Clarity
After months of drip-feeding her first full-length project to fans—devising her own release schedule and dropping a new song each week—German-born pop superstar Kim Petras presents the full, glittering package. *Clarity* is baked in ’80s bubblegum nostalgia—it’s neon, cartoonishly girly, and largely apolitical—but isn’t without layers. Underneath the raunch and sass of Madonna-inspired bops like “Broken” and “Do Me,” Petras offers glimpses at her own empowering journey through gender reassignment surgery and self-discovery. Sometimes, she tells that story through an outstretched hand: “From the bottom you come up/From haters to lovers/From nada to Prada/You know you’re the star that you are,” she belts on closing track “Shinin’,” which feels like an it-gets-better anthem for LGBTQ+ kids and outsiders. “If you’re lost/Don’t get down/Don’t give up now/You should know just what you are.”
The pop star’s debut is decadent and deeply silly, with songs delivered by the kind of person who uses even the slightest bit of emotional turmoil as an excuse to immerse herself in sex, drugs, and money.
On her hook-packed debut, a complex album that's boastful but never one-note, the German singer-songwriter sounds like a legit pop star.
The ethos of Kim Petras is defined by the opening lyrics on Clarity: "Clarity, I got clarity / I'm the bitch with the sauce, apparently." Th...
The German singer takes the Britney blueprint and gives it an empowering punch in her latest dispatch from pop’s fringes