It isn’t often that an international pop artist crosses over through a big-budget movie, video game, and TV show soundtrack before she hits Billboard charts — but then, Italy’s Tying Tiffany has never been conventional.

The undeniably hot, former Suicide Girl and pop sensation from Padua has dropped tracks for the hit US TV show CSI, and the top-selling video game FIFA ’12. Most recently, she co-composed the orchestral trailer music for the megahit movie The Hunger Games, out Friday. As if she couldn’t be more all-over-the-place, she has also dropped four albums on her own, including her recent industrial alt-punk LP, Dark Days White Nights.

So who is she? We tracked her down to find out.

See what Tying Tiffany has to say about The Hunger Games books, Silvio Berlusconi, and the secret to soundtracking.

What role did you play in the Hunger Games trailer?

I composed the music with the producer Lorenzo Montanà, who I’ve worked with on my own albums. He’s mainly a composer for contemporary music and ambient. I wrote the first part of the trailer. We were looking for a magic sound for the beginning, something like a mysterious intro. I played some piano, vibraphone, and cello. I recently formed a music duo with Lorenzo, T.T.L. (Through The Lens), to compose music for trailer and soundtrack.

It’s a pretty big departure from what you usually do. What was your experience making Hunger Games soundtrack music, compared to your usual work?

It sounds strange, because composing a theme for a trailer like The Hunger Games and movie soundtrack is totally different from what I usually do in music until now. The music sets the mood of the trailer, and it must create in a few minutes an exciting story for a film. The music design is mainly instrumental, and it’s a great opportunity to work with orchestral sound.

Are you a fan of the book?

First I created the music, and then I read the first of the trilogy. It left me breathless. I’m fan of sci-fi and fantasy and the book is awesome!  Initially, I had no idea what this book was about or what to expect, but I was not disappointed. It’s written like something out of Stephen King, or Orwell’s 1984. It’s got a theme, like reality TV taken to extremes. There’s a ton of  action, lots of well-developed secondary characters, as well as extremely likeable main characters. The story also reminds me of sacrifice during the Roman Empire’s gladiatorial games.

You seem to make your way onto so many mainstream soundtracks – Hunger Games, FIFA ’12, and CSI – what’s your secret?

First of all, I need to be in love with the film and find emotions from their visual images within myself. I work hard, but that’s not really a secret. FIFA 12 and CSI selected songs that I wrote just for my latest album, without me having video games or TV in mind.

What is your favorite childhood memory?

I have many nice childhood memories, but one that stands out very clearly in my mind was the incredible imagination of my dad, and how he told me stories of amazing worlds that he created just for me. This helped me to develop my imagination, and to live life everyday as a beautiful game.

Who are your current musical inspirations?
I always listened to lots of music and I never put limits on it. But I love all kinds by PIL, Kraftwerk, I, Sister of Mercy, The Cramps, Christian Death, Gargoyle Sox, Dead Can Dance, but also Elvis Costello, David Sylvian, Catherine Wheel, Swans but also the Detroit techno scene and Rotterdam or more ambient stuff like Steve Roach, Harol Budd, Biosphere and many others.

What is your favorite thing that has ever been said about your music by a critic, by a friend, anyone.

I don’t care nor will I pretend that everyone understands what I do, especially critics, but I’m happy and satisfied when I get nice words from the people who write to me every day, thanking me for sharing my creations, songs, and lyrics that help them overcome their dark moments.

What’s up with Silvio Berlusconi?

Berlusconi, resigned in November but scandals still continue, He had three trials on charges including corruption, tax fraud and paying for sex with an underage prostitute, but he still said that “These persecutions against me are not just a world record but a record for the universe and the entire solar system”…this is really ridiculous..Unfortunately, he’s been a source of shame for my country and now we can only get better.

What does Tying Tiffany mean?

The name comes from the feeling of a world that tries to put chains on me, but I do not like to be imprisoned. Tiffany is a very popular, pure and simple first name, and it clashes with “tying,” a type of thinking, moralist and rhetorical, that tries to trapping.

Are you still a Suicide Girl? What appeals to you about modeling for them? How does a musician juggle the hot babe thing, and the high-concept music thing? Do you get some backlash?

I’m not a SG model anymore , but I really like the mood of the community. You can find people with pride in deviance from “classic aesthetic“ and standard stereotypes that made women today a slave to perfection. I’m interested in any kind of art, in photography, theater and fashion, but just in the underground scene, like D.I.Y. SG goes that way, and it’s an amazing website also into music scene. If that seemed strange for someone..it’s not my problem :-)

You just came out with your fourth album – what next?

This is my fourth album Dark Days White Nights. I’ve been on tour since last week. I’m also planning a Tying Tiffany Remix edition. But now I’m working on an EP from my new project T.T.L., and the first single from the EP is the song “Deep Shadow” used for “The Hunger Games” trailer, out next week (March 20th), on the Nyc electronic label ZerOKilled Music.

For a look at Tying Tiffany’s new album Dark Days, White Nights, watch her video for the single “Drowning.”