Kim Petras
German singer and songwriter (born 1992)
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Kim Petras (/ˈpɛtrəs/; German: [ˈpeːtʁas]; born 27 August 1992) is a German singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. After attracting international attention for transitioning as a teenager, she released the EP One Piece of Tape (2011) and wrote tracks for Fergie, JoJo, Skylar Stecker, and Twice. She released her debut single, "I Don't Want It at All", in August 2017, followed by the single "Heart to Break" (2018), which charted at No. 52 on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart. She followed this with Turn Off the Light, Vol. 1 (2018), Clarity (2019), Turn Off the Light (2019), and the single "How It's Done" (2019); the last of these featured on the soundtrack of Charlie's Angels. A further track, "Broken Glass" (2020), charted at number 23 on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Songs chart.
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- Singer
- songwriter
Kim Petras | |
|---|---|
Petras in 2018 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 27 August 1992 |
| Origin | Uckerath, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany |
| Occupations |
|
| Works | |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Website | kimpetras |
Petras signed to a Republic Records imprint in 2021. That year, she became the first out transgender act to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards, MTV Europe Music Awards, and Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Her 2022 album Slut Pop featured "Throat Goat", which went viral in 2023 after a sign language interpreter provided an explicit translation at Sydney World Pride. She also featured on Sam Smith's "Unholy" in 2022, which charted at number one in twenty countries including on the Billboard Hot 100 and subsequently won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, making her the first openly transgender woman to top that chart or win a Grammy in that category.
Petras followed "Unholy" with the single "Alone", which peaked at No. 55, the album Feed the Beast (2023), which charted at No. 44 on the Billboard 200, and the album Problématique (2023) and the EP Slut Pop Miami (2024). A further album, Detour, was delayed after Republic refused to release it, prompting Petras to ask to leave the label in January 2026. She has also released the tracks "Unlock It" (2017, with Charli XCX) and "Reminds Me" (2020), which have been covered by Piri & Tommy and by The Kid Laroi and Juice Wrld respectively, and has featured in the film The Bitch Who Stole Christmas (2021), the series Bridesman (2022), the Amazon Music documentary The Lead Up (2022), and a series two episode of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World (2024). She has been criticised throughout her career for working with Dr. Luke.
Life and career
1992–2021: Early life and career beginnings
Petras was born on 27 August 1992,[1][2][3] grew up in Uckerath, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and has two older sisters. Her mother is a dancer and her father is an architect.[4] She began identifying as female aged two[5] and began hormone therapy aged 12.[5] She also began writing songs around this time,[6] having taught herself English by watching YouTube videos of English-speaking artists such as Britney Spears;[7] her earliest works were produced on GarageBand.[4] She has stated that her gender dysphoria left her suicidal[8] and that she was inspired to become a musician after watching a songwriting documentary.[9][10] In 2006, aged 13, she discussed her medical gender transition on an episode of Stern TV. She then made further appearances on international news in an effort to be accepted for gender-affirming surgery by age 16, two years earlier than Germany would normally allow.[11] When she did this in 2008,[12] outlets touted her as the "world's youngest transsexual".[13]
While still in school, she visited recording studios unannounced and recorded demos, which prompted Universal Music Germany to sign her while she was in her teens. Part of her deal was a jingle for a detergent firm.[4] She also released the EP One Piece of Tape in May 2011.[14] Aged 19, with the money she had made from her jingles and a job as a waitress,[13] she moved to Los Angeles, where she lived in the garage of a producer in Redondo Beach.[15] Among the tracks she wrote during this period was "Bratz What's Up", which was recorded by Skylar Stecker for what would have been a sequel to the film Bratz,[13] and a track recorded but not released by Fergie.[16] She also booked sessions with JoJo.[1] She signed a publishing deal with Prescription Songs in 2016[6] and has stated that her search for a label was hindered by religious record label employees refusing to work with a transgender act and imploring others not to.[17] That year, she set up her own imprint, Bunhead Records.[18]
