{"id":1966132,"date":"2026-06-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1966132"},"modified":"2026-06-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T21:00:00","slug":"wonderland-210","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1966132","title":{"rendered":"Wonderland"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\tWonderland<\/span>
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\n\t\t\tA KIM PETRAS DETOUR IS ONE WORTH TAKING<\/span>
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From small-town Germany to Grammy-winning global pop star, Kim Petras has spent years perfecting the art of transformation. But with Detour<\/em>, shaped by collaborators like Porches and Frost Children and released independently, she\u2019s trading polished pop formulas for something more personal.\u00a0<\/h3>\n
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Photography by Charlie McHarg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Growing up in rural Germany listening to the likes of Madonna, Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue and Gwen Stefani, Kim Petras always understood that pop is as much about image as it is about everything else, and she\u2019s spent the last decade refining this 360-degree approach. With her upcoming album Detour<\/em>, that precisely built world for the first time resembles a self-portrait. \u201cI\u2019m trying to be the truest version of myself,\u201d the artist shares over a call.<\/p>\n

By the time she emerged publicly in 2017, Petras was already working with a clear sense of direction. What followed was a steady escalation: cult fanbases, virality, and eventually full-scale global recognition, most notoriously with Sam Smith on \u201cUnholy,\u201d which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to win the GRAMMY for Best Pop Duo\/Group Performance. From there, her output quickly rose: Clarity, Slut Pop, her studio album Feed The Beast, Slut Pop Miami, etc.<\/p>\n

But the music industry is a system she has constantly had to fight to carve out space within. Detour<\/em> has shown a prolonged and complicated rollout, including label tensions that delayed the project\u2019s release and pushed Petras to release music independently under her own label imprint, BunHead Records. Now operating with autonomy, she has been steadily releasing singles that feel like both experiments and declarations of independence. \u201cNeed for Speed\u201d and \u201cJeep\u201d have arrived as part of a larger narrative shaped by a tight-knit circle of collaborators, including Frost Children<\/a>, Porches and Nightfeelings.<\/p>\n

If earlier eras of Petras\u2019 career were defined by a maximalist pop direction, Detour<\/em> feels intentionally more dynamic and built on reinvention and collaboration. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve become a band with the people I\u2019ve worked with on this album.\u201d These artists have become central to her current sound, but also to the visual world surrounding it, where fashion, video and music go hand in hand.<\/p>\n

One of Petras\u2019 most distinctive creative tools has always been fashion. Whether attending the Met Gala<\/a> or sitting front row at Balenciaga, style is central to her identity, and can even be the starting point for a record itself. \u201cWhen I make a song, what I\u2019m wearing decides what kind of song I\u2019m going to write,\u201d she says. \u201cDressing the part has always helped me.\u201d<\/p>\n

That sensibility has become particularly visible across her recent visuals. The video for \u201cJeep\u201d, directed by Leonie Milleraichholz, transforms Americana into something closer to a memory filtered through European adolescence, a Tumblr-era fantasy of the United States assembled from fragments of pop culture and digital nostalgia, while in \u201cNeed for Speed\u201d, she did an exercise on self-styling.<\/p>\n

And yet, beneath the references, collaborators and visuals, Detour<\/em>, she says, is more vulnerable than previous projects. Petras has described it as a record she has \u201cfought for so hard\u201d, a phrase that hints at the friction behind its creation and the process of dropping out of a label, but also at its personal significance. In contrast to earlier records shaped by external expectations or tightly controlled pop frameworks, with this era, the artist reclaims her sound, image, and authorship.<\/p>\n

For Petras, Detour<\/em> is \u201cthe start of everything\u201d, and ahead of its release, she sits with Wonderland<\/em> to talk Americana, archival fashion, creative control and this new era.<\/p>\n

Listen to the album\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

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Read the interview\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Why do you think fashion is so important for you as an artist and such a big part of your identity?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It goes hand in hand with music. When I make a song, what I\u2019m wearing decides what kind of song I\u2019m going to write. I think dressing the part has always helped me. I am in love with storytelling and I think fashion helps me tell a story better. If something is torn at the seams, burnt, I don\u2019t know\u2026vintage from a specific collection. There\u2019s so much to tell with it. I have always loved transformation and the power it gives you to reinvent, and a new look being able to make you almost into a new person or new artist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Where do you go shopping?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I go to vintage stores when I\u2019m traveling, a lot of it is vintage. I shop online a lot. A lot of it is just kind of like vintage and The RealReal and Vestiaire collective. And I just kind of go by my favorite collections and kind of shows over the years to find gems.<\/p>\n

In LA, there are a couple of cool spots. I really like this place called Shop Nine Two Five, which is kind of a curated vintage store in downtown LA. I love going there. I love finding different things, so mostly I go to vintage stores. Honestly, I rarely buy anything new.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the holy grail in your closet?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have this amazing Louis Vuitton designed by Marc Jacobs, 2009 dress that I\u2019m obsessed with that I\u2019ve always wanted to find. And I\u2019m just really happy I found it and I got it. I have a couple of shoes and a couple tweed pieces from Karl Lagerfeld Chanel, which I love.<\/p>\n

