By Stella Waterman
There’s something about women breaking free from constraints in their art that really does it for me. Mountains of pressure and expectations are forced on women from the inception of womanhood. The pressures pile higher if you’re a public-facing woman, pop star, or artist trying to make it big. One has to be just right in every category to rise to success. These pressures obscure the original craving to create art and why they want the spotlight to shine on them in the first place.
But when a woman, or pop star, to be exact, breaks away from those expectations, from what the label wants and what fans expect, they often make the best art of their career. This shift is exemplified by German singer-songwriter-producer Kim Petras’s latest album Detour, released on May 29 and the five added songs on the subsequent September 18 deluxe LP Detour: Rare N’ Deluxe.
This year has seen a particular phenomenon of underground or underrated pop girls finally embracing their creativity and disregarding the need to create a commercial hit, however scary that is. Notable artists who have embodied this, besides Petras, are Slayyyter and Tinashe (and one could argue even Addison Rae, although her debut album Addison, came out last year).
However, Petras didn’t start this trend of creative freedom; it was started by her friend and collaborator, Charli XCX, with what I deem the “Brat Effect.”
I’m sure we all remember Charli XCX’s 2024 album brat, and the summer that followed it. As explained above, the Brat Effect is when an artist is tired of sacrificing their art for the chance of being a mainstream artist and decides to make what they want. These artists have usually tried for years to become or reclaim mainstream success, so they kind of let that pressure go. So they decide that the only new and exciting route to take is the one that has lain dormant in their hearts, and to damn what other people might think. This is the exact sentiment with which Charli approached her album brat.
Of course, I don’t know when these other artists decided to damn the pressure and limitations of making a commercial hit, or if it had anything to do with Charli, but all artists have put out their best and most authentic work since then.
(Just to make clear: this new direction Charli, Kim, Slayyyter, and Tinashe have taken should not discredit their previous work. I’m a slut for some of Petras’s 2022 EP, Slut Pop, I think Slayyyter’s mixtape era is actually genius; Tinashe’s “2 On” is a classic, and “Boom Clap” always gets stuck in my head when I hear it in a TJ Maxx every couple of years.)
The funniest thing about the Brat Effect is that, mostly, the things these artists create become the most successful works of their careers. After brat, Charli is now considered one of the mothers of pop. Slayyyter blew up with “CRANK!”, “DANCE…”, and now, “brand new chanel$.” Tinashe’s new album Popstar is collecting accolades and a lot of popularity. Simultaneously, for Petras, this album has been the most successful of her solo work, has gained increased online traction with her song “Jeep,” and now “Autobahn” from this deluxe version. This embrace of their uniqueness really inspires me and I hope to emulate these women whose art I worship.
As a woman, I feel similar pressures every day and often feel debilitated by them. I have a vision; I want to express it, but it feels like the things I make need to be perfect for the general audience in order for it to be shared. That’s why it’s so inspiring to see these women shed that, do what they want, and then gain the success they always craved. It’s like an invitation and permission to express myself, especially because Slayyyter and Petras are artists I’ve loved for years.
Anyways, detour over. Let’s talk about Petras’s Detour (Rare N’ Deluxe). This new version has one additional song at the top of the album, and four new ones at the end following “Freak It.” Let’s start with “Pop Sound,” which I was so obsessed with when she leaked it as part of her pre-album promo that I figured out how to turn a YouTube video into an MP3 file so I could listen to it on my Apple Music.
“Pop Sound” is the perfect way to start this album. Lyrically, it’s about her desire to be a perfect pop star. I feel the desperation of wanting to be something that nobody can quite fit into. During the verses, many lines start with “make me” and follow it with what she wants to be; for example, “make me a classic… factory girl… made out of plastic.”
The melodic instrumental is club ethereal. It feels like the beat and synths are lifting me over a crowded dance floor. It perfectly encapsulates the main themes and sonic elements of the album. Desperation for success or love, the obsession with material distraction, and high-tempo electronic sounds that reflect the “fake” things she desires.
Now, we enter the original album’s tracklist with “Detour.” Fun fact: pretty much every time there’s a significant beat switch or bridge, Petras says “detour.” This isn’t my favorite song on the album, but it’s a good introduction to this new era. She’s detouring from her past work, getting more experimental and hyper in the pop she makes.
Next, we take a drive to “DTLA.” It’s so fun and her wordplay scratches something in my brain. My favorite part has to be the switch from aloof confidence to the sad and desperate outro. All these material things don’t actually make her happy, even a man with a penthouse.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani famously thinks this next song is great and I’d have to agree. “I Like Ur Look” is probably the most accessible pop song on the album, but it definitely isn’t boring. This man would look so much better on her than this other girl, à la “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne. So catchy that it sticks to your brain like bubblegum. The music video is super cute, too.
