“This interview is so fire the
alarms went off!”
Kim Petras, pop’s newest “it
girl,” was entirely unphased
when interrupted by the fire
alarms that went off during
our
conversation.
Calm
and
confident, she perfectly mirrors
the music she has been working
on for years, and she never misses
a beat both in conversation and in
her work as an artist.
“After
working
on
music
since I was like 13, 14 years
old, I started writing, started
being really obsessed with it.
So (gaining recognition has)
been really amazing, I kind of
performed to semi-empty clubs
my whole life and really hustled
really hard to get recognition
and stuff like that,” Petras said.
“So it feels really amazing, and
I’m just really thankful that I get
the opportunity to play to packed
clubs and sold out shows.”
Petras’s hard work is clearly
starting to pay off as evidenced
in her rapidly growing fan base
while earning her an opening
slot on Troye Sivan’s current
tour. Her artistic vision has been
influenced by this struggle, often
offering a foil to the fantasies she
weaves into her songs.
“‘I Don’t Want It at All,’ for
example — I wrote that in a
shitty apartment, like sleeping
on a futon. I sometimes write
songs about how I dream about
my life or how I fantasize about
life. For me, as a kid, loving pop
music, growing up loving pop, I
ran home from school everyday
to watch the new Gwen Stefani
music video, and I just like live in
it and forget about my problems
and school,” she said. “To this
day, a good song can make me
forget all my problems and just
be happy for three and a half
minutes, so to me that’s the most
beautiful thing about music. So
that’s what I’m trying to create,
that’s what I’m trying to do for
my fans.”
To date, Petras now has
a repertoire of eight singles
and a seven track Halloween-
themed EP titled TURN OFF
THE LIGHTS, VOL. 1. While a
relatively newer artist, her music
is as addictive as anything you’d
expect from a veteran of pop,
which is likely a product of her
wide list of influences. Petras
isn’t just a massive pop fan, but
an artist who draws inspiration
from a wide array of genres and
musicians.
“I really am a fan of all music.
Especially currently, there’s so

much amazing rap happening. I’m
just a huge fan of the new Travis
Scott album ASTROWORLD. I’m
really into Rae Sremmurd; my
friends lil aaron and Baby E have
some amazing songs coming
out,” she noted. “I’m just making
a bunch of playlists recently. And
I’ve been listening to the first
Beyoncé album Dangerously In
Love a bunch.”
What is most impressive about
Petras’s debut music is that it’s
high quality pop spread across
a wide spectrum of sub-genres.

There’s the hard-pressed verses
and lackadaisical chorus of “All
The
Time,”
the
R&B-tinted
“Slow It Down,” sugary pop on
“Heart to Break” and the house-
pop hybrid “In The Next Life.” If
her track record is any indication,
then Petras is an artist with
almost unlimited potential and
flexibility: “My goal is always to
keep growing and to not repeat
myself, to do whatever feels right
and to write authentic songs to
me. I’m going to continue doing
that really,” she said.
Petras writes music not just for
herself, but also with and for her
best friends: “We love to put on a
song that we love and scream at
the top of our lungs and go really
crazy, and I want to create that
same thing.” And this idea seeps
into her collaborations as well.
In the past, she has worked with
Charli XCX, lil aaron and Baby
E, and also revealed that she has
collaborations
with
SOPHIE
coming out in the near future.
“I have collaborations with
SOPHIE coming out, so that’s
really exciting, I’m a big SOPHIE
fan. I always love collaborating
with people like Charli and
artists that write,” she revealed.
“For me, I just want to write with
people who care about their music
and want to write songs and can
write songs. So I collaborate a lot
with one of my homies lil aaron,
I’ve done a bunch with him. He’s
one of the most talented writers
I’ve ever met. I love to work with
people that are friends and just
have a good vibe. I like when it
feels like hanging out with your
friends, opposed to feeling like
work and feeling stressful.”
The periodical release of her
singles over eight months leading
up to the release of her EP on

