DIVA speaks to pop princess about her love for the LGBTQ community
In her latest music video for single Heart To Break, German-born Kim Petras sits nonchalantly on the ledge of a purple, crystal castle – you know, like the true, millennial pop princess that she is.
Heart To Break’s fairy tale theme couldn't be more fitting against the fairy tale that Petras is currently living.
Born just outside of Cologne, Germany, Kim had always known that she was a girl. At 16, she became the youngest person to undergo affirmation surgery, and at 19, she moved to Los Angeles with almost nothing in the hopes of pursuing her dreams of being a pop star.
Now 25 years old, Kim's latest single has had over one million views, she's had Paris Hilton cameo in one of her other videos, and has worked as a songwriter for The Stereotypes – the production team behind Bruno Mars’ That’s What I Like.
Here, we caught up with Petras to talk about her new music, an upcoming gig in London, and her love for the LGTBQ community.
DIVA: First off, congratulations on hitting one million views for your Heart to Break video!
KIM PETRAS: Thanks! Yeah, that happened really quick.
What was the inspiration behind the video?
I did it with my friend Nick Harwood who was the creative director. We were talking about the lyrics, "Even if I end up in shatters", and how it made me feel as if I were made of glass. We took that idea really literally, like what if you turn to glass and are scared of breaking. Then we found a story about a king who thought he was made of glass and was afraid that he would shatter. He would never do anything, because he was convinced that he was made of glass. We ran with that story line. Like, if I fall in love, I'm going to shatter into a million pieces. It worked alongside the song so well.
We hear you're going to be performing in London soon – what can fans expect from the gig?
Definitely all of the hits – and I might even debut a new song! I'm going to do acoustic versions of a couple of the songs. I think with all of my performances, the priority is to have fun, and I'm really excited for it.
Is it true that you’ll also appearing at Birmingham Pride?
Yes! I love Pride. The first big event I performed at was a Pride. I love performing at them, I feel very at home.
You've done so well for yourself, I'm sure there are many members of the LGBTQ community out there who have big dreams too, what advice do you have for them?
I came to Los Angeles without anything – just big dreams of becoming of a pop star and songwriter. You just need to go for it and work really hard, but I think you can achieve anything you want. It won't happen if you don't try, and if you work really hard you can do anything.
Who were your musical inspirations growing up?
Freddie Mercury was very influential, and I'm a huge fan of early Madonna. I'm a huge fan of Madonna in general, but her early stuff really stood out for me, I love her.
You worked as a songwriter for a while, if you could write for any musician – alive or dead – who would it be, and why?
My goal is to get Rihanna, because I will never stop loving Rihanna. I've written at least 50 songs with her in mind. She's my ultimate star. Her voice is just magic. Anything she touches is just amazing to me.
You have a new album on its way, what can fans expect from it?
I have so many songs and I can't wait to share them. I've collected songs over the years, but we've taken them and retouched them a bit. It’s like the best of all of my song writing ever. I'm just super pumped for people to hear the whole thing!
How has your home country, Germany, reacted to your musical success?
They were super hyped about seeing somebody from Cologne be successful in the music industry. I think they're all really excited. I did German Vogue which was a big moment. There were times in Germany where they were really confused by the whole transgender thing and asked me really rude questions about it, but that was definitely a minority occurence.
You were quite young when you first came out. For trans people, or anyone in the LGBTQ community, what would your advice be on coming out?
Just be who you are, and be like, “This is who I am and this is how I want to live.” It’s all about being happy. I think keeping secrets is always really bad for your wellbeing. I never kept it a secret, nobody ever made me keep it a secret. I’ve felt like a girl since I can remember. I just told everybody, “Hey, I'm a girl.” It's hard sometimes, and people will have problems with you. But at the same time you should be really proud of yourself, especially when you overcome those problems. I always think that standing up for who you are and being who you are will inspire somebody else to do the same thing.
Is there anything else you’d like to tell DIVA readers?
I am super excited to come to the UK. I know I have a bunch of awesome, amazing fans there! I think it's really interesting to see how connected the LGBTQ community is around the world, and the support is just incredible to me.
Kim will be performing at the Courtyard Theatre in London on 25 May. Tickets for the show are now available at livenation.co.uk
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