Kim Petras has a brief flirtation with mainstream pop stardom after she appeared on Sam Smith's 2022 chart-topper "Unholy," but it didn't fully click. Since then, Petras has gone back to making the kind of confrontational, hyper-artificial dance-pop that brought her to the dance in the first place. Earlier this year, she asked for her label Republic to drop her, claiming that her album, saying that her album is done and Republic refused to release it. Now, it looks like she's planning to release her Detour LP on her own, and she gets into her industry woes on her new single "Need For Speed" and in its winky, self-aware video.
Over the past few months, Kim Petras has been releasing independent singles like the Frost Children/Nightfeelings production "Pop Sound." (She also appeared on Frost Children's track "Radio" last year.) Petras, Frost Children, and Nightfeelings co-produced the new Petras single "Need For Speed" with Zara Larsson collaborator Margo XS. Petras and her production collaborators co-wrote the track with pop-industry pro Madison Love. It's a harsh, pulsing club track, and it's got Petras singing through heavy Auto-Tune about trying to live the pop-star life while dealing with clueless label chumps. I could see this catching the same kind of post-Brat wave that Slayyyter is riding right now.
The Ashley Hood-directed "Need For Speed" video is a glossy, cartoonish exaggeration of what it's life to live in the current pop situation, where you always have to do corny bullshit like brand endorsements and everyone can't wait for you to flop. There's a scene where Petras gambles away her Grammy. Check it out below.
