NEED TO KNOW
Kim Petras is protecting her instrument.
The pop star — who just released her new “Freak It” music video — damaged her vocal cords while she was on her Feed the Beast Tour, which ran between 2023 and 2024.
“I had to learn vocal technique because I didn’t learn until I went on tour and blew out my voice and was like, ‘What the f— do I do?’” Petras, 33, says. “ So I really had to wreck my vocal cords before I learned how to properly use my instrument.”
Even with the injury, the “Unholy” singer didn’t require vocal cord surgery.
Maya Dehlin Spach/WireImage
“I got away with it, but I had to shut up for two weeks, not use my voice at all,” Petras says. “And then I learned about vocal resting and how I need to shut the f— up after shows; I need to not talk in bars and loud places.”
The Grammy winner also took steps to preserve her voice for the future, including practicing the vocal technique known as “singing in the mask,”
“There’s healthy placement when you place your voice in your mask,” Petras says.
She adds: “People sometimes perceive that as being fake when you talk from that voice, but it’s to protect your instrument. I hate that sometimes because I also have to remind myself to speak high-pitched in my mask and not speak from my throat. I think that’s been the most important lesson.”
Petras points to her label mate Ariana Grande, who has been criticized for her voice changes in recent years.
“I feel like people need to back off Ariana Grande for using her healthy vocal placement because she’s not being fake — she’s just protecting her voice,” the “Heart to Break” singer adds. “Shut up, bitches!”
Despite her vocal cord challenges, Petras says performing live on tour helped her as a songwriter, too.
“It’s really been super formative for me,” she says. “I think I used to write my songs really high-pitched before I went on tour, and then I realized, ‘Oh, I have to do this every night.’”
Petras is preparing to release her next studio album, which will follow her 2023 major-label debut Feed the Beast. She’s begun to tease the record with three singles so far: “Polo,” “Freak It” and “I Like Ur Look.”
“I want to be a shape-shifter, and every project I want to really become a different version of myself. It’s half because of just growth as a person and as an artist and half because I like the craziness of that. I admire people who can completely write from a different perspective and make up a crazy character,” she says.
Adds Petras: “From the music that people have right now, you wouldn’t really be able to tell that this [album] also has some really dark, sad, deep moments on it, which I’m super excited to share. But I feel like you’ve only seen one side of this new project and the other side is very different, so it’s going to be super exciting for me to share that.”
