Kim Petras, pop’s newest savior, tests the limits of sexy religious innuendo on her latest single, “If Jesus Was A Rockstar.” Her follow-up single to the No.1 chart-topper “Unholy” with Sam Smith is not as hard-hitting as its big sister.
The new track is a mellow and real approach to pop stardom compared to her XXX-rated fantasies on March EP, Slut Pop, and German Techno House alter-ego on the Halloween mixtapes, Turn Off The Lights.
The Bigger Picture
Is Petras a religious girl? Not by any means. The star even posed in front of religious protesters outside of her show venue during her Clarity tour circuit. Being an openly transgender person not only complicates religion, but it completely saturates her music and artistic integrity.
This juxtaposition left label executives questioning the ultra sexy Petras persona succeeding in mainstream pop. However, this all changed when Petras became the first artist in music history to earn a No.1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 (also earning Sam Smith their first No.1).
“If Jesus Was A Rockstar” By Kim Petras
Riding off that hype is this Teenage Dream-esque acoustic track. “If Jesus Was A Rockstar” has contributions from talented pop savants Max Martin, ILYA and Omer Fedi. After scrapping her debut major-label album, Problématique, Petras is bound for redemption. “If Jesus Was A Rockstar” is the singer-songwriter’s first single off her still-unannounced debut album.
“I think the point of this song is taking away the bells and whistles and the extreme, over-exaggerated characters that I’ve created in the past, especially on Slut Pop and Turn Off the Light,” Petras told The Daily Beast recently. “It’s the first time that it’s not an escapist song, and it’s about how I feel as a human in the world right now. It’s the first time that I just felt like the song was meaningful enough to stand by itself.”
Petras, someone as dedicated to pop reinvention as much as pop music history, studied Martin’s magic for years. “I’m kind of glad I didn’t know that he [Martin] was there that day, because I would have died of being nervous,” Petras said. (Fun Fact: Max Martin scored his first Billboard No.1 with smash hit “… Baby One More Time” by another idol of Petras–Britney Spears.)
What do you think of Kim Petras’s latest single, “If Jesus Was A Rockstar”? Let us know in the comments!
