Kim Petras never lost faith in her and Sam Smith’s sinfully good track Unholy despite record bosses’ doubts.
‘I remember the song not being seen by label executives, and stuff like that, as something to focus on,’ the pop star exclusively told Guilty Pleasures.
‘Conversations were, “Oh cool, we like it.” But no one was like, “This is it!” Sam’s belief in it, and my belief it, we believed in the song, and I’m glad we did.’
The divinely queer anthem spent four weeks atop the British charts and also soared to No.1 in the US.
Indeed, German-born Kim, 30, became the first publicly trans artist to sit at the summit of the Billboard Hot 100.
‘There’s a lot of turmoil in America right now about transgender people, so for me to be recognised because of my music feels like the ultimate, kind of, equality,’ she mused, adding: ‘I always [want to] inspire future generations of people to be themselves.’
However, the Heart To Break singer doesn’t want the focus to always be on her identity.
‘I really love making music, and I hope people can see me for being a great musician, and not “just transgender” because sometimes that has a tendency of overpowering everything else. It’s important for trans people to just be people,’ she explained.
Back with her latest single If Jesus Was A Rockstar, Kim promised to, ahem, preach out to Sam, also 30, for another collaboration.
‘We honestly had the best time together. Immediately we were friends. I’ve gotten to know them a lot more, and we see each other all the time,’ she said.
‘It’s really cool, and I would love Sam to be on my album, to keep collaborating, because it’s very rare to click with another artist.’
Kim and Sam, who have scored a Grammy nomination in the best duo/group category, will perform at Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball tomorrow at the O2 in London.
