Addictive, gritty production, effervescent synths and ample autotune, paired with tongue-in-cheek lyricism, make up Cece Natalie’s sultry, hypnotic sound. It’s equally experimental, layered and authentic — qualities that have allowed her to break through the algorithm and make waves across underground and digital soundscapes. For Cece, beyond retaining the virality that tracks like Exitin and Ambulance have brought her, this next era is about extending her world and creating a visual and artistic legacy that is equally impactful.
We’ve come a long way since the initial SoundCloud days, with demos and tracks released under different aliases, most of which still hold up today. Hailing from Connecticut, Cece Natalie, whose real name is Mia Ferrentino, announced her arrival in a big way and carved out her own lane in a matter of a few singles. She released her debut project, Miss Behaves, two years after Cece’s first song — and what an album. Seriously, I could talk about it for hours. Self-written, produced and recorded, its unfiltered expression stands out. Combining 2010s trap beats with insistently catchy production and earwormy hooks, the project has cemented itself as a modern-day cult classic and marked the beginning of her experimental world-building. This was followed by a string of singles and EPs, such as Recycling Bin Collection 2 and 8 Songs, which pushed her sound in a darker direction.
Miss Behaves spawned two viral hits: Like a Taxi (Oh Well) and Exitin. The latter made its way into the mainstream through social-media edits with millions of views, and is now getting a proper revival with a music video directed by Hannah De Vries. It segues into the next era, upgrading the early MySpace e-girl selfies and grainy photobooth-edit aesthetic without losing its essence. Fresh off the road with PinkPantheress, I got on a call with Cece to talk about the challenge of being boxed in, new music, her artistic vision and visual identity, Marina, Travis Scott, growth and more.
How would you introduce yourself to readers who aren’t familiar with you as an artist yet?
Just get into the world. Focus on the feeling. I feel like I’m meant to be felt, not described. Just really soak in the essence of whatever song you’re listening to and picture it cinematically.
Is there a film you would compare your vibe to, then?
I can’t think of any specific film, but it would be a psychological thriller. Maybe Nosferatu, the 2024 one with Lily-Rose Depp.
Right. What’s been exciting or interesting to you lately?
Normally, I wouldn’t say music, but right now it’s music because I feel like I’ve been in album mode like crazy, and that’s kind of rare.
So, you’re excited about the music you’re making.
Yeah (laughs).
“My personal struggles, and especially my mental health struggles, have made me very attuned to the feeling of my music.”
During the last few months, you’ve been on tour with PinkPantheress. What did you learn from getting to know her on the road, and what do you admire about her as a role model?
Oh, I was nervous when you asked, but that was my favourite part: meeting PinkPantheress. She’s so genuine, and when I met her for the first time, of course I was intimidated because I’m sitting on this couch and fucking PinkPantheress walks into the room. Like, yes, I’m intimidated, but she is so fun to talk to, and so kind and genuine. She’s silly too, and I like when people are silly. It’s that balance of serious and silly. Those are my favourite kinds of people. She would check in on us, and she would stop into our green room sometimes and chit-chat and have a little laugh (laughs).
How do you see social media as an extension of your artistry or artist persona?
The only reason to use social media is to extend the artistic world that you’re creating. I think it’s kind of lame to use social media as just promo, promo, promo. I want everything I do to exist in that same fantasy world, and I’m not great at it, which is why I’m kind of quiet, because I’m still figuring out how to do that. But I would ideally love for everything that’s public to be in that fantasy world.
So, you’re not the kind of girl who’s suddenly going to become an influencer?
I feel like collabing with a brand would be cool, but not as an Instagram post. I would love to be in a perfume ad or something. I think that’s totally different.
Low-key, the video for Domino reminded me of those abstract perfume commercials, now that you say it.
Wait, I see it now. I didn’t really think of that before (laughs). My problem, I think, is that sometimes I talk too much. I usually don’t talk at all, but sometimes I feel like I end up sabotaging the fantasy world. I’ll post on my story, like, “I’m tired of Like a Taxi, I don’t like that you guys like it” (laughs).
How important is it to have a good team around you to support you through all of it?
Oh, there’s a lot to it. When I first started making music seriously, I was like, “Oh, I don’t ever want a team,” but at a certain point it brings so much benefit. I think if I had no team, which is pretty much mostly Bailey, my manager, and some other people that I work with, there’s so much I wouldn’t be able to do. I would never have made any music videos; I would never have moved. You can’t do everything by yourself, and I do as much as I can by myself, but there’s so much that you can’t. Maybe you can in your head, but in reality, you can’t.
