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Slayyyter got a taste of the big leagues over the summer.
The pop star, 29, spent July opening for Kesha and Scissor Sisters on the Tits Out Tour, which marked her first time performing in arenas and amphitheaters — and she tells PEOPLE the experience was “so amazing.”
“Everyone was super kind,” says Slayyyter. “It was a really, really wonderful tour. I felt extremely grateful to be on that lineup. It was definitely the biggest tour I had ever been a part of.”
The tour featured Slayyyter’s first performances of “BEAT UP CHANEL$,” her debut major label single release after signing with Columbia’s RECORDS imprint earlier this year. Audiences were quite receptive to her new material.
“I felt really welcomed with open arms by Kesha fans and Scissors Sister fans. I feel like people who maybe showed up and didn’t know me were still into my performance,” she explains. “I would get all these comments on TikTok of people being like, ‘Wow, I didn’t know her before, but this was so crazy and so cool. Love it.'” It just felt like a really cool thing.”
Behind the scenes, Slayyyter also says Kesha and Scissor Sisters were “lovely” to work with. “Touring can be really stressful,” she says. “I felt really grateful to have such good energy and positive vibes from everyone.”
Throughout the run, Slayyyter got to join Kesha on stage a few times to perform their collaboration “ATTENTION!” They also spent some time together off stage.
“The first time I met her was after the Forum show [in Los Angeles]. She was so sweet, and we talked, and I was freaking out just because she’s completely directly impacted my music since I even started,” says the “Daddy AF” singer. “It felt super full circle, and I just was really grateful to even do a song with her and be on this tour.”
Slayyyter continues of the “Joyride” artist, “She was so lovely, so kind, so open and sweet and would text me after and be like, ‘How are you feeling about everything? Oh my gosh, you’re doing amazing.'”
Long before launching her music career in 2018, Slayyyter was particularly impacted by one of Kesha’s songs: 2010’s “Sleazy.”
“That song is my national anthem,” she says. “I would listen to that over and over and over again on my iPod in middle school. I felt so cool. I learned all the raps [on the ‘Sleazy 2.0’ remix with André 3000, Wiz Khalifa, T.I. and Lil Wayne]. I felt like the s—, and I still do when I listen to it.”
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A few months removed from the Tits Out Tour, Slayyyter is now in the midst of rolling out her upcoming third studio album, which will feature “BEAT UP CHANEL$” as well as more recent singles “CANNIBALISM!” and “CRANK.”
Last month, she performed all three songs at Grindr’s Pleasure Ball in N.Y.C. for a rowdy crowd of predominantly LGBTQ+ people — a fitting place given her listener base. “I feel like that is the space where my music lives and thrives, and I feel grateful to always perform in those spaces,” she says.