Petras released her debut single "I Don't Want It at All" in August 2017 and the singles "Hillside Boys" and "Hills featuring Baby E" in September 2017. A music video for the first was released in October and featured Paris Hilton.[19] Petras then released "Slow It Down" in November[20] before featuring on Charli XCX's "Unlock It" and releasing "Faded" (featuring Lil Aaron) in December;[21][22] the second featured on XCX's mixtape Pop 2 that month,[21][23] went viral after featuring in a TikTok trend in 2021,[23] and was covered by Piri & Tommy in November 2022.[24] She also released a video for "Faded" in January 2018,[22] followed by the break-up-inspired "Heart to Break" on 14 February,[25] which peaked at No. 52 on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart.[26] She followed this with the singles "Can't Do Better" and "All the Time" in June and August[27][28] and the Halloween-themed EP Turn Off the Light, Vol. 1 in October. The last of these featured Petras singing in German and contained vocals from Cassandra Peterson.[29] She had intended to release Turn Off the Light, Vol. 2 in October 2019[30] but instead released the album Turn Off the Light then, which ended with Turn Off the Light, Vol. 1.[31] A third instalment was announced in October 2020[32] but remained unreleased five years later.[33]
In November 2018, her composition "Young & Wild" featured on Twice's EP Yes or Yes[34] and her vocals featured on Cheat Codes' song "Feeling of Falling";[35] the latter charted on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Songs chart at number 23.[36] She then released three singles in February 2019: "1, 2, 3 Dayz Up" featuring Sophie, "If U Think About Me...", and "Homework" featuring Lil Aaron.[37] These, and her first eight singles, have been referred to by Petras as "Era 1".[38] Between April and June 2019, Petras released the singles "Broken", "Got My Number", "Blow It All", "Sweet Spot", "All I Do Is Cry", "Do Me", "Clarity", "Personal Hell", and "Another One", followed by the album Clarity, which featured all of them.[39][40] She then featured on Charli XCX's "Click"[41] and a remix of Max Schneider's "Love Me Less" in September[42] and teamed up with Kash Doll, Stefflon Don, and Alma in October for "How It's Done"; the last of these was recorded for the soundtrack of November's Charlie's Angels.[43]
In February 2020, she released the single "Reminds Me", which was covered by The Kid Laroi and Juice Wrld in December 2020 to mark a year after the latter's death,[44] and announced that she would be the supporting act on the European leg of Camila Cabello's the Romance Tour,[45] which was aborted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[46] That May, Petras released the single "Malibu", which was promoted by a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live![47] and later remade in Simlish for The Sims 4,[48] and featured on the Kygo song "Broken Glass", which featured on his album Golden Hour[49] and charted at number 13 on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Songs chart.[36] She also added the song "Party Till I Die" to Turn Off the Light in October[32] before featuring on K/DA's "Villain" from their EP All Out in November[50] and remixes of Studio Killers' "Jenny" and ElyOtto's "SugarCrash!" in April and May 2021.[51][52]
2021–present: Republic Records
In August 2021, Petras signed to the Republic Records imprint Amigo Records and released "Future Starts Now". At the time, the track was intended as the lead single from her major-label debut studio album, Problématique.[53][54] Her September performance of the song at that year's MTV Video Music Awards pre-show and her November 2021 performances at that year's MTV Europe Music Awards and Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade made her the first out trans artist to perform at any of them.[55][56][57] Her performance at the EMAs was intentionally raunchy in protest against a then-recent anti-LGBTQ law that had been passed in Hungary, where the awards were being held.[56] In December, Petras featured in the holiday film The Bitch Who Stole Christmas[58] and released "Coconuts"; the latter had premiered at the EMAs[59] and inspired the name of one of JoJo Siwa's cars.[60]
Petras released Slut Pop in February 2022, an EP containing highly sexual lyrics. She has stated that she was inspired to release such content due to her own struggles with being sexual.[61] The EP contained "Throat Goat", which went viral in March 2023 after a sign language interpreter provided an explicit translation at Sydney World Pride,[62] and "XXX", which Petras re-recorded in Simlish for The Sims' 25th anniversary.[48] A follow-up EP, Slut Pop Miami, was released in February 2024.[63] She appeared in Grindr's series Bridesman in April 2022[64] and featured on Alex Chapman's "Horsey" the month after.[65] During June's Pride Month, she released an Amazon Original cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" for the occasion[66] and used a performance at NYC Pride March to call out the then-recent overturning of Roe v. Wade.[67] In July, Petras was the subject of the Amazon Music documentary The Lead Up[46] and announced that Problématique had been scrapped,[68] following which much of it leaked;[69] a revised version was released in September 2023.[70]
