The district of Uckerath, which belongs to the medium-sized town of Hennef (Sieg), has so far not left many traces in international pop. The dance group “Westerwaldsterne” was able to present the German champion twelve times in mixed carnival guard dances and dance couples. But otherwise in the 4,000 community on the border with Rhineland-Palatinate it is rather quiet in the box.
If it weren’t for Kim Petras (30), who was born in Cologne and grew up in Uckerath, who recently climbed to number one in the American single charts together with duet partner Sam Smith. A German as Number One; and a trans woman at that. There has never been anything like this in the long history of US pop music.
No wonder that the US trade journal “Billboard” conducted a long interview with Petras. The Hamburg weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” has also gone in search of clues as to how the hit “Unholy” came about.
A classic “Cindarella” story if you will, a Cinderella from the Rhineland through talent and hard work becomes a big hit on the US West Coast.
>>> The best pictures of pop phenomenon Kim Petras
“Magic Collaboration” with Sam Smith
“Billboard” spoke to Petras when her Max Martin-produced single was still on its way to the top. “Totally crazy. When the song debuted at number 3, I was over the moon and I was like, ‘Wow, this has never happened to me before.’ But then to see it keep rising? It would be sick to be number one as well.”
After the interview was published two weeks ago (October 18), this unexpected pop culture sensation happened. Petras reports on her longstanding collaboration with British crooner Sam Smith:
“For me it is a magical collaboration. Sam and I got along really well, but we were kind of sloppy writers who said, ‘No, we do it our way.’ My own path with someone I really respect and feel very inspired by. I’m very happy for Sam – and of course for myself.”
And further:
“Sam and I have been working together for four or five years. At least we sent song files back and forth. But it just wasn’t in the right mood. Then came this song (“Unholy”). Sam sent it to me digitally and I was like, ‘Yes, that’s it! When are we going to the studio?’ Sam was so cool and said, ‘I want to write it with you, I want it to feel like a complete story and we really want to work on it together.'”
“It’s a fantastic situation for me because I’m a writer first, I’ve spent the last ten years in songwriting camps. But I am in direct contact with the artists, like Sam, like Charli XCX or Sophie.”
Kim Petras and her relationship to religion
The next single “If Jesus Was A Rockstar” points the way to their already announced debut album:
“It’s the first song I wrote with my pop Jesus Max Martin, definitely one of my life goals. He’s someone I’ve really looked up to my whole life. I had to dig really deep for this. Religion and spirituality is an intense topic for me because I grew up as a trans woman and didn’t fit into any religion. All my previous friends were more religious and I wanted to write a song about that. I’ve always wished religion would include me – but that it doesn’t, and that many of my friends in the LGBTQ community are forced to feel so isolated. That’s why I’ve always looked elsewhere for spirituality. That’s why I loved music because it made me feel the same way and gave me a place to belong. The song says ‘if religion was cooler then I’d want to fit in’. If Jesus were a rock star, maybe I would want to be just like him.”
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