I love Galliano for Dior. So I have a Gaucho bag. The 2000s have a special place in my heart just because I grew up during that time. And then, all the things I\u2019ve gotten over the years from going to Balenciaga shows and the new Gucci stuff I\u2019m obsessed with. So I\u2019m really lucky I like it too.<\/p>\n

Who is your favourite designer or brand at the moment? What brands are you looking for?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been really trying to find clothes by Hussain Chalayan. It\u2019s kind of like a 2000s staple and they\u2019re kind of hard to find. I\u2019ve been really in love with finding Christian Lacroix things from like the 90s. And yeah, I\u2019m into John Franco Fair and Anthony Gucci. I love Demna and I love his vision and just kind of seeing that [debut] show was so amazing. I think the videos didn\u2019t really do it justice because it just felt crazy and really rock and roll, I still think about that.<\/p>\n

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Photography by Cameron Driskill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Photography by Leonie Miller-Aichholz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

So, are you pro-Demna at Gucci?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m friends with Loic, his boyfriend, and they\u2019ve just been so kind to me over the years. But I think from a design standpoint, I think it just really reminds me of a lot of the clothes I grew up around, like the sweatpants, the bomber jackets, and the small town European vibe. I think there\u2019s always a little level of playing with bad taste in Demna\u2019s work, and I feel like I do the same thing in pop music. Good taste doesn\u2019t exist without throwing something in bad taste in there. Especially in pop, the good parts of pop songs, the stuff everyone can scream at a bar, is not necessarily the good taste stuff. I really admire his design philosophy and creativity and his pushing forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I know you work a lot with Angel and Lulu from the frost children. How do you think they\u2019ve influenced your style and your fashion sense, if they have at all?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lots, I think they just have such a distinct style. I don\u2019t know, I\u2019ve always kind of loved the fashion of Final Fantasy and Square Enix games. And they look like they walked out of Final Fantasy games. It\u2019s just so cool. They\u2019re constantly thrifting and accessorising. They\u2019ve got it figured out. I need to step it up in the studio. They\u2019re just instantly recognisable. The first few times we worked together, we discovered that I had a song called Polo, and they had a song called Ralph Lauren, and we were all wearing polos and we were accessorising with fake fur and belts and bangles. It just made a lot of sense,\u00a0 we met at the perfect time.<\/p>\n

How did you find out about The Frost Children? How did you meet?<\/strong>
I DMed them. They made a remix of a song called \u201cAmerican Terrorist\u201d and it was on repeat for me. They were down to work and we met up the next time they were in town and we hit it off right away and wrote Freak It pretty fast. Ever since then we\u2019ve been trying to see each other all over the world. I\u2019m so excited for them. I think Frost Children are the future of pop, they\u2019re so talented and their album Sister<\/em> is such a good album. I love that entire album so much. Hasn\u2019t aged a day.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s on your moodboard currently?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve always loved in movies and TV shows when you see your characters\u2019 clothes and you can see like, oh, this is what they wore in this episode, I love Marissa Cooper from the OC series. I love the LA Girl 2000s style. I\u2019m constantly trying to build this pop star closet of things that are a staple to me and build the vocabulary of my clothes. My mood board is just my music and the things I find along the way that I put with it. But yeah, maybe like, hmm.<\/p>\n

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I want to talk about \u201cJeep\u201d. I love the song and the music video. How did you meet Leonie [<\/strong>M<\/strong>illeraichholz]<\/strong><\/a> and what made you choose her to direct your video?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I met Leonie at my first Balenciaga show. She\u2019s really tight with the Balenciaga team and we just kind of started talking. She\u2019s Austrian, I\u2019m German. We had a lot in common and just hit it off creatively right away. She has such an amazing brain, originally we were going to do Freak It and then that didn\u2019t pan out and then I sent her Jeep<\/em> and she just fell in love with it and made it happen on this trip in Paris. The song is very much about this European idea of what an American love story is. The song was really inspired by a misunderstanding with a guy where I called his truck a Jeep, it wasn\u2019t a Jeep. But in my town in Germany, we call every truck a Jeep, he kind of got offended.<\/p>\n

I love that we pulled like Marc Jacobs\u2019 ballet flats, like 2011 core, the polo, lots of purple. For some reason, like bright purple felt really like my teen years obsession with that and we just got like so many like easter eggs in that video of just like european upbringing.<\/p>\n

Do you have a favourite look from the \u201cJeep\u201d music video?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The August Barron dress that has the green sports top and then a tutu attached to it. I\u2019m really obsessed with August Barron and I\u2019m really excited to see the future of what they\u2019re doing. I just love that dress so much. I felt like a little princess. And then probably the outfit with the Litas, the spike Jeffrey Campbell Litas. That was cool. Throwback. But lots of good outfits in that one. I love every look.<\/p>\n

