Interview: Princess Superstar opens up about her gratitude for 'bananas' success of Perfect, how the song featured in Saltburn and why she has Emerald Fennell to thank for pop renaissance
Princess Superstar reflects on her rediscovered 2005 single ‘Perfect (Exceeder)’ and her musical journey from the ‘90s to now as she unveils new single 'Goddess'...
Princess Superstar is back in vogue.
The New York-born singer and DJ made waves as an EDM trailblazer in the 2000s, now she's back on people's lips and her music is in their ears thanks to her 2005 collab ‘Perfect (Exceeder)’ with Mason being featured in Emerald Fennell’s smash hit 2023 film ‘Saltburn’ - which stars Jacob Elordi, Barry Keoghan and Rosamund Pike.
After the film’s December 2023 release, the track spent 10 weeks on the UK charts, where it peaked at No. 26 and has become a TikTok sensation.
Princess Superstar — whose real name is Concetta Kirschner — is once again finding her place in the music industry. She has just unveiled her new single ‘Goddess’ — an electroclash dance anthem, which she describes as “‘Perfect’ all grown up” — ahead of her upcoming album ‘The Serve’.
In an exclusive interview with Contact Music, Princess Superstar reflected on her gratitude for her pop renaissance, how ‘Perfect’ ended up in ‘Saltburn’ and why she and Sophie Ellis-Bextor are "Saltburn sisters"...
CM: Tell us about your upcoming new album:
PS: It's a new mixtape gonna drop this year, with a new single coming probably every six weeks. I’m so excited about it, because it's my first real project for years and years.
It's called ‘The Serve’, and it's all about serving looks, serving glamor, serving ****, but also serving mankind. I really like the play on that word, the “serve”, so that's what it's called.
I'm working with amazing, amazing producers that, really, the universe gave me since the success of ‘Saltburn’ — people like Oscar Scheller, who produces PinkPantheress and Mel C and Aliyah’s Interlude … and also Laidback Luke, who is incredible. He was original back in the electro days, and then went on to have a huge career as well, but we're bringing it more back to the electro sound that we used to have.
Are there any collaborations in your future?
I worked with Ayesha Erotica, Aliyah’s Interlude, Frost Children, Gregor McMurray … I'm excited about all those.
It's still sort of all forming. I don't know what it's going to be, but do expect some special features.
You earned a Gold certification for ‘Perfect (Exceeder)’ 17 years after it was released. How does it feel to have the song find a new audience due to ‘Saltburn’?
Absolutely bananas, bonkers, nuts, like winning the lottery. Although my friends say, ‘Don't say it's like winning the lottery. You put work into it.’
It's every artist’s dream, isn't it, to be able to tour the world and put out new music and make amazing music again, sort of out of the blue.
My career kind of faded, and it was super painful, because I always had the music inside me. I just didn't have the audience or the success that I had had once. To get it back again, I'm in an immense amount of gratitude.
How did the song end up in ‘Saltburn’?
When you're clearing a song, all you do is get an email that's like, ‘We'd like to use this track.’ And I was like, ‘Sure, use it.’ But I didn't think anything of it.
After the fact, I found out that [‘Saltburn’ director] Emerald [Fennell] had been a fan of the song when it first came out. Because the movie was set in 2006, she was keeping it authentic to that era, and she remembered it, so she used it.
Of course, the placement was so amazing, because it was in that party scene. But if you remember the scene before, we're so tense because we just found out that [Oliver] was a con man. They went to [his] parents’ house, so he's been busted, and then there's this party.
So it's like, you're freaking out, and then it goes, ‘One, two, three, four’. It was perfect, amazing filmmaking.
Were you a fan of the movie? What was it like seeing your song in the film?
I was definitely a fan of the movie. I always say, the only thing I don't like so much is a lot of violence and blood. I feel like I could do without that so much, but everything was brilliant about the movie.
I didn't see it in the theatre. I saw it when it came on Amazon Prime. I was just like, my mouth was open. It was so cool, because if you have the subtitles on, it literally says my lyrics on the bottom of the screen. I was like, ‘This is crazy.’ I was hitting my husband. He was like, ‘Pause it, pause it, pause it.'
On [the podcast] ‘Spinning Plates’ with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, you two said you're ‘‘Saltburn’ sisters’ because you both had songs featured in the film: ‘Perfect’ for you, and ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’ for her. Do you guys have a strong bond?
We met at Drumsheds in London, this giant IKEA that had been converted into a club. We were backstage, and I was like, ‘Hi, I'm Princess Superstar’. She grabbed me and said, ‘Oh my god, ‘Saltburn’ sister.’
I said, ‘Can you even believe, Sophie? Can you even believe?’ And she was like, ‘I can't believe it’.
Her song came out in 2001. She's a mom of five. I only have one, but we're moms, we're older, we're touring again, we're famous again. And we're just like, ‘Oh my god, what a blessing’, so we were just marvelling at that fact.
Speaking of motherhood, what are your daughter’s thoughts on your music and of hearing your music on social media?
She was like, ‘Mom, your voice is all over my feed, ugh!’ But you know that she secretly also liked it.
I think that was a little embarrassing for her. She's a teenager. Teenagers are embarrassed about everything, but they also secretly love it, too, and think it's cool. And she's a musician herself.
She's an amazing songwriter. Actually, she's got two records out on Spotify already. It's under her name, which is Siren Ortega. It's tales of middle school angst.
How does it feel to have her following in your footsteps?
It's really amazing. She's definitely got her own style that's really different from mine. It's very indie rock.
I love supporting her in her musical endeavours and helping her, signing her up for lessons and things she's interested in.
If she's like, ‘Oh, I want to learn bass’, the next day, there's a bass. I love that, because that's what I would have wanted as a kid as well.
How has your music evolved over the years?
Funnily enough, I started out playing guitar. I was an indie-rock, hip-hop hybrid, more sort of along the lines of Beck or something like that, in the ‘90s.
Then I moved straight into hip-hop, and I was like, I just want to rap, so I did that in the ‘90s.
Around 2000, I started going to Europe, and I was listening to all the dance music of the time. Electro and electroclash was happening and what the kids today call indie sleaze, but we didn't call it that. We called it electro.
That was such a cool world for me. I loved it because it was really free and fun and glittery and over the top. I was an underground rapper in New York, and the crowds were, you know, folded arms, and there were no sparkles.
I was like, ‘Oh, I think I want to rap over dance music, and I think I want to learn how to DJ’. And so that's what I did.
What advice would you give to yourself when you were just starting out?
I'd say, don't party as hard as you did.
Get yourself a good manager. I had dicey managers in my early career.
Keep putting music out. There was a time where I just stopped putting music out.
Just keep the faith. It's such a hard business. It's such a hard one to even have longevity, and so I'm super grateful.
Why the name Princess Superstar? What does that mean for you?
I named myself in 1994, and I wanted something that was super obnoxious, super over the top, and didn't take myself so seriously.
It was almost obnoxious, you know what I mean? The pinnacle of what everybody wants to be. But really, I was a punk rock kid, and I just was taking the piss out of myself.
What upcoming projects can we expect?
‘Goddess’ is out now, and we're going to put out remixes. Look for a new single coming in a couple months. We’re in between what it's going to be, so I can't say the name, but keep posted.
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