From August 2022, Sam Smith began teasing their Petras collaboration "Unholy" on TikTok, where it went viral. Upon release the following month,[71] the song made her the first openly transgender woman to top the Billboard Hot 100,[72] charted at number one in nineteen other countries including the UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand,[16] and made Petras the first openly transgender musician to win a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.[a] She followed "Unholy" in November with "If Jesus Was a Rockstar"[74] and in January 2023 with "Brrr" and a remix of Meghan Trainor's "Made You Look".[75][76] She then released "Alone" (featuring Nicki Minaj) in April, which sampled Alice Deejay's "Better Off Alone" and charted at number 55 on the Billboard Hot 100,[77][78] and appeared on the cover of May's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, becoming the second trans woman to be featured.[b] In June, she featured on a rerecording of Paris Hilton's "Stars Are Blind", a track she had covered in 2020 for a Stonewall Gives Back livestream,[80] and released her own album Feed the Beast; the latter charted at No. 44 on the Billboard 200.[81][82] She then featured on a remix of Sofía Reyes and Danna Paola's "TQUM" in July[83] and on James Hype's "Drums"[84] and a remix of City Girls' "Flashy" in October;[85] the second sampled Justin Timberlake's "Like I Love You".[84]
In November 2023, Petras teamed up with David Guetta for "When We Were Young (The Logical Song)", which interpolated Supertramp's "The Logical Song".[86] She was scheduled to craft the theme song of UEFA Euro 2024 with OneRepublic and Meduza,[87] but was replaced with German singer Leony.[88] She judged an episode of series two of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World in early 2024[16][89] and booked a series of festival dates for the following summer, but cancelled them on medical advice in April[90] and stated in November 2025 that she had damaged her vocal cords during her Feed the Beast World Tour,[91] which had finished in March 2024.[90] She featured on Sophie's single "Reason Why" in June[92] and on the Chainsmokers' single "Don't Lie" and Katy Perry's song "Gorgeous" in September;[93][94] the first and third appeared on Sophie's self-titled posthumous album[92] and on Perry's album 143 that month.[94]
Petras released "Polo" and "Freak It" in July 2025,[95][96] featured on Frost Children's Sister album track "Radio" in September,[97][98] and released "I Like Ur Look" in October.[99] The three solo singles she released that year were intended for Detour,[91] which she premiered at a listening party at Paris' Plaza Athénée in November.[100] She requested to be dropped from Republic in January for allegedly refusing to give her a date for her album and withholding payment to collaborators,[101] following which she independently released the songs "Pop Sound", "Mr. Producer" (featuring BC Kingdom), "Cha Cha", and "Get Some" (featuring Cortisa Star) weekly from February.[102][103] These songs were released on SoundCloud and YouTube and did not appear on major streaming sites.[102][104]
Artistry and public image
Petras's works often make use of the producer tag "Woo Ah!"[1] and are generally genre-agnostic with the exception of Turn Off the Light, which was made to sound like a horror soundtrack.[13] She is inspired by Cher, Madonna, Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue,[105] and Sophie.[106] Her fans call themselves Bunheads in reference to both her love for the show Sailor Moon and a sideways-bun hairstyle she used to wear.[107]
Petras worked with Dr. Luke, the founder of Prescription Songs, on her solo releases between "I Don't Want It At All" (2017) and 2022,[1][74] and then on Problématique and Slut Pop Miami.[19][74][82] She defended working with Dr. Luke, who in 2014 was accused of abusing Kesha,[19][108] in interviews with Out (2017),[19] NME (2018), and BuzzFeed News (2021), and in tweets in 2018 and 2022.[1][108] She apologised after her 2018 interview implied that he was not an abuser of women.[109] Following the release of Slut Pop, #FreeKesha trended on Twitter and fans criticised a lyric in "Throat Goat" that referenced sexual assault survivor Lady Gaga.[110] In 2026, after Petras posted about her issues with Republic Records, Kesha expressed support for her.[111]
Awards and nominations
| Award | Year | Nominee(s) | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brit Awards | 2023 | "Unholy" (with Sam Smith) | Song of the Year | Nominated | [112] |
| British LGBT Awards | 2021 | Herself | Music Artist | Nominated | [113][114] |
| 2024 | Nominated | [115] | |||
| GLAAD Media Awards | 2019 | Turn Off the Light, Vol. 1 | Outstanding Music Artist | Nominated | [116] |
| 2020 | Clarity | Nominated | [117][118] | ||
| 2023 | Slut Pop | Nominated | [119][120] | ||
| 2024 | Feed the Beast and Problématique | Nominated | [121] | ||
| Grammy Awards | 2023 | "Unholy" (with Sam Smith) | Best Pop Duo/Group Performance | Won | [122] |
| iHeartRadio Music Awards | 2023 | Best Collaboration | Won | [123] | |
| TikTok Bop of the Year | Nominated | ||||
| MTV Europe Music Awards | 2022 | Video for Good | Won | [124] | |
| MTV Video Music Awards Japan | 2023 | Best Collaboration Video (International) | Won | [125] | |
| Queerty Awards | 2020 | Herself | Badass | Nominated | [126] |
| "Sweet Spot" | Anthem | Nominated | |||
| 2021 | "Malibu" | Nominated | [127] | ||
| 2022 | "Coconuts" | Nominated | [128] | ||
| 2023 | "Unholy" (with Sam Smith) | Won | [129] |
Discography
Studio albums
- Feed the Beast (2023)
- Problématique (2023)
Notes
- Wendy Carlos won three Grammys in 1970 for her debut album Switched-On Bach, nine years before coming out as trans.[73]
- Actress Leyna Bloom appeared in July 2021.[79]
