Q&A: Kim Petras On Living Her Dream Of Working With Nicki Minaj, ‘Unholy’ And Her Top 10 Slutty Songs Of All Time

Kim Petras has already won a Grammy this year for “Unholy,” her duet with Sam Smith. Now, the Grammy winner is shooting for another accolade, song of the summer, for “Alone,” which finds her teaming with one of her heroes, Nicki Minaj.

LnkKim Petras & Nicki Minaj “Alone”

The song, out today, is the culmination of years of behind the scenes hard work as for Petras as a pop songwriter. As she tells me, she has long dreamed of working with Minaj.

Now, Petras is seeing many of her dreams come true. I spoke with Petras about teaming with Minaj, how she can’t wait to get back on the road in the fall, dreaming of working with Lana Del Rey and MIA and her top ten slutty songs of all time, including tracks from Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and more.

Steve Baltin: How does it feel to be home? Are you ever home anymore?

Kim Petras: I’ve been home for about a week now so it feels really good. There has been a lot of Europe stuff happening so I’ve been back and forth from Europe a lot. So it feels great to be home. I feel like I can recharge, see my friends and just be a normal person so that’s helpful in life. But also it has been madness since I’m prepping my album that’s coming out later this year. And there has just been a lot to do with that. I just shot music a video with Nicki Minaj and that’s my next single that’s coming out so that’s an absolute dream come true. But I was just planning a lot, scheming a lot, doing a lot for the fans. Very exciting.

Baltin: You say working with Nicki was a dream come true. Do you see opportunities presenting themselves more since the success of “Unholy”?

Petras: Well, they don’t necessarily present themselves. I feel like I’ve been working for years to get Nicki on a song, but in secret. I started out as a songwriter so there were many, many sessions where I was like, “I wanna write something for Nicki.” And as a songwriter, I’m just so inspired by her, been for a long time. Pink Friday literally changed my life and I remember lining up to get that CD, which is crazy. Yeah, I’m a barb for life and I’ve made a lot of songs that I thought before like, “Nicki would be dope on this.” But this time it was Nicki loved the song and was down to jump on it. So it was half luck, half just working really hard and writing tons and tons of songs to get there. But I think this is the perfect one and I’m so honored to get the Nicki cosign and I f**king love her so much. That’s my queen.

Baltin: So for you as you started to see the success manifest itself more, does it mean more to you because you know all the work that you put in to get here?

Petras: I always struggle with this question because I don’t know what the other option feels like. But yes, I always feel very humbled when I think about even two, three years ago where I was in my life and looking at now where I am in my life. I’m very honored but also I work extremely hard and I’ve been working hard on being a good pop songwriter since I was a kid and working on it every day. And it’s like all the stuff you don’t see really which is the reason that all these amazing things are happening. It really is about just you and your songwriting and what you want to say and finding yourself and finding your sound and all of that. And that’s something that I want to be doing for the rest of my life. Just exploring where I can go and what song am I writing next? That’s always in my head like the most important thing. It’s always about the next song. And yeah, I feel extremely grateful for all that has come along the way of doing that. But honestly I wouldn’t want to be anywhere but in the studio and on stage for tour, that’s my happiest place.

Baltin: Who are the greatest pop songwriters of all time for you?

Petras: Honestly I would put Nicki up there because no one writes hookier bars than Nicki ever in my opinion. So I would put Nicki on that list. I would put Max Martin on that list. I would put Charli XCX on that list. Yeah, that’s my list for today.

Baltin: What’s the one pop song that you hear it, and you’re just so jealous? Like, “I wish that I had written that.”

Petras: It’s weird because it’s not really like pop, but for me, that has always been “Don’t Speak,” by No Doubt. I just think that song is such a f**king classic concept and beautiful. And just I never get tired of it. Every time I hear it, I’m like, “Why the f**k did I not come up with that?” I have a lot of songs that are like that. But that’s honestly the best. Whenever I feel like, “F**k, I would’ve written that,” I push myself harder to come up with better s**t that makes me feel like that. And that’s also how I measure my songs. “If somebody else put this out, would I be furious and jealous?” That’s how I measure myself. Like with this Nicki song, I would be screaming at the wall. So eat it up, bitches. Step it up.

Baltin: Is there a timeline for the album?

