Kim Petras Reveals New Music Is Nigh, Squashes Lady Gaga Collab Rumors

Pop star Kim Petras is celebrating this Pride Month with SKYY Vodka’s Coming Out (Again) Pride-month campaign alongside RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 Winner Symone to support nightlife venues and workers who were hit hardest by the pandemic as the country slowly emerges from lockdown. 

As a cheers to the return to normalcy, we caught up with Petras on a sunny mid-June day. She'd just finished walking her three dogs she got during quarantine last year. "I have one Pomeranian, one Pug, and one mix, they're all best friends," she laughs.

Petras spills all the tea about her brand new music (coming sooner than you think), clears up those Lady Gaga collaboration rumors, shares what she hopes her music does for LGBTQ+ folks, and reveals her dream Drag Race lip sync performance. 

PRIDE: Hi Kim! Tell me about your partnership with SKYY Vodka and their Coming Out (Again) Pride Campaign!
Petras: I have the honor of doing the campaign together with Symone. I'm a big Drag Race fan. So we were all rooting for Symone on Drag Race, and she was amazing and such a sweetheart. I was so happy I got to hang out with her, but also SKYY Vodka is supporting gay nightlife after this freaking, horrible pandemic where everything got shut down and is donating to New York and LA Pride and New York and LA nightlife who have suffered so much through this last year. I was on board, and this was my second collaboration with SKYY. I love that they support and fund and help the LGBTQ community. So it was kind of a no-brainer.

I know you performed at the OUTLOUD Music Festival in LA earlier this month. How does it feel after the year that we've had to get back into the swing of things with Pride events?
Really incredible. I was feeling a little crazy and nervous before because a year of not performing was a little crazy. But once I got on stage, it all went away. It all felt amazing again. I'm so happy to be doing this again because it's a big part of my life. I always get really busy around Pride because I love the LGBTQ community and I want to give back as much as I possibly can. So, yeah, it feels really great. I've been waiting for this moment to come. I'm just so excited I get to do shit again.

I basically grew up in gay clubs with my friends and that was my life. I just love anything LGBTQ. That's just like a party. I feel like it's just fun, so much love. And I'm a part of it, so it's just important to me.

The crazy part is definitely going to start once I drop my album, which I've been working on. So later this year, it looks super, super booked. The Pride itself is really the fun part right now. 

You'll be performing at Lollapalooza at the end of July. Is there any chance we'll get a single before then?
Yeah. I'm definitely performing new music. The date for the single, I don't want to say it, but I'm definitely performing new music at Lollapalooza. That's super exciting. New music from the new album. I've been rehearsing so much. I'm just really, really excited to do that.

Speaking of Drag Race, so many of your fans want to see you on the show. What song of yours would you love to see drag queens perform on RuPaul's Drag Race?
Ooh, probably, honestly, "Do Me." "Do Me" would be epic. I think "Do Me" would be an incredible Drag Race song, so fingers crossed. I was so lucky that they played "Heart to Break" on there. So that was already incredible. But yeah, I'd love to judge Drag Race. So reach out when, whenever, I'll be there Miss Drag Race.

There's a lot of speculation on gay twitter that you might be on one of these Lady Gaga remix projects... 
No, I wish. I wish. That would be great, but no. No one's reached out. Unfortunately not, but I love Lady Gaga. I love that [Born This Way The Tenth Anniversary] album. If I could pick a song, I would've done "Hair." I love that song so much. It's just German gibberish. I love that they came up with that, but no, unfortunately not, but I'm still super excited for this whole album.

I'm happy Gay Twitter thinks I'm on it. That's really sweet.

You have so many fans all over the world but for your LGBTQ fans, what do you hope they take from your music?
I hope it just makes them feel free. I don't want being trans or being gay or being anything to define you that much. I think it really says not much about who somebody is as a person, if they're gay or trans or whatever they are. So I think that's what my music is for. And I think we're all like-minded, and we don't just see people as a gender or gender identity or as a sexuality or anything like that. And I think my music just allows my fans to just be free to not have a boundary. I, at least, hope that because music for me has always been like the only thing that transcends gender and skin color and anything. If you feel music, you feel it. I just hope it makes them feel as free as it makes me feel because it is my safe bubble in life. That's what I want to live in. That's what I want life to feel like. I hope that it gives them the same feeling as me.