Breaking: Little Boots
Who: Victoria Hesketh, a budding 24-year-old pop star from the U.K. who played in a variety of prog, punk and synth-rock bands before embracing her inner Kylie Minogue. A friend had nicknamed her Little Boots, and though it’s a dark reference to the film Caligula, “It’s not that I’m a sex-crazed mad Roman despot or anything like that,” Hesketh says. “I’m small and have small feet.”
Sounds Like: Danceable, punchy future disco. “Stuck on Repeat,” a shimmering, club-ready track produced by Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard vibrates and rumbles under Little Boots’ angel-with-an-edge vocal (and caused a stir at last week’s SXSW festival).
Vital Stats:
• Hesketh majored in Cultural Studies, and now she can’t resist the urge to apply her skills. “I deconstructed my album artwork: what does this mean, what messages are people going to get? And they’re like, look, we just want something colorful where you look nice,” she says. “I’m like, but what is this saying? I think that’s why I embrace pop music, you can see all these levels in it.”
• Little Boots tours with a live drummer and keyboardist, and says she’s not a fan of playing to pre-recorded tracks. “I like playing music in a visual way. People think guitar bands are exciting, but to me, synthetic music can be just as exciting live. It doesn’t have to be two nerds behind a laptop.” She hopes to build a giant sequencer of lights to pulse along to her music (she has a small version now), but adds, “I want giant horses and glitter, too, don’t get me wrong.”
• Though she hasn’t fallen into the Lily Allen tabloid zone just yet, Little Boots has started to feel the effects of being a U.K. buzz act. “I’ve had people go to my grandparents house trying to get photos of me when I was young. What do you want, I was just a nerdy little girl?” she says, exasperated. “If you want to know something about music come and ask me, I’ll tell you all day long, but why do you need to involve the people around me. I’m getting weird about that.”
Get It Now: Little Boots just finished work on her debut album, Hands, which won’t be out for several months. In the meantime, check out live footage from Perez Hilton’s SXSW party One Night in Austin — complete with some commentary by the Queen of All Media — in our video, above.