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She sprinkles her haunting chamber pop with Karate Kid references and landed a reclusive legend for a cameo. But is Bat for Lashes’ Natasha Khan ready to take flight?
58 APRIL 2009 SPIN.COM GETS STAINS OU T FAST
NATASHA KHAN IS in the middle of a shopping spree at a vintage-clothing boutique in Manhattan’s East Village when she gets some bad news from the store’s owner: A remake of one of her favorite movies, The Karate Kid, is in the works. “Noooo!” she moans from inside the dressing room, where she has been debating the purchase of a pair of white, high-heeled ankle boots. (“I’m not sure how Stevie Nicks I want to go,” the singer muses, “although I love Stevie Nicks.”) Also, according to the proprietor, the new version will star “somebody crazy.” “What, like Lindsay Lohan?” Khan asks. Try Will Smith’s son, Jaden. Khan grimaces. Like many of her beloved pop-cultural touchstones—among them Pat Benatar and The Wonder Years’ Winnie Cooper—the film is important to her because it reminds her of the ’80s, an era she often draws on for inspiration when writing and performing as Bat for Lashes. In 2007, for example, her mesmerizing video for the Phil Spector–esque “What’s a Girl to Do?” featured a gang of BMX bikers in hoodies doing acrobatic stunts while following Khan through the woods—a nod to E. T. and The Goonies. Today, Khan is in search of the perfect wardrobe for her next You Tube sensation: a video for the awesome, Kate Bush– channeling single “Daniel,” off of Two Suns, her exquisite follow-up to 2006’s Fur & Gold. Though the song is actually named for Mr. Miyagi’s crane-kicking disciple, Khan wants the video to have a pugilistic vibe in the tradition of Rocky and Raging Bull. “I’m envisioning a big boxing
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