“Quite like Barbara but don’t fuck with cops, I’m coming to Shorty in a crop top,” Paradox Princess spits on her track ‘Utopia For Sale.’ Critic Te Ārohi caught up with Paradox Princess to talk about her upcoming album ‘Creating A Time Paradox.’
Natasha Munro Hurn has been active in the music scene since she was in high school, as a guitarist and vocalist in a punk band. Natasha’s current creative project as Paradox Princess continues her initial beginnings in DIY punk but also pushes into the experimental in its blend with hyperpop and hip-hop. “It’s always been hip-hop and electronic music. I was raised on that as much as punk.” Like punk, things intrinsic to hip-hop such as creating big noise out of little resources and sampling appealed to Natasha. “No one’s gonna tell me off if I decide to cut up a Sailor Moon dub and try to make a beat out of it. It was that freedom, that was the first thing that drew me in.” Inspired by artists like Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA, Natasha wanted to put her own experience into it. “I really wanted to hear, like, a queer version of that, one that talks about, you know, transness and giving middle fingers to TERFs.”
“I would say it’s a mixture of hyperpop, experimentation, hip hop and punk, all mixed together in hopes of some kind of messy version of queer joy,” Natasha says of her upcoming album. It also confronts local homophobia and transphobia. In the process, she also gets “to make silly, stupid, noisy music that scratches an itch in hopefully other peoples’ brains.” Creating the project Paradox Princess occurred at the time when Natasha came out as a non-binary trans-woman. Her songwriting has added to her affirming her trans identity. “It helped me, when you’re dysphoric and stuff, to write, you know? Like ‘I’m a baddie.’ Or express the beauty in myself. It really builds myself up.” The expression of queer joy in this album is an extension of Natasha’s acceptance of her queerness and, in putting it out in the world, she’s hoping to uplift other trans people. “I’ve had a long road to get to this point. I’m finally very comfortable with my transness.”
Listening to ‘Creating A Time Paradox,’ you can expect to hear pop culture references in transitions between tracks that rely on samples from blockbuster films to video game sounds. Natasha’s beat-making setup is completely digital and tracks often begin as her emulating the style of an artist that inspires her. “Usually what happens is I’ll have one core idea. As soon as I keep going, it’s transformed into something completely different.”
In Paradox Princess, there’s also the meeting of gritty distortion and biting lyricism (check lyric: ‘middle finger to the Hiluxes’) with visual and sonic references to the peak aesthetics of cute core. These reflect Natasha’s interests as well as aesthetics of her background in photography. She studied a Bachelor of Visual Arts that she finished in 2021. “I am, like, obsessed with – at least in my photograph work – over-saturation… It’s always good to have some sort of lightness or saturation. I love very colourful things. I think it does come from a love for anime with how bold and exciting it can all look. ”
‘Creating A Time Paradox’ releases this Friday 28 July and will be available on streaming sites. You can keep up with Paradox Princess on socials (@paradoxprincessxox).