Born in Brooklyn at the end of the 60s, Natalia M King was not intended particularly for music and even less for blues. After studying sociology and history, she set off on an adventure, first by hitchhiking the United States, then crossing the Atlantic at the option of multiple odd jobs. In the early 2000s, we can hear her playing in the Paris metro, alone with her guitar. Refusing any label, she seeks her own style that could be described as “alternative” music, somewhere between Jeff Buckley and Ornette Coleman.
But ten years later she sets jazz ablaze with albums Soulblazz in 2014 and Bluezzin T’il Dawn in 2016. Today, his new opus Woman Mind of my Own, released in November on Dixie Frog, offers a mix of folk, soul and blues that is reminiscent of Tracy Chapman or Norah Jones.
From her half-globe-trotter, half-beatnik experience which led her on a trawler off Alaska as well as in Europe, Natalia M King drew an opening to the world that is felt in her music. So what could be more natural than to share the song with the New Zealander Grant Haua on the title (Lover) You Don’t Treat Me No Good. The singer explains: “The distance between me, who was recording in France and Grant in the waters of the Pacific, has been broken by a common ground, the blues.”
And while recording in Paris, you might as well meet another American exiled in France, Elliott Murphy. The New York songwriter was the perfect match for a duet of a typical Americana song, Pink houses by John Cougar Mellencamp.
“With Eliott, we definitely have strong characteristics in common” confirms Natalia M King. “Above all, love for our homeland, the United States, and love for our adopted country, France. We love Joe and Kamala [Biden – NDLR] and are happy that the White House has changed tenants … “
These two duet songs are covers to which is added a third, One more try by George Michael. Performed beautifully in a simple guitar-voice, with guitarist-producer-arranger Fabien Squillante, the song resonates in a particular way for Natalia: “George Michael was a big influence on me younger. Not just as a singer but also as an openly gay icon. I felt his fragility and his sensitivity, but also his strength to be and to love. “
Already the title of the album “a woman’s spirit which belongs to me” displays a clear desire to assert herself as a woman. And several songs celebrate love with a capital A, like Sunset To Sunrise Where Play on. But the highlight of the record is undoubtedly Aka choosen where Natalia M King finally publicly assumes her bisexuality.
When Natalia M King is asked if the song was written from a personal perspective, she replies in the negative: “The fact that I choose to live my sexual preference openly and above all differently from the ‘norm’ makes this a message from the entire LGBT community. As the lyrics of the song itself say, I can’t be a part without all, and vice versa! My voice as a person speaks for a million faces and if the song became a “flagship” song for our community, but also for the community of humanity, that would be great! “
An approach that is truly in line with the great folk singers, from Joan Baez to Tracy Chapman. Sing for others, carry messages, support causes, bear witness to our world through his music. Natalia M King doesn’t just write and compose songs, she lives them.
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Natalia M King – Woman Mind of my Own (Dixie Frog) – released November 5
Find all the information on the Official Site or the Facebook page