Princess Chelsea in Frankfurt am Main, October 16th, 2022
I’ve posted these photos on instagram before, but wanted to add a bit more text here. In fact, this is a continuation of my post from January 15, which starts the series. Since vk is not primarily a photo network, I would add several explanations on how I understand this series.
Compared to Cologne (see one of my previous posts), in Frankfurt there was less black-and-white and more colour. It makes photos less heavenly and more earthen. The drummer was deeper into the scene, and I didn’t feel drums much there (the sound was different as well). In the front (first) photograph you can see Chelsea Nikkel with a synthesiser, and I shall write more about that below.
In recent years, there appeared many more dramatic songs in Chelsea’s repertoire. Red is a colour of aggression and it is mostly associated with danger (remember blood), but also pain can lead to a birth of something new and beautiful from the heart. Pointed lines, sharp angles and enormous silhouettes add drama and unease.
But Chelsea has a command that greatly supports her. She assembled talented musicians into a band, and they’ve made great recordings, nice videos and many concerts together. I can remember how badly we once worked together with my then girlfriend, and it is really wonderful when you can work with people for a long time.
Of course, it is even more relaxed when not everybody is looking at Chelsea.
In cinematography there is the well-known Kuleshov effect, when our perception of a frame depends on those that appeared before that. I had many photographs with Chelsea smiling or laughing that evening, but due to the hard environment and dynamics they were not so good; and I really needed one, because without that Chelsea in the next photo looked sad, while in fact she was serious. This photo made the session complete for me. It is not great (it looks more like two vertical photos), but Chelsea’s step and gesture add dynamics to it.
This is my favourite photograph of Chelsea’s. She is serious and concentrated, she looks directly at us and one can see a spark in her eyes and a faint smile. Warm light falls on her high brow, and while one hand firmly lies on the keyboard, the other is graciously rising above that, touching a little sun.
Chelsea received musical education as a pianist, and one can often hear scales in her earlier songs, but I believe that it has also influenced their vocals. When I was in a folk choir, I remember that I was doing octave-wise glissandos, and a fellow singer explained to me that I should “lay each note on a shelf”. I can indeed hear it in many folk and Princess Chelsea’s earlier songs, while many other singers use glissandi a lot. For comparison, one can listen to Marianne Faithfull’s original “Morning Sun” from 1965. The first time I heard that, I admired what a powerful and emotional voice she had. At the same time, the instruments sounded somewhat harsh and rough to me. Chelsea’s voice sounds very light, as if it’s fleeting from one note to another, staying there freely at its will. I’ve heard my older relatives criticising that way of singing; but after having listened to the first song more, you will hear how at the same time the vocal sounds inert and heavy. Chelsea’s voice gives space to many fine instruments (today she and we have much better tools for recording and reproducing music), and her reserved singing opens the way for our own emotions. I was slightly depressed at the beginning of January, and could not hear any merry and boisterous New Year’s Eve music, but Chelsea’s first albums sounded soothing to me. One can also note that Chelsea often sings in the head register, while Marianne does it in the chest register (it is easy to feel when you put your hand on the chest while singing). I’m not comparing their voices in general here, because Marianne also has much lighter songs, and Chelsea has songs in a lower voice (especially on her last album); the real question is what type of singing would suit this particular song most. I would say that for a truly emotional experience (and the text says about sorrow, pain and lost love), singing must be emotional too; however, I almost never experience strong emotions in the morning.
I remember that in Vienna in personal conversations Chelsea was speaking in a beautiful low voice, but earlier in Cologne I can also remember a higher voice, similar to her usual singing. That evening I read Chelsea a poem, which started with:
In this world I have a Princess,
She revives simple days of old,
Hearts are broken at her behest,
And her voice is high-pitched and soft.
The next photograph reminds me of “Kings (Fairy Tale Kings)” by Ciurlionis. In the next photo, Chelsea’s lock flowing around her birthmark can be seen better than before.
Having received support from the band, Chelsea gives her energy to the public. I’ve never been at such concerts, but I read that some groups don’t actually sing, but use some canned voice recordings. Princess Chelsea’s band don’t do it, they play it real, and they can even do it differently at different concerts (I’ve heard some unique improvisations in their recordings). At one point I could see shiny beads on Chelsea’s forehead, but I hadn’t made a photograph, because I was dancing and enjoying the concert at that time (another fan said, though, that it could be because of spotlights). As Chelsea once mentioned in an interview, the public in Europe is usually calm; in the photograph one can see rather adult people, and in Cologne it was like that. Some social topics were already addressed in Chelsea’s first albums, but since then she has created more and more of serious songs dealing with complex feelings and hard situations. One girl even wrote on instagram that when she had suicidal thoughts, Chelsea’s music had helped her, and Chelsea wrote a supporting comment to her.
I wanted to present a nice poem to Chelsea, but after the concert she was tired and was not going to appear. Jasmine and Joshua were talking to fans about the band and its plans; unfortunately, I couldn’t listen to it because I was writing down the text. But after I finished it, Jasmine called Chelsea and she came to us. She listened to the poem very attentively, grasped its meaning and discussed it with me. I told Chelsea, and many fans agreed, that I greatly value the humane aspect of her songs.
The next photo concludes the horizontal series; the diva is further away from us, holding her hands as if saying thanks or goodbye. She is turned straight to us, and only after this series could I fully appreciate her asymmetrical haircut. Asymmetry is often associated with beauty; when people were shown ideally symmetric faces, they didn’t find them beautiful. Last week, when I was hastily trimming my beard before a trip with my colleagues, I accidentally cut one temple more and immediately remembered Chelsea’s haircut. After the first day snowboarding, I looked in the mirror and realised that I forgot a comb, and then I remembered the origin of the band’s name: when Chelsea Nikkel used to travel with another band long ago, she could often be dishevelled, and the others mocked her, calling her “princess” for that. The next day, when I was scratching down the slope, I caught myself singing: “Everything’s gonna be alright”.
The last two photographs are outside the series because they are vertical. I can’t say much about the last one, but it looks good to me.
#princesschelsea
