SXSW 2009 ARTIST ALERT: Little Boots
Little Boots is clearly a big star in the making. The blonde, British electropop chanteuse (real name: Victoria Hesketh) is already being championed by Perez Hilton months before her U.S. album debut even comes out (she'll be playing his South By Southwest closing-night "Divas" party alongside Solange and Margaret Cho). And when she headlined Thursday's SXSW "All That Sparkles" party at Malverde, throngs of adoring hipster fans waited patiently to see her, even though she went on more than an hour late due to soundcheck snafus.
By the time Little Boots hit the stage, which was actually a makeshift platform on Malverde's outdoor patio, she had to perform in almost total darkness, as the sun had already set and there were no stagelights of any light. But Boots managed to light up Malverde and sparkle nonetheless. Her stage presence was positively Kylie-esque, while her pure pop voice--accompanied by little else than minimal sequencers and keyboards--seemed amazingly big, in a Robyn/Lady GaGa disco-diva sort of way, for such a Little body.
By the time her sunset set was over, the only place to interview Little Boots with lighting adequate enough to properly illuminate her lovely features was the stairwell outside Malverde. But I probably could have interviewed her in a pitch-black alleyway and her star power would have burned just as bright.
On those stairs, my attempts to investigate Boots' short-lived stint on the U.K. talent show Pop Idol (a factoid that impressed me immensely, actually) and in her former indie band Dead Disco were somewhat unsuccessful. But she was more than happy to chat about Perez's support and her recent duet with electro legend Philip Oakey of the Human League (as was I...especially that latter subject!).
Enjoy all that sparkles about Little Boots' personality in the interview below, along with a couple of her "bedroom" videos:
