Kim Petras Gets Real About The Transphobia She Faced While Shopping For A Label

Kim Petras's debut album, Clarity, which she released this past June, acquired high praise from critics. Reviews of the LP compared her to a span of notable acts, from Robyn and Lorde to Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Although if you're not very familiar with the 27-year-old rising artist, you could might not know that she's actually unsigned. And yes, there's a reason for that. In a recent interview with V magazine, Petras opened up about her issues with major labels and her experience shopping for deals as a transgender artist.


First and foremost, the damaged singer takes supply with labels because she says, they tend to transform their artists into someone else totally. For her, that's habitually been a big fear. "I visualize so several unique and astonishing people slowly become the 'LA pop girl sort that each person becomes," she instructed them mag. "I'm really scared of that."


It became abundantly clear that she didn't wish to attach herself to a label as soon as she was first shopping around for deals. Petras called these industry meetings "really annoying," describing them as "a room full of people discussing, how do we market it? How do we keep it a secret? Debating if it's possible to be transgender and lucrative." Segment of that, for Petras, was that being a woman in the music industry can be complicated. "I think only 10 percent of last year's nominees were females she said. And on top of that, being trans meant she faced an added set of challenges. "I've had a lot of meetings with labels where the only thing they're able to talk about is me being transgender, not even the music," she said.


The transphobia continued as soon as music labels resisted to work with her and implored others to do the same. "It was maybe two years prior any time If I was shopping for deals," she mentioned. "Really religious people at major labels in LA have said: 'You're going to hell in case you work with Kim Petras.'" Fortunately, she didn't need them to be the success that she is today. "I think this is the initial time doing this independently would even be possible," she mentioned. "Being a transgender artist wouldn't have been possible 10 years prior. Right now is the time."


Petras knows the significance of standing out and having "an identity," and according to her, it's all around us. "[The climate] is first up and increasingly artists are doing their own thing," she mentioned. "They don’t fit into any sort of norm. Those are the people that are winning big — Lizzo, Megan the Stallion, Cardi. All of those folks are themselves. They're doing their own thing and don't fit into categories. Now is the moment for that."