Kim Petras has always been here for the freaks, but she's a full-on monster on her new Halloween-themed EP, Turn Off The Light Vol. 1. Finally offering an explanation for the Tim Burton-esque content covering her socials for the past week, she dropped the EP last night, at midnight on October 1st.
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The eight tracks are a dark, sexy and sinister transformation of Petras' shimmering bubblegum sound, which see the pop savant tossing aside her Paris Hilton persona for a freaky, killer seductress character — and insisting that she gets to be both, and more, and whatever the hell she wants to be.
Petras fully embraces all the so-bad-it's-good camp of 1980 and '90s B-horror, and according to a press release, Turn Off The Light Vol. 1 was inspired by her genuine love of the genre.
Her new love-sucking, demonic queen alter-ego takes shape on synth and bass-heavy club tracks, flecked with haunted house effects and ghoulish voice distortion. She invites lovers to experience her dark side on the "Turn Off The Light" "Chills down your spine/ Fear in your eyes/ Feelin' malicious/ Heard you like it vicious/ All your dirty wishes," which she told OUT was inspired by Britney's Blackout era and "Monster Mash." Petras's horror soul-sister, actress and TV personality Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) contributes a possessed, Thriller-esque monologue to set the mood.
But she has no sympathy for those she chews up and spits out, warning us we'll pay the price for underestimating her on "Tell Me It's A Nightmare:" "Be careful when you love me/ I'm only out for blood/ You know I'd be the end of you/ But you always wanted more."
Petras reminds us she's a girl who can serve valley girl and vampire queen at the same time, giving a shout-out to her signature material girl persona on the deadly seduction track: "Close Your Eyes:" "You know I got designer taste/ and your design's too good to waste/ when the beast comes out at night/ yeah it always wants to bite."
The EP, which was co-written by Jesse St. John and Sarah Hudson, features a homage to high-drama '80s pop with tracks like Freddy Mercury-inspired "In The Next Life," — on which she gets the chance to sing a spooky verse in her native German. It also explores a creepy, industrial world of sound, venturing into techno and house on bloodthirsty, mostly wordless dance tracks like "TRANSylvania," "o m e n," "i don't wanna die…" and "Boo! Bitch!"
The EP is delicious and campy: grinding, bopping, seducing and paying homage to the queerness of horror. But Turn Off The Light Vol. 1 also feels like Petras keeping us on her toes, and letting us know that no category, or character can contain her for long.
Petras is currently opening for Troye Sivan on TheBloom Tour. Listen to Turn Off The Light Vol. 1 below.
Photo: Thom Kerr (Illustration by Lucas David)