Do you think creativity comes from pleasure or suffering?
I think it’s different for each person. I wouldn’t say I’ve had an easy life; I haven’t had it as bad as some people, but I haven’t had an easy life. I think my personal struggles, and especially my mental health struggles, have made me very attuned to the feeling of my music. It’s not just like you go through something bad and then all of a sudden you’re a super-creative genius. Suffering has made me very in tune with myself and with the feelings of things, and I’m able to carry it better. I think pleasure is what gives me the motivation to do the creating. Suffering gives me the awareness, the concepts and the emotional creation; pleasure gives me the motivation to make it real, makes me feel like it’s worth making real.
That’s such a nice way to put it. From Fashion Baby to Domino, you’ve come a long way. Talk to me about your artistic evolution throughout your projects.
Oh my God, Fashion Baby (laughs). I would say there’s a lot of evolution. I’ve got to be a little nicer on Fashion Baby because I was seventeen and it was my first Cece song, so I’ve got to give her a little grace. But I think as time goes on, there’s so much more experimentation and it’s slowly morphing into its own genre. Am I there yet? I wouldn’t say so. I think that’d be a little bit pretentious to say, but that’s my end goal. I want to be my own genre.
Have you felt the need to compare yourself to, or even top, your old music? I’m thinking of Miss Behaves, as it’s been so monumental for your career.
It’s hard for me to see that project how I did when I first made it, and it’s hard for me to see how other people see it. There are some songs that I’m just like, okay, this is timeless. Lovely, for example, I think that’s one of my best songs. I love Limit, and my production is always good no matter what because that’s my strength. But if I look back at my writing, I find so much of it so fucking cringey and I can’t listen to it. Sometimes I find my old writing so cringe that I will remove the vocals and only listen to the instrumental (laughs). That’s definitely something I feel strongly about in the evolution of my music: a big thing is writing.
You don’t have a lot of music videos out yet, so I wanted to ask how you want to represent yourself visually as an artist.
I want it to feel like a world that doesn’t exist anywhere, and I think it’s so easy to describe in my head, but when I’m actually trying to verbalise it, I can’t find the words. I don’t want to reference things much. I’m not a fan of super-obvious references, even if sometimes they can work; it’s not my thing. I like a consistent visual theme within the video, and I also like when things are a little more visually simple, without a fuck ton of things going on or a bunch of colours. I don’t know why I’ve never liked super-colourful things; I like a lot of neutral colours. I also want everything to exist in a fantasy world that’s either completely illogical or cinematic in some way, just not a depiction of realistic life.
Exitin is finally getting a music video. How does it feel to bring this song back to life in your own way?
It felt really good because that’s a song where I don’t look back on it and think, “Why the fuck is this popular?” That’s one where, over time, I stopped connecting to it. It doesn’t register as mine. After a while, I don’t listen to songs that I made and get that adrenaline of, “I’m so proud that I made this.” I feel kind of numb to it. Because when so many people are enjoying something, it doesn’t feel like yours anymore.
When I shot the video with Hannah, the director, it started to feel like I was reclaiming it and I started to appreciate it again. I was always able to appreciate it on a surface level, but it finally started to feel a little reminiscent of when I first made it, because when I first made it, I was like, “Holy shit, I did that on the fucking bus on a laptop. Like, bitch, I’m going places” (laughs). And then after a while, I’m just like, whatever.
When I shot the video with Hannah, the director, it started to feel like I was reclaiming it and I started to appreciate it again. I was always able to appreciate it on a surface level, but it finally started to feel a little reminiscent of when I first made it, because when I first made it, I was like, “Holy shit, I did that on the fucking bus on a laptop. Like, bitch, I’m going places” (laughs). And then after a while, I’m just like, whatever.
What inspired this shoot?
I think I have some sort of synaesthesia, and I always get visions in my head with music. When I first made it, there was some concrete imagery that came into my head, and I described that to Hannah and she just got it.
You were in the flow state.
We were in a fucking flow state (laughs).
“When I’m building a world, I’m so passionate about it, I’m so invested in it. I will live in the fucking album that I’m making.”
What did you think of the viral dance and the social-media posts made for that song?
I’ve never wanted to be TikTok viral, but the girls who created the dance, Cat Kennedy and Emily Hemelberg, are so fucking dope. I love them. I got to meet them, and they tried to teach me the dance. I was struggling like crazy, but we practised it, and they went to a studio where they make all those YouTube videos I used to watch as a kid. I was there experiencing it, and it felt so rewarding because it felt like a real-life achievement, and any TikTok virality felt like a by-product; it didn’t feel like the main course.
