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Actor

1992-08-27 · Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany · Female

8 series in the catalog

Kim Petras (; German: [ˈpeːtʁas]; born 27 August 1992) is a German singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. After gaining international media attention for transitioning as a teenager, she released her debut EP, One Piece of Tape (2011), and wrote tracks for Fergie, JoJo, Skylar Simone, and Twice. In 2017, Petras released her debut single "I Don't Want It at All", which charted at No. 54 on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart. She followed this with her second EP, Turn Off the Light, Vol. 1 (2018), the mixtapes Clarity and Turn Off the Light (both 2019), and the single "How It's Done" (2019); the last of these featured on the soundtrack of Charlie's Angels. A further track with Kygo, "Broken Glass" (2020), charted at No. 13 on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Songs chart.

In 2021, Petras signed a record deal with Dr. Luke's Amigo Records and Republic Records. That year, she became the first transgender act to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards, MTV Europe Music Awards, and Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Her 2022 EP, Slut Pop, featured "Throat Goat", which went viral in 2023 after a sign language interpreter provided an explicit translation at Sydney WorldPride. She also collaborated with Sam Smith on "Unholy" that same year, 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" (with Nicki Minaj), which peaked at No. 55 on the chart, and preceded her debut studio album, Feed the Beast (2023), which charted at No. 44 on the Billboard 200. Her second studio album, Problématique (2023), was issued that same year, and followed with the EP, Slut Pop Miami (2024). She independently released her third studio album, Detour (2026), following a departure from Republic Records regarding disputes of its release.

Petras 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 made appearances in the films The Bitch Who Stole Christmas (2021) and This Is Me... Now: A Love Story (2024), 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).

Life and career

1992–2021: Early life and career beginnings

Petras was born on 27 August 1992, grew up in Uckerath, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and has two older sisters. Her mother is a dancer and her father is an architect. She began identifying as female aged two and began hormone therapy aged 12. She also began writing songs around this time, having taught herself English by watching YouTube videos of English-speaking artists such as Britney Spears; her earliest works were produced on GarageBand. She has stated that her gender dysphoria left her suicidal and that she was inspired to become a musician after watching a songwriting documentary. 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. When she did this in 2008, outlets touted her as the "world's youngest transsexual".

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. She also released the EP One Piece of Tape in May 2011. Aged 19, with the money she had made from her jingles and a job as a waitress, she moved to Los Angeles, where she lived in the garage of a producer in Redondo Beach. 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, and a track recorded but not released by Fergie. She also booked sessions with JoJo. She signed a publishing deal with Prescription Songs in 2016 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. That year, she set up her own imprint, Bunhead Records.

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. Petras then released "Slow It Down" in November before featuring on Charli XCX's "Unlock It" and releasing "Faded" (featuring Lil Aaron) in December; the second featured on XCX's mixtape Pop 2 that month, went viral after featuring in a TikTok trend in 2021, and was covered by Piri & Tommy in November 2022. She also released a video for "Faded" in January 2018, followed by the break-up-inspired "Heart to Break" on 14 February, which peaked at No. 52 on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart. She followed this with the singles "Can't Do Better" and "All the Time" in June and August 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. She had intended to release Turn Off the Light, Vol. 2 in October 2019 but instead released the mixtape Turn Off the Light then, which ended with Turn Off the Light, Vol. 1. A third instalment was announced in October 2020 but remained unreleased five years later.

In November 2018, her composition "Young & Wild" featured on Twice's EP Yes or Yes and her vocals featured on Cheat Codes' song "Feeling of Falling"; the latter charted on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Songs chart at number 23. 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. These, and her first eight singles, have been referred to by Petras as "Era 1". 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. She then featured on Charli XCX's "Click" and a remix of Max Schneider's "Love Me Less" in September 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.

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, and announced that she would be the supporting act on the European leg of Camila Cabello's the Romance Tour, which was aborted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That May, Petras released the single "Malibu", which was promoted by a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and later remade in Simlish for The Sims 4, and featured on the Kygo song "Broken Glass", which featured on his album Golden Hour and charted at number 13 on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Songs chart. She also added the song "Party Till I Die" to Turn Off the Light in October before featuring on K/DA's "Villain" from their EP All Out in November and remixes of Studio Killers' "Jenny" and ElyOtto's "SugarCrash!" in March and April 2021.

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. 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…