Princess Superstar on ‘Saltburn’ fame: “I need to give Emerald Fennell a fucking fruit basket and say thank you”
Princess Superstar is not interested in being the second lady on the Saltburn soundtrack. Her club classic ‘Perfect (Exceeder)’, a mash-up of ‘Exceeder’ by Mason and her 2005 track, ‘Perfect’, was included in the gothic film’s Midsummer Night’s Dream-themed party scene and is now having a revival parallel to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s. After the film’s release, it found chart success for the first time in 17 years, now back in the UK Top 40 and currently sitting at number five on the US Viral Spotify 50 chart.
Ellis-Bextor’s ‘Murder On The Dancefloor’ might have had a similar overnight renaissance, but check her official YouTube channel, and you’ll find a small tweak to its title: “Murder On The Dancefloor (as featured in Saltburn)”. After spending over a decade releasing music in relative obscurity, Princess Superstar is revelling in her newfound success but is in no danger of letting Saltburn be permanently affixed to it.
In a move befitting overnight fame, she calls me from Los Angeles while her hairstylist flits around in the background. She is both humble and incredibly pragmatic about her sudden virality. She’s getting her hair done ahead of filming a music video for her upcoming track ‘New Renegades’, a futuristic venture similar to her sci-fi concept album, My Machine. Before the Saltburn phenomenon took hold and people were rushing to buy Jacob Elordi bathwater candles, she’d been quietly readying herself for this moment.
“I’d like this to be inspirational for artists everywhere,” she says. “The thing is, nobody was listening to my music at all, but I kept doing it, so when success hit me, I was ready to go with something new. I wasn’t just in obscurity, doing nothing and feeling sorry for myself,” she adds before instantly correcting herself: “I mean, I had a couple of years of that, too”. Armed with new material, she’s determined to make the most of a new audience she never anticipated getting.
When the email came through from her publisher asking for approval to use it in the movie, Princess Superstar thought nothing of it. The last time she’d gotten excited by a similar email was when Dior reached out, and her song was used in one of their campaigns. “But other than that,” she says, “You’re asked for different movies and things all the time, and you’re just like: ‘Sure, whatever'”. This email lacked the glamour of Dior and, somehow, the household name appeal. “I’d never heard of any of these actors or people because I’m American, I guess,” she says of the cast list attached, boasting such ‘undiscovered’ talents as Richard E. Grant, Carey Mulligan and Rosamund Pike.
Still laughing about the fact she didn’t know who Barry Keoghan was, Princess Superstar continues, “They put: ‘This is a new film by Emerald,'” then suddenly falters, “You know, I forget her last name”. Taking a brief pause to recall her surname, she adds: “I should know exactly who she is! I need to give Emerald Fennell a fucking fruit basket and say thank you”. Likening her sudden rise to popularity to what happened to Kate Bush and her song ‘Running Up That Hill’ following the release of Stranger Things, she exclaims, “This stuff doesn’t happen; it just doesn’t…So it’s weird and wild and incredible”.
But overnight success doesn’t instantly erase all the years spent wondering if such a thing was even possible. For a long time, and after a lot of emotional work, Princess Superstar made peace with obscurity. “At first, I was really upset, but I thought, ‘That’s OK, I’ll just focus on being a mom,'” she says, “But my heart was bleeding and ripped open that I didn’t have my career anymore.” What followed was a full-bodied commitment to making music for herself and ignoring nagging “ego chatter” as she unleashed campy pop hits into the ether.
Self-doubt occasionally crept in, and ageism was a big factor. She forced herself to shake it off by writing for ten minutes each day, no matter what. “I felt washed up and old,” she candidly admitted, “Nobody talks about that. No artist or rapper or woman talks about that”. While she’s game to discuss how the media shuns older artists, Princess Superstar doesn’t seem to consider motherhood part of that equation, never discussing it as a hindrance to her career. Much to the delight of her 12-year-old daughter, before ‘Perfect’ shot back up the charts, Doja Cat used her 2005 track ‘Famous’ in an Instagram reel, telling Princess Superstar: “I fuckin love you”.
“Finally, I was legitimised in the eyes of my daughter!” she jokes before praising the rapper, “She’s an incredible artist, and I was very honoured to get her shout-out”. After Saltburn, everything seems suddenly more possible, so could a collaboration with Doja Cat be on the cards? “I would love to,” she says, with an enthusiasm that feels entirely informed by her daughter’s love of the artist. “You never know”.
But all that newfound possibility is coupled with a slight tension. In the age of streaming, artists can ‘go viral’ and yet feel no material gain. So far, this has largely meant companies sending her free stuff, with the musician expressing the frustration of this twisted model, “The other day, this company sent me a box of really fancy lingerie. But in practical terms, I’ve still gotta make the peanut butter and jelly for my daughter’s lunch”. Her connectivity to Saltburn carries a similar tension, given this is now the second time ‘Perfect’ has had success without her direct involvement.
Princess Superstar doesn’t want to dwell on it, but when the video to ‘Perfect’ came out, she wasn’t featured. After licensing the song to Ministry of Sound in 2006, they rushed to roll out a video, which could generously be described as softcore porn on exercise balls, performed by three brunette models, and not her. “The label screwed me,” she sighs, “As an artist, all you have is your music, your image and your brand. So, if the dots aren’t connected, and then something weird goes on like that video, it just crushes you”.
But she’s long forgiven the label and points out that people love the video. But it goes some way to explaining why she doesn’t want to become Princess Superstar, Saltburn star. In the brief time she has become that, fans are quick to swear they’ve been dutifully listening since her early DJ days, which was awkward to navigate. “I was a little annoyed,” she admits, breaking out into another laugh, “I was like, really? Because I have 2,000 followers on YouTube, and nobody bought my records”.
But as the success sunk in, she let go of that line of thinking very quickly. “It’s the power of social media. We didn’t have that the last time I was famous,” she says, “In their hearts, they really are my fans, and that’s beautiful. However they want to be my fans, they should be”. At this point, her hair is half done, and before we part ways, she slips back into mum mode. She’s sagely advising me on how to tackle her own profile using a tried and tested method. “You’ve got to sit down and write for ten minutes,” she nods, “Even if you don’t want to”.