“Brutalist” is the star of the album. It processes a range of sentiments, from her confusion and pain about being a trans woman to her grief over a beautiful brutalist building she loved as a kid that was later torn down. She subverts some words in the song, like “psychiatry,” instead of “psychiatrist,” the proper grammatical form in that sentence, or “bulldozered” instead of “bulldozed.”
These grammatical errors remind me of mistakes children would make, and she was a kid when her dad drove her to the psychiatrist and he pointed the building out to her. That seems like an intentional connection to me. It also mimics the subversion of brutalist architecture, and the subversion of her gender expression over her sex assigned at birth.
She misses that building; she misses the naivety of childhood, but who is she to decide what kind of building that city wanted to keep? It’s an interesting reflection on childhood and her experience as a trans woman. It’s also her most well written song. If anyone listens to any song on this album, I would encourage them to listen to this one.
“Jeep” is Kim Petras’s take on the seductive aesthetic of Lana Del Rey-esque Americana. Kim’s own fans responded very positively to it, despite it being very different from her usual style. Both of their friends think they’re bad for each other, but he’s the one she wants to call at night when she can’t sleep. They’ve got history and “history repeats.” It really makes me want to drive around in an old crossover in early fall weather, moodily letting the wind toss my hair, sipping on a way-too-large Slurpee. This is why I love music.
“101” is the best song on the album, according to me and Petras herself. It’s exactly what I want: catchy, aggressive, conceited, and harsh in the electronic sounds. The production is a masterpiece. They should add another 0 to the name of the song cause it’s a 10/10!
“Freak It” is one of the best things I’ve ever heard. I don’t listen to it too often just because I don’t want to get tired of it. The belting mixed with the key-smashing piano crescendo into the heavy electronic sounds…. It’s just perfection for my brain. The harsh synths come in and out of the song at the perfect times, leaving room for the smashing piano to shine while Petras is showing off her vocals. I’m having a hard time describing this song past this because it’s so unique; so I highly encourage everyone to listen to it.
At home, you will catch me screaming to this song with all the windows down in my car in a suburb of San Francisco, rolling past stop signs.
Some last songs to mention before we get into the deluxe songs are “Need for Speed” and “Basketball.” “Need for Speed” is a fun and well-constructed pop song. The bridge brings another sadder, softer moment, like “DTLA” earlier in the album. It’s the other pretty accessible pop song on this album and this album’s most streamed song on Spotify.
“Basketball,” an old demo from the late producer SOPHIE, is a welcome chill song positioned after the catch-all casserole that is “101.” It compares a relationship to the game of basketball; silly but cute. I find myself coming back to “Basketball” more than other songs on the album. There’s something about its calming nature, simple construction and originality that I appreciate.
Now we get to the new deluxe songs, starting with “Rare N’ Deluxe.” This is very cocky and campy, and sounds a little bit like something that could be found on Slut Pop, if it were a little more sexual. The production is unique and fresh while referencing 2000s pop and hip-hop. I can see why it wasn’t on the original album, though. Not as succinct as the other songs.
“Autobahn” is kind of like “Jeep’s” sister, also car-themed, funnily enough. It’s slower than other songs on the album, with mostly guitar as the instrumental, and sadder lyrics about a relationship that isn’t working. Her love interest doesn’t share the deep feelings she has for him, and she just needs to think it over on a casual walk down the freeway. The production is interesting, and Petras’s vocal performance sells her feelings of confusion, inadequacy and desperation. A new meme uses “Autobahn” and consists of Petras “asserting dominance” over Charli XCX by switching her purse to her other hand while they recreate a meme. The TikTok is a major reason why the song is gaining traction.
As soon as I listened to “What a Night,” the last song on the deluxe version, it was legitimately stuck in my head for a week. It repeated in my head as I tried to fall asleep, like every night. This is one of those songs that sounds like you’ve already listened to it a million times somehow. She starts the story off by proclaiming “I met a boy!” and continues to tell their love story. I love this as the last song on the album; it’s a very positive way to end the album, especially after “Autobahn.”
This album has been on repeat for me since the original dropped in May. This deluxe version only perfected her vision. Watching her expand and begin to refine her sound by letting go of the creative restraints that shaped her previous work inspires me a great deal. I hope to see other artists shine as they let their uniqueness flow with the Brat Effect, as Petras did both with Detour and Rare N’ Deluxe.
Illustrated by the many driving motifs in the album, Kim Petras is moving fast and I’m going with her.
