Kim Petras breaks down the 3-year creation of her new single 'Malibu' and teases her colorful debut album: 'I don't feel heartbroken anymore'

• We launched the Stay Insider Sessions to connect with artists while the world practices social distancing.
• Next up, Kim Petras broke down the inspiration behind her new single "Malibu," the three-year journey to perfect it, and why she thinks it's her "best song yet."
• "Songs like 'Malibu' are the reason I make music," she said. "I don't feel heartbroken anymore... It feels like a return to color for me."
• Petras also teased her long-awaited debut album, which she continues to write and record during quarantine: "I have the title and the concept for it and I really just want to take my time and make it as perfect as it can possibly be."
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Insider launched the Stay Insider Sessions to connect with musicians while they, like many of us, are grappling with isolation and unprecedented downtime. Next up: Kim Petras.

Kim Petras is already beaming when she pops up on my screen, her winged eyeliner as sharp and precisely applied as ever.

"Thank you! Oh my god, I know, it's so hard," she trills when I compliment her for summoning the effort for makeup. "But it makes me feel normal!"

To say Petras is in a good mood would undersell the sheer joy she exudes during our conversation, conducted via Zoom. After all, she's on the cusp of dropping "Malibu," the lead single for her long-awaited debut album and what she describes as her "best song yet."

"It all kind of feels like a little bit of a perfect storm leading up to 'Malibu,'" she says, reflecting on her years of touring and building a discography. "I'm so excited about it. Songs like 'Malibu' are the reason I make music and why I started writing songs — to get to that point where I can make big, escapist pop records that just make you happy and make you want to dance."

The German-born pop star's previous single, "Reminds Me," was a heavy heartbreak anthem that featured lyrics like "I feel like I can die" and "You left the pain, you took my soul." In many ways, "Malibu" feels like its antithesis.

"'Reminds Me' was kind of a farewell to 'Clarity,'" Petras tells me, referring to her 2019 full-length project that was largely inspired by "feeling really hurt and small and powerless."

"This is really a new start, the beginning of a new chapter and a new album cycle," she says. "I don't feel heartbroken anymore. I don't feel caught up in that. I just want to make music that makes me want to dance and makes me forget about all the stupid stuff right now."

'Malibu' is the sort of 'big, escapist pop' that Petras was born to make

Petras began working on "Malibu" three years ago when she wrote the sort of soaring, radiant hook that you might hear during a pool party at Barbie's Dreamhouse.

"It never felt right, but people always loved it. My friends were always like, 'Where's "Malibu?" We need that song,'" Petras explains. "It felt like this little gem that just kept coming back, and we redid the whole thing until it felt perfect."

"Now it's one of my best songs I think. I think it's up there with 'Heart to Break.'"

Although the song's verses, bridge, and production were rewritten and remade, the song's vibe was always rooted in the dreamy, conceptual version of Malibu. "The way I imagined it when I was back in Germany," Petras says.

"It seemed like this magical place. I just knew it from TV and movies, like 'Baywatch.' Those super cheesy versions of Malibu, which it's actually not like," she tells me, giggling.

"I got there and I was like, 'This is actually quite boring. It's just a bunch of rich people and that's it.' And so I wanted to write a song about the fantasy of it, and link that up with a feeling of love."

Petras, an extremely aesthetically driven artist, made sure the song's visuals would reflect this sun-soaked daydream.

The animated visualizer is vibrant and whimsical, advertising a tanning lotion for trips to the moon. The cover art — which was partially designed by a close group of fans that Petras privately consulted — features a bright pink bikini and a "Malibu" necklace that could've been worn by Paris Hilton or Nicole Richie in "The Simple Life."

"I think the visuals change the way you listen to something, the way you see it, the way you remember it," Petras tells me.

"In the artwork for 'Clarity,' I wore all white. It was darker and hazy and foggy, and that was kind of the vibe," she continues.

"And now it's all just very, very clear and very bright. It feels like a return to color for me."

'Malibu' is the lead single for Petras' long-awaited debut album

When Petras and I last spoke, she had just released "Clarity," a gleaming 12-song project that she absolutely refused to label as an official "album."

"I'm building," she explained at the time. "I'm not at the point where I can drop an album, I think."

Now, "Malibu" is the herald of a new mindset, defined by reverie and resilience and hard-earned confidence.

"Over the last two years, I've dropped 48 songs, which is a crazy amount," Petras tells me, sweeping her arms passionately in a circular motion. "I've just been snowballing this thing, and I think now is the right time for me to drop the legit debut album."

She has continued to work on the album at her best friend Aaron's house, where she's chosen to hunker down for California's stay-at-home mandate.

And although she says she's had "uninspired" days, Petras is determined to put on her best outfits, sit in her makeshift home studio, and make the album she's been building towards since 2017.

"My goal is to make a concept album that's very cohesive. I have the title and the concept for it," she says, her voice growing eager and breathless, "but I really just want to take my time and make it as perfect as it can possibly be so that it really drops you into its own little bubble, which is what I love about my favorite albums ever."

"Like, 'Love. Angel. Music. Baby.' by Gwen Stefani does that for me, or Lana Del Rey's 'Born to Die' does that for me, or 'Confessions on a Dance Floor' [by Madonna] does that for me."

"I felt like 'Clarity' was very all over the place because that's how heartbreak feels. You just feel lost and you're going in all kinds of directions to figure it out," she continues, sighing lightly. "But I just really want this [new album] to encapsulate me as a person and as an artist. I've got some sick tracks up my sleeve."

Petras — who went from playing venues with 500 people to playing venues with 6,000 people in less than one year — says she often receives near-completed songs that artists want her to sing, as she's implored by some managers and executives to aim for a "hit" before she aims for an artistic statement.

But Petras is determined to write this album herself and equally determined to execute the concept she's been settled on since February.

"I have a lot to talk about, a lot to address," Petras tells me. "And I feel like, what better way than to do it in an album? I think that's the truest form of me, personally, because I have no filter and I have no fear of being judged for what I'm saying. In my music, I just feel really free, like I have no boundaries."

"I've just been fighting for myself," she concludes, decisively, "because I want to make my dream album."