Oct. 1st (the perfect gift for the
beginning of the Gay Christmas
Season) was a purposeful decision
from a modern artist of the 21st
century. In an effort to build up
hype around each release, Petras
and her team made this decision
to release a single every month,
which clearly paid off given her
current popularity.
“Even before I put up “I
Don’t Want It at All” I had these
songs ready to go. We were just
thinking about how to release
it best and to break me as a new
artist. And especially now, I just
love how rappers are doing. They
just constantly put out new work
and new mixtapes — there’s kind
of no rules for that,” she said.
“I think in this streaming era,
you know, artists just have to
do things differently, and how
artists work is going to be so
different from now in a while.
It was exciting to not release it
as an album, but to drop a new
song every month. Every month
we could get more playlisting, we
could get a new set of eyeballs on
each song.”
Along with her incredible
talent, Petras is an absolute
inspiration
to
the
LGBT
community. Being queer herself,
she
proudly
discusses
her
beginnings in queer clubs and
blossoming popularity within
the LGBT community that has
begun to infect the mainstream.
Now, opening for fellow queer
artist Troye Sivan, the duo are
alighting
crowds
with
their
energy and pride.
“This tour has been such an
amazing LGBT — like 20-gay-
teen — moment. I love Troye
and what he stands for. I love
his music so much, and I think
he’s an amazing artist. And I
think it’s great that LGBT artists
are getting recognized for their
work rather than their sexuality
or their gender identification.
I think that’s such an amazing
thing that’s happening right now,
and I’m so glad to be a part of it,”
she said.
Given her daring attitude,
seductive
fantasies
and
multifaceted talent, Kim Petras
has arguably been 2018’s biggest
breakout artist in the pop scene.
Her creativity and passion bleeds
into her music, with pomp and
energy that let her listeners melt
into her world. If Petras is any
indication, there’s a reason pop
music has always been one of the
most boundary-defining genres,
and if she continues to deliver, we
have some incredible content to
look forward to.
This Sunday, you can catch
Kim Petras as she opens for
Troye Sivan at the Fox Theater.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Friday, October 12, 2018 — 5A

Kim Petras just wants to
hype up her best friends

DOMINIC POLSINELLI
Senior Arts Editor

ARTIST PROFILE

COURTESY OF THOM KERR

COMMUNITY CULTURE REVIEW

Troye Sivan and
Kim Petras

Fox Theater

Oct. 14th, 2018

$29.50+

RYAN COX / DAILY

Prominent
Chinese
artist,
filmmaker and educator Xu Bing
visited the University’s Museum of
Art (UMMA) this past Sunday to
give a lecture entitled “The Origins
of Creativity” as part of the Penny
Stamps School of Art & Design’s
ongoing speaker series. Bing’s work
has always been highly reactive
to his surrounding environment,
both in China and the U.S., as his
wide array of multimedia work —
although often based in tradition
— is always in dialogue with the
present.
At a recent retrospective exhibit
of Bing’s work in his hometown of
Beijing, Bing — as the curator of his
own work — pondered the question:
“Where does this ability to make
creative works come from?”
Having 60 works from his
40-year career all in the same
place at once, it seemed like several
different artists were responsible
for the work on display. Where did
these varying inspirations come
from?
Bing’s
earliest
work
of
prominence, “Book From the
Sky,” came in 1987, the same year
he completed his Masters of Fine
Art at the Central Academy of
Fine Arts. The vast work featured
large scrolls that spanned the
length of the room, both lying
flat against the walls and draped
from the ceiling. Beneath the
immersive environment of scrolls
are
luxurious
and
carefully
bound books containing the same
characters. For those illiterate
in Chinese, the exhibit creates
an almost holy environment of
Chinese
language.
For
those

