Self improvement has never been so fun – and never has had a catchier beat. Number One Popstar sticks wellness, cliques, and more in ‘I Hate Running,’ and she talks EXCLUSIVELY with TMC about this synth-pop bop.
At the intersection of appeal and criticism stands Number One Popstar, the synth-pop moniker of artist/movie producer Kate Hollowell. With a sharp feeling of songwriting (just outperformed by her cutting mind), N1PS’ music is an ideal mix of smart humor and evident snares. Look no farther than “I Hate Running,” a prior competitor for both the title of “Best Video of 2021” and “Best Excuse For Avoiding Working Out.” In a video overflowing with strict symbolism, pastel turtlenecks, and radiant movement, N1PS conveys, as she puts it, “an enemy of persuasive tune,” one that focuses society’s consistent push for everybody to better themselves.
“Push it, young ladies/give a valiant effort/put your wellness under serious scrutiny/up, down, side to side/nothing matters/we’re all going to kick the bucket,” she sings. Despite the fact that the message isn’t totally new, it has infrequently been this enjoyable to tune in to. “I Hate Running” is a joyfully skeptical festival, one that energizes a schedule brimming with cheat days. The irresistible theme will remain in your mind for quite a long time – or, until N1PS discharges another melody.
Kate Hollowell, the crazy looking virtuoso behind N1PS, sharpened her melodic chops as a component of the contemptuous Los Angeles-based troublemaker band Slut Island, and her visual tasteful while coordinating music recordings for different specialists like SASAMI and Katy Perry. Kate/N1PS visited with TheMagazineCity about shooting “I Hate Running,” America Online, and why N1PS is actually the “climax of everything.”
TheMagazineCity: I’ve perused that with your visual foundation in photography and guiding, you figure out melodies, beginning with a visual and working in reverse. What was the principal component you envisioned or found in “I Hate Running”? Was it the crown of cigarettes? The blue sweatsuits? The red vehicle?
Number One Popstar: I imagined a cigarette crown before I even recorded the melody. I purchased a lot of phony cigarettes made of dry cabbage and was attempting to discover approaches to fuse them. Whenever I’d portray the video, the lone anchor for the account was ‘cigarette crown’ which is quite ambiguous. Gradually, this enemy of – persuasive wellness faction pioneer began coming to fruition…
Is there anything more profound to the mystery Patrick Swayze holler, or was it simply a serene method to communicate an affection for Dirty Dancing? Or then again would you say you are even more a Point Break individual?
For one thing, thank you for taking note! I really made out with Patrick years back and he advised me on the off chance that I ever composed a book that I could cite him straightforwardly.
I made the book the prior night at a Kinko’s as a final desperate attempt to help drive the account, so I would state there is no stowed away importance beside citing somebody who isn’t alive to add to the deceitful religion subject. At the point when I went to scout the congregation we took shots at, it had a little, odd stay with a lot of outlined pictures of Patrick Swayze and an old cushion with his face on it. I figure they may have snuck into my inner mind.
The previous year’s pandemic hampered video shoots. Did you get each component you needed for the video of “I Hate Running,” or was there something you needed to forfeit, in this period of COVID?
We initially had a previous shoot on the schedule, yet it got dropped because of COVID. I at that point attempted to improve the ideas, however I simply cherished the congregation and the clique account such a lot of that I needed to get it going. To pull it off, I managed down the team and delivered it myself (with the assistance of maker Vivviane Laponte). I executed an arrangement for everybody required to get tried, conveyed the call sheets, booked the ability, styled the cast, made the work of art, and clearly coordinated and featured in it. I found the DP on a Sunday and by Wednesday we were shooting. It was an incredible endeavor, yet it was the best way to get it going during COVID with a self-supported task.
“I Hate Running” tries heart stimulating exercise, self improvement guides, turtlenecks, and coordinated religion. It follows “Psycho,” which utilized a suburb area, a leotard, and a Stop Making Sense-sized suit coat as a component of the video’s setting. Excuse me in case I’m misguided here, yet these two works strike me as studies of components of 1980s mainstream society. Is Number One Popstar a path for you to, for absence of a superior term, remove a piss from 80s wistfulness? Or then again would you say you are deriding these still-pertinent components (self improvement guides, leotards) that coincidentally had a prime in those days?
Much obliged to you for believing that I thoroughly considered any of this! I think Number One Popstar is a route for me to take a piss on in a real sense everything, including myself. It’s truly an interpretation of how individuals can persuade you regarding being somebody else, being this woke guardian angel that is not delegate of who they really are. Eventually, they’re holding up a veneer, which sooner or later isn’t maintainable.
Your site harkens back to 56k modems, Gateway PCs, and free AOL CDs. Do you see Number One Popstar veering more into the pop stable of the 1990s?
I just own a Gateway 95′ PC so the plan of the site is simply due to legitimate need. I actually pay $9.99 per month for AOL. It’s been a battle since none of my companions are truly on AIM talk any longer so I’ve put some distance between a great deal of them.
With respect to the sound, there is anything but a pop stable I’m making progress toward. My solitary objective is to make tunes that I for one appreciate. Who knows, perhaps my next tune will be me shouting over an off key acoustic guitar? I’m simply playing around with the music-production measure, I’d prefer to make a wide range of melodies and recordings, I truly don’t have an all-inclusive strategy.
“I Hate Running” is an obnoxious triple-danger: it’s entertaining, it’s appealing, and it’s piercing as hellfire. The equivalent can be said about your troublemaker band, Slut Island. Have you generally had this shrewd contemptuousness to your music or did this create over the long haul?
I didn’t decide to be contemptuous, yet I was unable to wind up composing take-myself-too-genuine tunes. That just wouldn’t be true to my character. Normally, when I see genuine things, I need to flip them on their head.
Do you consider Number To be Popstar as an element that exists in a customary music sense – y’know, delivering collections, putting out recordings, visiting. Or then again are those standard music destinations not something you’d apply to this manifestation?
This is actually the climax of everything. I’ll keep on delivering music, driving myself to make melodies that are superior to the last, pushing the limits of music recordings and my substance all in all. What’s more, truly, certainly visiting (preferably opening for Jason Mraz). I’m anticipating the world returning so I can welcome this venture in front of an audience. That is truly where I flourish. The shows we played for my troublemaker band Slut Island normally developed into peculiar craftsmanship exhibitions and I unquestionably see that movement for N1PS.
Will we see your skeletal reinforcement artists in a forthcoming video, or will they be something for your Instagram/TikTok devotees?
My skeleton reinforcement artists are continually working on new movement and on backup to be in a music video. You’ll simply need to keep a watch out!
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