Why do you think this Americana aesthetic and the Tumblr inspired aesthetic is so trendy now and nostalgic for people?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It feels like growing up to me, it feels very coming of age, which is so magical. I just think it was kind of a different, now simpler seeming time. It just feels correct currently, for my music too, I just try to really accompany the music with what I think will fit the music best and paint a full picture.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s always been an element of Tumblr-ism in pop music videos, I don\u2019t think it ever really fully went away. GIFs and kind of collages of moments. The \u201cWe Found Love\u201d by Rihanna music video, iconic video, is so Tumblr. Or Lana Del Rey, Ride. Iconic Pop music videos and Tumblr are holding hands. So yeah, it\u2019s endlessly inspiring.<\/p>\n

What was the process like creatively?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I wrote the song with Aaron [Porches], the male lead in the video, so it was really important to me that it\u2019s us two for the storytelling of the song. I wanted it to feel romantic and I wanted it to feel sad to a certain point. I love the idea of two hours outside of France, bumfuck little town road. It was really important to me that there were no actual Jeeps in it, so that it really makes sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Was porches always meant to be in the video?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, we wrote the song together during the LA fires. I really feel like I\u2019ve become a band with the people I\u2019ve worked with on this album, like The Frost Children, Margot, Night Feelings and Porches. So I\u2019m trying to have them in as many things as possible. He\u2019s an artist I really admire, and he\u2019s got the perfect look for this type of song. So it just felt like there was no other option than to have him in the video.<\/p>\n

And how would you define what you\u2019re trying to do? So when you say she gets what I\u2019m trying to do, what is it you\u2019re trying to do with this era?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s hard to put words to it because I\u2019m just trying to find myself, and connection, and to be loved is to be known. I\u2019m trying to be the truest version of myself and emphasise my art with my clothing. So just a real wardrobe, real things I wear, real things I have collected and feel passionate about and understand and know the references of and appreciate the designers of. Whatever I feel comfortable in, whatever feels right in the moment. Mostly I\u2019m trying to connect with people through fashion and tell the story to a further extent than I could with just music. There is always a bit of outsider European culture. There\u2019s always something a little off, I would say. And it\u2019s never just hot or just pretty, I don\u2019t find that interesting. If a shoe is scuffed or a jacket has a stain or something has a cigarette hole or a thread poking out, I like that stuff.<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s 9 looks in the \u201cNeed for Speed\u201d music video. How did you approach building so many looks and what was the process like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That music video is so chaotic and was such a fun piece of work. I had a really clear vision of the styling I was going for, the symbolisation of this bimbo character I\u2019m portrayed as at the beginning, and classic pop star tropes and colours. I wanted to tell the story of what my career has felt like through fashion and art without saying anything about it. From the super corseted, restricted feeling of the outfits, the dazzled Dsquared dress going down the stairs, and the shoes from my personal collection, everything is from my actual closet and me and my friends are throwing it all together, nearly no stylist. It was a wild ride but I\u2019m proud of myself for pushing myself like that.<\/p>\n

How do you think LA influences you when it comes to the creative process and the way you dress? Or do you think your European upbringing plays a more important part on this album?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to box myself into forever being the same thing. This album is very much I\u2019m in control, trusting myself, and letting you into who I am. Other albums are more like building a character in a different world. I\u2019ll always have my specific view because of who I am and where I\u2019m from, and how my family dresses. But I always want to be able to change. This era is very \u2018European girl explaining the American dream\u2019 and what it really feels like, revealing myself a lot. I love transforming and building new characters and worlds.<\/p>\n

Do you think honesty right now is what\u2019s drawing people in? I feel like a lot of female pop stars are being more open than ever. Is honesty a big thing in pop right now or has it always been this way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know. I just know that at this moment, it felt natural and right to abandon the character and be more spontaneous and real, pulling back the curtain, because I\u2019ve been so many things. I wanted to explain myself through the art instead of interviews or essays. Music and storytelling that\u2019s good is always about trying to connect with people. I think part of it is honesty, but I also support characters and scenarios you make up being as real as you are. If I dream up a character, it\u2019s real because I created it. I move between honesty and character. Blunt honesty can lose the art if you don\u2019t finesse it or glamorise it. Saying it exactly how it is can feel boring. It\u2019s a push and pull between character and honesty. I\u2019m just grateful I get to do this and people like the music I\u2019m putting out. I\u2019m just doing what feels right.<\/p>\n

What are you excited about next?<\/strong>
Ooh, Detour, the album I\u2019m so in love with and have fought for so hard, is finally coming out. That\u2019s my main event and the start of a completely new chapter for me. Sometimes it feels like the album coming out is the end, but this feels like the start of everything. I\u2019m so excited for my album and the music I\u2019m working on.<\/p>\n

Words \u2013 Moira\u00a0Gonz\u00e1lez<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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Feature Interview<\/a><\/div>\n
Music<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\tThe Best of the Rest at Primavera Sound Barcelona 2026<\/span> <\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wonderland A KIM PETRAS DETOUR IS ONE WORTH TAKING From small-town Germany to Grammy-winning global pop star, Kim Petras has spent years perfecting the art of transformation. But with Detour, shaped by collaborators like Porches and Frost Children and released independently, she\u2019s trading polished pop formulas for something more personal.\u00a0 Photography by Charlie McHarg Growing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,257],"class_list":["post-1966132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-wonderlandmagazine-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1966132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1966132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1966132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1966132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1966132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}