literate, however, it creates a
confounding and uncomfortably
unfamiliar illusion of knowledge.
Every day of Bing’s childhood,
his father would make him fill
one page per day with Chinese
characters that “followed the
literary
tradition
of
China.”
Happening all around him at the
time, however, was Chairman
Mao’s reorganization of the entire
Chinese language. In a time of
increasing global connectedness,
such rigid enforcement of the rules
of language made no sense to Bing.
Thus,
reacting
to
his
environment,
Bing
dedicated
several years to formulating 4,000
fake Chinese characters on wood
blocks to be neatly printed onto
these scrolls. They are a complete
mockery of the subjectivity and
limitations of language. They were
also a perceived as a threat to the
Chinese government. And, as such,
Bing relocated to the U.S. in 1990.
“The path every artist takes
isn’t always under their control,”
Bing said in his lecture. Art is the
manifestation of each individual’s
“cultural-genetic code.” When we
take thinking to unfamiliar places,
this is the realm from which we
can create. In this way, art, just
like Bing’s forced relocation, is not
planned out.
Bing characterizes his early
works in the U.S. as “existing in
a place between two cultures.”
His first exhibit in the U.S. —
“Transformations” — translates
a text from English to French
to German and so on until it is
eventually translated to Chinese,
at which point it’s essentially
nonsensical. Ironically, the lecture
itself was a display of this loss of
meaning, as Bing had to continually
correct his English translator in a

comically clear display of his point.
Bing continued producing art
that is more than initially meets
the eye for the next two decades.
He’s had an ongoing series of
“Background Story” works that
look like ancient Chinese ink
paintings but are actually milky
glass backgrounded by plants. His
largest recent work, “The Phoenix
Project,” transforms the remains
of construction site debris into two
100-foot long phoenixes. Covered
in a careful arrangement of LED
lights, the phoenixes represent
the transformation of the ugly
process of rapid urbanization into
something beautiful.
For Bing, while art is often
in conversation with the past, it
should never imitate it. Artistic
ability is not dependent on one’s IQ
or historical knowledge. Good art
always reacts to the present. While
many of Bing’s works appear to
follow Chinese tradition, they are
all in one way or another layered
responses to current local and
global events.
“Dragonfly Eyes,” Bing’s latest
project, is no different. Bing has
always had an acute awareness of
the environment he interacts with
on a daily basis. In “Dragonfly
Eyes,” a storyline is made using
a composite of real surveillance
footage and acted out scenes. In
this sense, the whole world is a
film set. The work, intentionally
shocking, blurs the line between
reality and cinema.
This
presentation
was
sponsored by the University’s
Confucius Institute, Lieberthal-
Rogel Center for Chinese Studies,
the Penny Stamps School of Art &
Design, Museum of Arts and the
Department of Film, Television
and Media Studies.

‘Dragonfly Eyes’ director
on the origins of creativity

BEN VASSAR
For the Daily

AUDIOTREE ARTIST PROFILE

When
a
friend
of
mine
suggested I listen to a band
called Palm, I asked what genre
they fell under. My question was
greeted with something along
the lines of: “Uhhh, I don’t know.
I think they’re kind of DIY?
Maybe Art Rock?” At that point, I
still didn’t know what to expect.
Then
I
actually
listened
to Palm, and I understood
my friend’s ambiguity. With
so many different influences
present — lyrically, sonically
and rhythmically — it’s a little
overwhelming at first, but in the
best way.
A quick Google search for the
genre “art rock” suggests artists
like King Crimson and David
Bowie. To me, those artists
are drastically different. Even
some of Bowie’s later work (see:
Blackstar) is quite different from
any of King Crimson’s material.
The only common denominator
is some elements of their music
are derived from rock music.
So, I guess, in a way, you could
say Palm is art rock because
of the fact that they borrow so
many elements from rock but
view those elements through an
avant-garde approach.
The more I listened to the
group, especially after the release
of their newest full-length studio
album, Rock Island, the more
I wondered how the band was
able to develop that signature
sound they had. Luckily, I had
the incredible opportunity to
not only see the band live, but
speak with bassist Gerasimos
Livitsanos
and
guitarist
/
vocalist Eve Alpert about their
sound, and how they developed
into the genre-defying band they
are today.
One of the best aspects of the
band’s sound is just how unique
it actually is. With Brian Wilson-
sounding vocal lines, prog /
math rock influenced rhythms
and an overall sound that could
be described as almost island-
infused indie rock, they seem
to sound like every band I can

