Kim Petras Drops Lyric Driven ‘If Jesus Was a Rockstar’

Dance-pop artist, Kim Petras, has blessed fans with her new single “If Jesus Was a Rockstar,” the follow-up to her hit single, “Unholy,” with Sam Smith.

Videos by American Songwriter

The sensation behind the recently released Slut Pop, Petras delivers a guitar-driven, pop-heavy performance with her latest single. With guidance from her pop hero, producer Max Martin, “If Jesus Was A Rockstar” finds the pop star opening up and reflecting on her own relationship with spirituality.

The Lyrics

After not feeling welcomed by religion in her youth, the singer creates her own “badass Jesus” to embrace and to be embraced by. “Kim wonders if more people would embrace religion if it embraced them,” the press release reads.

If Jesus was a rock star / Living like a party every day / And divin’ off the stage / If he’d give it to a pop star / Then I’d, I’d wanna be just like him, Petras opens the song against sparse synths and guitar strums.

In the song, she paints a holy figure that looks like Kurt Cobain, drinks the pain away, and spends nights Throwin’ daddy’s money all around / While he was gettin’ down / So they kicked him out of the bar / Then I’d, I’d wanna be just like him.

She wonders, Maybe all I really need is somethin’ to believe / I need someone who can teach me to get on my knees.

Behind the Song

In a recent interview, she explained to The Daily Beast, “I think the point of this song is taking away the bells and whistles and the extreme, over-exaggerated characters that I’ve created in the past, especially on Slut Pop and Turn Off the Light. It’s the first time that it’s not an escapist song, and it’s about how I feel as a human in the world right now. It’s the first time that I just felt like the song was meaningful enough to stand by itself.”

Listen to “If Jesus Was a Rockstar” below.

Photo credit: Jason Al-Taan / Press Here

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