Kim Petras

Kim Petras (born 27 August 1992) is a German singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Between 2016 and 2020, she released music as an independent artist under her own imprint, BunHead Records, before signing with Amigo and Republic Records in 2021.

Kim Petras was born in the city of Cologne. Her mother is a choreographer and artist, her father is an architect and her older sister is also a singer. While she was assigned male at birth, her parents said that from the age of two Petras knew she was a girl. In 2006, Petras, then aged 13, appeared on a German television current affairs show in which she discussed her medical gender transition. At age 14, Petras appeared in a documentary and a talk show, in a push to get permission for early sex reassignment surgery at age 16, before the minimum age of 18 in Germany. These appearances resulted in international media coverage of her transition, touting her as the "world's youngest transsexual".

In September 2007, she was a model for a German chain of hair salons. Petras was evaluated by the head of the psychiatric unit at Frankfurt Hospital, Dr Bernd Meyenburg, and approved for gender confirmation surgery at 16 years old; Petras announced, in November 2008, that the surgery was completed. The Daily Telegraph claimed Petras was the youngest person in the world to have had that surgery at the time. About her surgery, she stated "I was asked if I feel like a woman now - but the truth is I have always felt like a woman - I just ended up in the wrong body".

In an interview with BuzzFeed, Petras said the first song she ever wrote was "about this dude in second grade who didn't like me back".[13]

Petras began recording music as a teenager, releasing her debut extended play One Piece of Tape in 2011. She independently released her debut international single in 2017 Kim Petras: I Don't Want It at All (2017), in the music video she appears together with Paris Hilton, forming a duo of explosive blondes. The song was followed by Billboard-charting singles Kim Petras: Heart to Break (2018), in the music video she is a princess and Julio Marcelino is the prince. Following her early success, Petras released a collection of digital singles which would later comprise her unofficial body of work known as Era 1. Petras released her debut album Clarity, on 28 June 2019. The record was preceded with a nine-week-long promotional campaign, during which Petras released one single per week with an accompanying visual lyric video. Clarity received acclaim from music critics, reached number seven on the Heatseekers Chart and number 26 on the Independent Albums chart. Following this, Petras released her second studio album, Turn Off the Light in October 2019. In 2020, Petras saw further success with her songs Kim Petras: Malibu (At Home Edition) (2020) accompanied by a very summery music video featuring big names like Paris Hilton who repeats with Kim and others like Demi Lovato, Charli XCX, the sisters Jessie J and AJ Michalka, Nikita Dragun and many others.

In 2021 Petras signed with Republic Records and released the 7-track EP Slut Pop in 2022.

On 30 July 2022, Petras seemingly confirmed via Twitter that the album titled Problématique had been scrapped. On 2 August 2022, many songs believed to be on the album leaked online.

Petras is a pop singer who also makes electronic dance music, dance-pop, electropop and bubblegum pop. She credits the late 1990s and early 2000s pop scene, as well as 1980s Italo disco, as the primary basis for her sound. Petras' inspirations include Katy Perry, Cher, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Kylie Minogue, Madonna and the Spice Girls, as well as Boy George, Debbie Harry, Queen, Freddie Mercury, Judy Garland, Baby E, Lil Aaron, Liz Y2K., and Kesha.