imagine, and, at the same time,
like none of them at all.
“We all listen to tons of music.
It’s where we get our pleasure
from,”
Alpert
said.
When
working on their latest album,
however, Alpert says the group
listened to a lot of Footwork, a
movement of music based out
of Chicago involving spastic
rhythms and beats accompanied
by, at times, extremely lush
soundscapes.
“This label called Orange
Milk was really inspiring. Not to
say that it rubbed itself into our
songwriting, but it did in weird
ways.”
When it came to writing the
record itself, the group attributes
a lot of their songwriting process
to practice.
“We practice all the time, and
generally there’s one core idea
that comes in, and then we jam
to it,” Alpert commented. “And
then once it clicks, it clicks,”
Livitsanos replied.
In another interview, the band
mentioned using a drum machine
as a compositional tool; putting
on a random pattern while the
guitars dissect it between the
two of them and drummer Hugo
Stanley plays a contrasting beat
overtop. These rhythms written
over the drum machine “felt
integral to the song,” Alpert
explained. But in regards to their
sound, Rock Island features a
variety of guitar sounds that don’t
really sound like guitar. Using
a MIDI (musical instrument
digital interface) guitar effects
controller, the band incorporates
guitar tones that sound like a
variety of other instruments,
most notably steel drums.
“We started incorporating the
MIDI guitar when we started
writing
the
record,”
Alpert
explained, “And we just used
the sounds we had on the synth
module. We were just using the
equipment we had.”
But the band sees themselves
taking this sound in a slightly
different direction in the future.
As Livitsanos discussed: “We’re
trying to program more of our
own sounds. We kinda started
with just what we had, but going
forward, we definitely want to

try generating things to sample,
and sounds like that.”
Hearing Palm live, I was
amazed
at
how
close
they
sounded to the record. Every
nuance present in the record
was also there in the live
performance. Many groups view
live performance and recorded
performances as two different
things entirely. There are things
you can do in a recording studio
that you can’t do live on stage,
and vice versa. Palm seems to be
somewhere in the middle.
“I think we all want our
live performance to be pretty
raw. We’ve come up being
influenced by a lot of punk or
noisier music, so we want our
live performance to be a little
bit more unpredictable,” Alpert
said.
Livitsanos responded, saying:
“On Rock Island, there were
certain things done for certain
tracks, like some sort of drum
loop in “Dog Milk,” for example,
and then after it was recorded, we
were like, ‘Oh, maybe we could
try this a little bit differently for
the live show’.”
“My hope is that we can write
a record and then reinterpret it
in a more raw way live,” Alpert
said.
The band seems to be gaining
traction in the music community.
Audiotree was one of the band’s
first festivals and it seems to be
a new experience for them, but
one they’re treating just like any
other.
“I
want
us
to
always
make mistakes,” Alpert said.
“Sometimes it winds up working
and sometimes it doesn’t. It
makes it all more worthwhile.”
“Both for us and as audience
members, I think it make it more
fun,” Livitsanos replied.
“We’re
definitely
not
a
conventional festival band, and
I think we’re still figuring it all
out, you know?”
For a band that’s still figuring
things out, Palm certainly seems
to be a well-polished chaos
machine, putting out material
that’s pushing the limits and
putting on one of the best
live shows I’ve seen in recent
memory.

Palm dissects their sound

RYAN COX
Daily Arts Writer