Petras: Yeah, for sure. It’s coming in later in the summer, which is amazing. And then there’s a tour coming in the fall, which is my f**king dream because I miss touring. So yeah, it’s all happening pretty soon. I’m shooting the album artwork next week and shooting a bunch of fun stuff for the album. And yeah it’s kind of just all gearing up, and to start it with a Nicki feature is the most psychotic and iconic thing to ever happen. So I can’t believe life.

Baltin: You have Nicki on there now. Who else is on the wish list? Who’s the next dream one to work with?

Petras: Lana, I’ve always wanted to work with Lana, and I just respect her songwriting so much. Also, Marina And The Diamonds and I love Ice Spice. That’s kind of my dream list. I’ve always wanted to work with MIA, MIA has always been such an elusive cool person to me. I just want to know how she writes ’cause her music is really unique and one of a kind. Yeah, that’s my dream list right now. Also, I love the Gorillaz. That would be crazy to even see their process or anything like that. Oh yeah. Lana is still the top of my wish list for sure.

Baltin: Do you feel that eclecticism and all those different influences in the new album?

Petras: I feel like my influences are super all over the place. I don’t really have a specific genre that I listen to and I feel like I switch the genre of what I listen to constantly. But yeah, it’s very quintessential me and like the different facets of why I make music and why I think I have a place in pop that’s unique and special. And that’s my own thing. So I was really focused on crafting my own thing and really, “What is it that I do best?” And I feel like all of these songs are just exactly that. And so if I was going to work with Lana, I would love to write it with her and figure it out with her. When collaborating I’d really love to just see their process and see how they collide. I have a song on there with Banks, which is amazing. I’m a fan of Banks. We just went in and really kind of just did a song fully together and were completely like, “What is the coolest sound we can achieve together? Where do we like benefit each other?” And that’s the cool thing about working with artists to me. If it’s like a true collaboration. And so that’s what I’m always looking for. But these songs are really inspired by just what the f**k makes me love music. It’s so selfish. It’s just all about me and I can’t stand myself.

Baltin: Did you and Nicki get to write together?

Petras: No, Nicki is a different thing because with Nicki I feel like it was always like, “I want a hard ass Nicki verse.” I got exactly that and that was amazing. Nicki is also busy as hell. But yeah, it was amazing. I met her at the music video shoot. We shot it like two days ago and that shoot went till 4:00 AM, so I’m a little tired still. That is just really like the pop song of my dreams alone. I think that song is just really the kind of summer club song I want to hear. And especially being European and loving dance music coming. And bringing that in and then having Nicki on it was such a one of a kind experience.

Baltin: Did you know that when you were doing “Unholy” that the song was going to be what it would become?

Petras: How I measure if I want a song to come out, is just do I love it and is it what I want to be hearing right now? And that song for Sam and I, I think was exactly what we just wanted to hear. And I think we just both wanted to make kind of a grimy, really slutty pop song, and be ridiculous with it. And so I think we achieved that and I’m so happy because we had so much fun in the studio. We smoked a lot of weed and it was really fun. It was just overall such a fun experience and Sam really encouraged me to be myself fully on that song and just talk about all the s**t that I would. And I loved that. It was a great opportunity to make a slutty verse on a slutty song. So yeah, that won a slutty Grammy and a slutty number one.

Baltin: What are a couple examples to you of other great slutty songs?

Petras: Ooh, “Dirrty,” Christina Aguilera, obvious one. There’s Britney [Spears], “Slave 4 U.” I love the song by Princess Superstar, “Perfect.” To me that’s in my slutty top 10.

Baltin: Give me the slutty top 10.

Petras: Okay. So “Perfect” by Princess Superstar, “Ponyboy” by SOPHIE; “Dirrty,” Christina Aguilera; “Slave 4 U,” Britney Spears. “Side to Side,” Ariana Grande. “Super Freaky Girl” [Nicki]. “Treat Me Like a Slut,” by me. “S&M,” Rihanna. “Can’t Get You Out of my Head,” Kylie Minogue, that’s for sure. And “Like a Virgin” [Madonna]

Baltin: When people hear “Alone,” what do you want them to take from it? What’s the best response you can get from someone hearing that song?

Petras: Honestly, a lot of my fans just like love having sex to music. So whenever someone tells me that, I just get really proud. That makes me really proud of my fans whenever they’re getting railed to my music. And that’s like the biggest compliment you can really give me. So get to it, girls.