If a song is popular in real life, of course it’s going to be popular on TikTok. I mean, I don’t go out on the street and hear Exitin playing out of people’s cars; it’s not like that. But learning the dance and meeting Cat and Emily and watching them do it at that studio felt like a materialisation of what I wanted to achieve.
If a song is popular in real life, of course it’s going to be popular on TikTok. I mean, I don’t go out on the street and hear Exitin playing out of people’s cars; it’s not like that. But learning the dance and meeting Cat and Emily and watching them do it at that studio felt like a materialisation of what I wanted to achieve.
Is using this song’s moment helpful in laying the groundwork for your visual foundation? How is this shoot visually representative of your next era?
It’s definitely a big stepping stone into that because this video, to me, is also like a miscellaneous vibe, or a deeply personally curated vibe, and it doesn’t feel poppy to me. I would not consider my next album a pop record in any capacity. I mean, there are some songs that maybe have that feel, but to me it’s not a pop album. I’m glad that through doing these things I can finally have some agency over what categories I’m put in as an artist, even if it’s through videos. Everything is connected, and a video with a certain feeling can also distance you from one thing and bring you closer to another, if that makes sense. Everything matters; everything plays a part.
Do you think people have boxed you into a certain category or related you to certain things?
At first, yeah, and it makes sense because if they don’t know something, you just jump to the first thing that makes sense. Also, my biggest project is a pop album, so that’s what I’m in for, and I haven’t released a main project after that, so it makes sense. But people are starting to come around, and that makes me very happy. All the singles that have dropped after that album, and some stuff on 8 Songs, are not pop, and if you’re a woman, anything you do is pop. Honestly, not even talking about genre or whatever the fuck anymore, the vibe is actually way more important than any genre categorisation. People kind of attached this preppy sparkle vibe to me — that’s probably a horrible way to word it — but I think my vibe is a little more mythological.
I think of mythology like wings and neutral colours, and I don’t think of youthfulness. I think of an old woman in this ambiguous time and place. That’s kind of how I see Ceceworld, and I care so much about this stuff because when I’m building a world, I’m so passionate about it, I’m so invested in it. I will live in the fucking album that I’m making. So that’s the only reason why I care so much, because it doesn’t matter. You can’t control what people think.
I think of mythology like wings and neutral colours, and I don’t think of youthfulness. I think of an old woman in this ambiguous time and place. That’s kind of how I see Ceceworld, and I care so much about this stuff because when I’m building a world, I’m so passionate about it, I’m so invested in it. I will live in the fucking album that I’m making. So that’s the only reason why I care so much, because it doesn’t matter. You can’t control what people think.
If you weren’t making music, what do you think you’d be doing career- or life-wise?
I always pictured myself as a musician since I was a little kid, but I remember my senior year of high school, I was like, “I want to be on reality TV,” because when you get to know me, I have a really big personality that I keep separate from my music. I’d love to be on the early Bad Girls Club seasons, for example (laughs). I saw so much of myself in Judi.
Do you think there are projects within your discography that are more Mia than Cece?
This is such a hard answer. I forget my discography. It’s always stemming from my personal emotions — not always my personal physical experiences, but always my personal emotions — and then I always try my best to mythologise it. Maybe the songs that feel more Mia to me are the songs where my vision wasn’t as strong or I wasn’t feeling as inspired, because when I’m inspired, I’m fully in a mythological world.
Which live performance by another artist have you seen recently that you liked?
Marina. That was the one I was so happy to see. Standing in a crowd and all the noise, watching shows and live stuff, is so overwhelming for me. Even if I’m enjoying it, I want to go home because of all the noise. But I wanted to see her so bad, and her set was three hours after mine, so I was like, “I’m going to stand here and wait.” I was so happy. It felt so magical because she’s definitely a seam in the Cece pants, like, she is important.
Who else is a seam in the Cece pants?
Travis Scott. There are so many, but my music doesn’t sound like any of those people. I always think of him as my first inspiration, and I feel maybe that is unexpected coming from me, but his music is so dramatic, he is putting himself in a fantasy world.
Lastly, I read that you’re working on new music. What can you tell us about that?
I’m very much a quality-over-quantity person and I want this project to be longer than the last. I feel like I owe it to everyone. Sonically, it’s nothing like Miss Behaves, and there are some newer songs on 8 Songs that are maybe a little bit of a step in that direction, but I don’t think it’s like most of my work. There’s a lot of stuff on there that I think a lot of people are gonna be like, “Huh?” I mean, it’s nothing crazy or alien to me, but I think people just won’t expect it from me.
