Kim Petras

Kim Petras is a German singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Born on 27 August 1992, she first attracted international media attention for her gender transition as a teenager. She is widely known for her pop music releases, including successful singles, mixtapes, and collaborative projects, as well as becoming the first openly transgender artist to achieve several major record chart milestones and industry award recognitions.

Petras grew up in Uckerath, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, alongside two older sisters. Her mother was a dancer and her father an architect. Identifying as female from age two, she began hormone therapy at age 12 and started writing songs around the same time. She taught herself English by watching videos of English-speaking music artists online and produced her early material using GarageBand. After discussing her medical transition on television in 2006, international news coverage followed her efforts to receive gender-affirming surgery, which she underwent in 2008 at age 16. During her youth, she signed a deal with Universal Music Germany. At age 19, she relocated to Los Angeles to pursue her career, working as a songwriter and signing a publishing deal with Prescription Songs in 2016.

In 2017, Petras launched her own record label imprint, Bunhead Records, and released her debut single, "I Don't Want It at All," which charted on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart. She followed this with additional singles, including a feature on Charli XCX's "Unlock It," and released her Halloween-themed EP, Turn Off the Light, Vol. 1, in 2018. Over the next two years, Petras released her debut project Clarity, the mixtape Turn Off the Light, and various collaborative tracks, such as "How It's Done" for the Charlie's Angels film soundtrack and "Broken Glass" with Kygo.

Petras signed with Amigo Records and Republic Records in 2021. That same year, she became the first openly transgender artist to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards, the MTV Europe Music Awards, and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. In 2022, she released the EP Slut Pop and collaborated with Sam Smith on the single "Unholy." The track reached number one in twenty countries, including on the Billboard Hot 100, and won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, making her the first openly transgender woman to top that chart or win a Grammy in that category.

Following "Unholy," Petras released the single "Alone" featuring Nicki Minaj and her debut major-label studio album, Feed the Beast, in 2023, which peaked at number 44 on the Billboard 200. She released her second studio album, Problématique, later that year, followed by the EP Slut Pop Miami in 2024. Following release disputes that led to her departure from Republic Records, she independently released her third studio album, Detour, in 2026. Beyond her music projects, Petras has made appearances in films, documentaries, and television series, including The Bitch Who Stole Christmas and RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World.