The most stunning people in this country right now are those who use their strength and grit to create, to challenge, to say no, to embrace yes. For our July issue, we spoke to journalists, athletes, actors, and political activists about the beauty of seizing, and boldly acting on, our power. You can check out all the interviews in our America the Beautiful series right here.
Why do you like making pop music?
“I remember being bullied in school and not being a popular kid, and dancing around my room to Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream, feeling good about everything. That’s what I feel about classic pop music. Cyndi Lauper, early Madonna, Boy George, Billy Idol. Lately though, the stuff I’ve been putting on to forget about my surroundings has been Travis Scott and Post Malone. Genres are disappearing. I don’t know what to call pop. There’s no one song. What I loved [growing up] was losing myself in the music. I could know every single word and sing along to it, scream along into a hairbrush.”
You grew up in Germany. Did America influence your early work and aesthetic at all?
“As a kid, I was obsessed with America. I remember recording Britney interviews and speaking after her to learn English, being really fascinated with it. One day I wanted to move to America. And then the older I got and the more songs I was writing, I was like, ‘I got to move.’ Then I did it. In the beginning, I was very insecure, from a different country, and I felt like I didn’t fit in or couldn’t understand jokes. The more I got to understand American culture, the more it inspired my music — especially the West Coast, in songs like [my single] ‘Hills.’ The opportunities I got here are really amazing. It hasn’t been easy — it was two or three years before I could basically afford rent. But it’s only possible here.”
We asked 13 of America's most radiant humans what American Beauty meant to them.
I was in a Starbucks in Ohio recently, and I heard your song “Heart to Break” —
“Sick.”
— and I thought about growing up with Britney and how kids today are growing up with a trans pop star like you.
“I wanted to do that. I wanted to have a Top 40 song that plays on the radio as a trans girl. And of course as an artist in general. That’s a reference now: ‘In 2018, Kim Petras had a Top 40 radio song, and she’s a trans girl.’ That’s really sick to me. I hope it’s inspiring to young trans kids who feel like shit in their school, like I did, back in the day. I’m always thinking about how crazy that is. But at the same time, I have to think about what’s next.”
A version of this article originally appeared in the July 2019 issue of Allure. To get your copy, head to newsstands or subscribe now.
For more of the "America the Beautiful" series:
NCT 127 Try 9 Things They've Never Done Before
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