Friday, August 9, 2024

Verbalicious - Verbal Issues (2006)

Natalia Noemi "Teddy" Sinclair (née Cappuccini) was born on 15 August 1986 In Bradford, West Yorkshire, and has recorded music under various aliases, most famously as Natalia Kills and Verbalicious. Her family left Bradford when she was a child and she spent her early years traveling between England, Jamaica and Spain. As a teenager she had a troubled childhood, running away from home when she was 14, and trying to set her ex-boyfriend's house on fire while both were in it. Already living on her own in London at 15, and sitting on a hoard of her poems, she began to sneak into clubs to make connections with DJs and managers, to get time in the studio. She began performing in February 2003, recording a series of demos by the time she was 16, and she also developed a strong interest in MC battling, entering a Radio 1 MC Battle in Leeds under the alias Candy Rapper in June 2003, and winning the competition. She was signed to Adventures in Music in August, crediting the exposure and experience from the MC battle for helping her land a record deal, and preparations began for the recording of her debut album. The album's apparent lead single, 'Don't Play Nice', was released digitally on 10 June 2004 on the label's website, and the following month her song 'Next Big Me' was released on the soundtrack of the 2004 film 'Sleepover'. In August 2004 it was reported that her album was slated for a release in the fall, but this would later be pushed back, with a new expected release date being Easter 2005. 
After receiving considerable airplay, 'Don't Play Nice' was then given full-single treatment, with the song being officially released on 21 February 2005. Not long after the release, problems began to arise between Sinclair and her label, and the strained relationship eventually resulted in a severed contract sometime in 2006, thus causing the debut album to be shelved. Sinclair then began a stint of homelessness and eventually rebranded herself to Verbz, a name under which she released a few songs on MySpace. In 2007, while writing music for films, she posted 'Womannequin' to MySpace, receiving two million plays on the website, and she reached the top of the unsigned artists chart. In 2008 she moved to Los Angeles, and while there a DJ introduced her to will.i.am after hearing her demo, and learning that she did not have a record deal. In January 2009 will.i.am signed her to his record label, will.i.am Music Group, and she adopted the stage name Natalia Kills, after her record company advised her that "Natalia Cappuccini" was "indescribable". She released her debut album 'Perfectionist' in Germany in April 2011, following the release of her single, 'Mirrors', which hit the German Top 10. Through 2010 and 2011 she opened for Kelis, Robyn, Kesha, Katy Perry and the Black Eyed Peas over various tours, and was featured in LMFAO's single, 'Champagne Showers', and in Junior Caldera's single 'Lights Out (Go Crazy)'. With an album now out under her new name on her new label, she retired Verbalicious, but as an example of her early work this deserves to be heard, so here is that cancelled album from 2006. 



Track listing

01 New Kid  
02 Sweet As Pie 
03 Wait For Me 
04 Don't Play Nice 
05 Strangers 
06 Butterflies  
07 Life  
08 Born Wrong  
09 Hush  
10 Take It All 
11 Never Going Down 
12 Hey Boy 
13 If I Saw You Now  
14 Ain't My Fault
15 Queen Of The Jungle 

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