a soprano. Her range extends way above the staff, but she struggles to hit anything below A3. She doesn’t have a whistle register, either. What she does have, however, is a powerful belt that extends pretty far into her full range. Nat prides herself on her breath control, which helps when she’s doing all that dancing on stage. (Another reason she’s so involved in choreo is because she’s the most familiar with which parts of the song she needs to save her breath for.) Tonally, Nat’s voice is both sweet and dark. Occasionally, she likes to add a teasing sound. Her unique sound mostly comes from that, as well as her lilting vibrato. Her lower notes can get a little smoky, which is just an artifact of her struggling with that part of her register, but she’s learned to make it work (mostly…)
Influences: Nat cites female rock musicians of psychedelic rock, such as Grace Slick, Stevie Nicks and Patti Smith, as her biggest musical influences. She also credits her father for introducing her to a variety of music growing up including The Police, Thomas Dolby, and Bruce Hornsby. When she first started to discover music for herself, it was in the late aughts, when acts like Panic! At The Disco, My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy were first reaching mainstream popularity. Among others, Nat has also listed PJ Harvey, Garbage, Placebo, Lorde, Grimes, alt-J, Lady Gaga, The Glitch Mob, Linkin Park, The xx, Tool, and Banks as sources of inspiration. In terms of vocals, she names Florence Welch, Ellie Goulding and Björk for their use of layering and vocal sound effects, as well as their theatricality and use of multiple differing ranges in the same song. Her visuals and stage persona derive influences from Eldritch mythos, penny dreadful novels, Shakespeare, baroque and gothic art, and classic mythology. Sylvia Plath, Victoria Wolff, Ursula le Guin, Mary Shelly, and Sappho also deserve mentions.
§ IMPORTANT MOMENTS § - Nat came out publicly through her music video for the song “Exit Stage Left”, her third ever single. The song is in second person, but was originally written about a failed relationship with another woman. She decided to make that clear by casting another woman as her love interest in the music video, which ended with the pair kissing. She followed up with an Instagram post confirming her identity and disclosing her relationship with her now-ex Remy Devereaux
- When Nat performed the song at that year’s American Music Awards, she switched the song to be in third-person and used all female pronouns. That choice put her performance just behind Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” on Harpers Bazaar’s list of “Best AMAs Performances”
- Once Nat’s star started rising, she was contacted by Alexander McQueen to be a brand ambassador. She’s often spotted on red carpets wearing Sarah Burton’s creations and sat front row for several of their shows. Recently, she also became the face of their “Memento” fragrance
- Nat was tapped to walk Marc Jacobs Spring/Summer 2018 collection. It wasn’t a huge deal, but several bloggers called the casting of a musician in a runway show a sign of the death of fashion. Nat just finds their reactions funny, considering she used to be a model. (Doubly funny when she remembers that she never actually walked a runway show while she was contracted to an agency)
§ DISCOGRAPHY § [coming soon!]
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