The highly imaginative creator and viral hit making, Billboard-charting singer/songwriter, Kim Petras has not only released her debut full length album Clarity earlier this year, the prolific world-builder has also taken her obsession with horror films and crafted a follow up to the 8 song spooky EP she put out this time last year with the complete 17 track Halloween opus, Turn Off The Light.
Kim recalls her first experience with the horror genre goes back to the original IT mini-series, “I was really terrified and really traumatized by clowns, so yeah that was one of my earliest memories, but also my absolute all time favorite movie as a kid was Rocky Horror Picture show. I watched it once a day, literally every time I came home from school I watched it. I tried to teach everybody in my school the “Time Warp” and nobody wanted to learn it.” It was those films that opened up a trip down the rabbit hole. “Then just gradually finding friends that had the same interest and that kind of got me into real legit horror and Japanese horror movies…Then I just hung out with my friends and watched horror movies and gore movies.”
The passion began to fuel her music. “That’s really how we came up with Turn Off The Light. We were just in the studio being like, why are there a million Christmas albums and no Halloween records. Halloween is as much as a holiday for me and my friends as Christmas is, maybe even a little bit more!”
Some of Kim’s current fave watches are Ari Aster’s films. “Hereditary is probably my favorite horror movie that came out in the last two or three years. The aesthetic was completely different and something new.” She also is a big fan of his most recent movie, Midsommar. “It’s so cool that somebody’s experimenting that much. It’s really stunning visually. Midsommar is so beautiful. The red is so intense and so saturated. All those colors are so beautiful together.”
The blood soaked beats and dark melodies on Turn Off The Light are not only catchy as hell but are incredibly cinematic. “This whole record sonically was completely inspired by horror movie soundtracks and me and my friends LOVE of horror movie soundtracks. I literally just put them on when I’m at home getting ready. I just think they are art to me, they’re just amazing.” One of her favorites is Disasterpieces’ work on David Robert Mitchell’s, It Follows. “That soundtrack to me is one of the best horror movie soundtracks ever, ever, ever..”, she continues “It was video game-y, but at the same time really classic but fresh and..I don’t know….that soundtrack is just very specific. It almost reminded me a little bit of the Drive soundtrack too which I’m a big fan of. I really want to work with Kavinsky. I would LOVE that.”
Although the influences on this album are steeped in genre, the songs are also designed to stand on their own once the Halloween season wraps up. “I think Halloween needs some camp. There’s some wolf howls, there’s car crashes. There’s definitely some stuff that I just was like, let’s go full Halloween spirit.” Kim is sure to point out though, “We were also like, let’s make them stand alone so the you can listen to them all year round and they’re not necessarily the Monster Mash.”
Even Elvira, Mistress of the Dark does a guest appearance on the title track. “That was, the absolute stamp of approval for me. I feel like without her, it wouldn’t have felt like an official Halloween project!”
Kim is on the road right now on The Clarity Tour, dates at kimpetras.com. The tour includes a special Halloween stop in Los Angeles on October 30th. “The night before Halloween I’m playing the Shrine. So that’s gonna be the scary show. That’s gonna be the one where we’re gonna go all out and make it spooky. So I am excited! It’s gonna kind of twist everything upside down and we’re gonna do the full Turn Off The Light!” She teases, “There’s gonna be a couple surprises!”
For more horror and music chat with Kim Petras, listen to the Boo Crew Podcast episode 79. Available now wherever you get podcasts!
Follow Kim Petras on:
Instagram: @kimpetras
Twitter: @kimpetras
Follow The Boo Crew on:
Instagram: @talesfromtheboocrew
Twitter: @talesfromtheboo
