If you had told me a few years ago that rising queer pop star Kim Petras would be collaborating with rap legend Nicki Minaj, I would have answered the same, with two different layers of implication: “Of course.”
“Sure,” because before the pandemic, Petras began releasing a string of trap-pop hits that made up his first feature-length project, 2019’s. sharpness. The voice that Minaj made at roughly the same time would fit seamlessly into one of these: sharpnessShe has a lot of singles—plus, it looks like Minaj will work with just about anyone if the check is cleared.
The second “Of course”—intended to be said with a determined sigh and a mournful nod—was due to the fact that, over the past five years, both Petras and Minaj had proven their willingness to get close to their alleged abuser. almost every turn. This pattern of behavior on both sides greatly dampened the excitement for their new single “Alone”, which was released today.
“Alone” marks a major leap into the mainstream for Petras as an openly trans pop star who has already topped the Grammy-winning #1 hit “Unholy” with Sam Smith. This momentum is what Petras’ fans (including me) have hoped for since his brawling pop debut. For a proud, outspoken trans artist, grabbing attention is an important step, especially at a socially unstable time when we’re taking a big step back against queer rights. However, the release of “Alone” left me and countless others with an illness that we could not get over.
Since his debut single in 2017, nearly all of Petras’ music has been played by Dr. Luke’s production credits were featured. If you’ve been off the grid for more than a decade, Dr. Luke is a former pop hit producer who disappeared into the shadows of the industry in 2014 after Kesha accused him of sexual and emotional abuse. It operates under the producer pseudonym “Tyson Trax” with Doja Cat or “Made in China” with Petras.
Meanwhile, Minaj happily jumped from one alleged abusive person to another. In 2015, she bailed her brother out of jail, accused of raping a minor she. Later, she collaborated with convicted sex offender Tekashi 6ix9ine in 2018. And as early as 2021, she was caught in a crusade to silence the survivor of her husband Kenneth Petty’s sexual assault, which led to Petty being convicted of attempted first-degree rape. in 1995.
Last August, Minaj met Dr. She released the lousy single “Super Freaky Girl,” which Luke co-produced. Unlike most artists who have worked with the producer since her and Kesha’s court battle began in 2016, Minaj had very few previous ties to Luke. Like She doja Cat, she was not tied to a deal with publishing company Prescription Songs, and apart from her delight in being a deliberate dissident, Dr. He had no reason to get Luke up on the platform.
All over the two artists, Dr. Given Luke’s shared tendencies to release songs with fingerprints, Minaj was the perfect collaborator to get Petras to play his latest single. Some fans optimistic believed He said Petras ended his musical relationship with the producer when he was not featured on his last two singles, “Brrr” and “If Jesus Was a Rockstar.” But “Alone”, Dr. A return to bleak form that is strained as Petras’ big solo moment with Luke back at the helm.
Maybe that’s why Petras, Dr. He seems to take a belligerent stance when faced with questions about his business relationship with Luke. In November 2022, he responded to a Twitter user talking about his relationship with the producer: saying“You work with 5,000,000, why do you only come to me? I have nothing to say or be ashamed of. Walk away.” His tweet was quickly deleted after fans expressed disappointment, but it certainly didn’t help Petras’ cause.
Petras comes under fire once again as Luke gets behind the boards for “Alone.” “Please tell me Dr. Luke said, ‘It’s just not right… I’m not going to give that guy my money,'” one person tweeted. Others urged Petras to cooperate with him immediately.hopeless,” and the song “joke”
If “Solo” was an astonishing feat of pop genius or an evolution in Petras’ voice, it might have been easier to excuse his vertigo than to align himself with the two most obnoxious figures in the industry. But the song, which sampled Alice Deejay’s ’90s dance hit “Better Off Alone,” is a bland and uninspired reenactment of a track. “Alone” is inept at wielding an iconic, irresistible beat, leaving it entirely to the lines of Petras and Minaj; sharpness four years ago. Listening to “Alone” feels like a brief stroll through a street full of broken windows until you take a wrong turn and get stuck on the pavement until you blow your tires. Soon, far more interesting fan-made remixes started popping up online, making the original track sound even more dusty. Simply put, “Alone” sounds like it was thoroughly sought after by both of their featured artists; Bad attempt to push TikTok virality to the top of the charts.
“Listening to “Alone” feels like a brief stroll through a street full of broken windows until you take a wrong turn and get stuck on the pavement until you blow your tires.”
Most unfortunate of all is what the song represented for Petras at a pivotal point in his career. She became the first openly trans woman to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 2022, and the first openly trans artist to win a Grammy in the major category in February. Both of these successes, resulting from a song as terrible as “Unholy”, are worth defending.
Seeing Petras go from an independent artist to a mainstream force to be reckoned with while living openly and unapologetically is undeniably important – especially given that queer rights are under attack by just as vocal parties. States aim to remove legal recognition of transgender people, while others want to ban gender-affirming healthcare altogether. Fox News experts even suggest that America is under attack by “trans terrorism.”
All this complicates the question of whether to support Petras’ collaborations with supposedly terrible people. She is the first trans pop artist to reach this moment. He clawed and scraped as he ascended and struggled with endless scrutiny and transphobia. But her repeated work with troubled industry figures has compromised her artistic integrity—not to mention her happiness to position the debate as something to be proud of, as evidenced by the title of her now-scrapped debut album. Problem.
For a queer like me, this remained a moral dilemma with no clear answer. It’s like the statement “There is no ethical consumption in capitalism” – except in this case, as a fan of Kim Petras, there is no ethical consumption.
In order to open the door to himself and other trances in pop, Petras had to shape his artistic ethics around the innate corruption of the music industry. As gratifying as it is to see her career reach new heights, it still makes me sick to my stomach. “Alone” is a succinct example of all that’s wrong with the industry and how its custodians reject success—especially queer people—without getting a piece of your soul in return. Artistic success may require compromise. But even if that means letting someone we wish we could support do it alone, that doesn’t necessarily mean we should queue up listening.