From making a documentary at the age of 12 educating the public on trans issues to successfully campaigning the government of her native Germany to amend a policy allowing her to become what was then the world’s youngest person to receive gender confirmation surgery at 16, Petras has had media attention for more than half her life. That kind of drive and work ethic has persisted throughout her entire career after dropping one sparkly, synth-infused pop banger after another while touring with acts like Troye Sivan and Charli XCX. Whether she’s transforming into a blood-splattered succubus for one of her fan-favourite Halloween-inspired projects or turning heads wearing all pink at the MTV VMAs, Petras relishes in shifting between her many guises – but she always knows which one the moment calls for.

Appearing over a Zoom call in a three-piece suit – which she excitedly explains is an homage to Diane Keaton – Petras notes that her greatest inspiration always stems from scouring her closet to best match her morning mood. “I never really know what I’m going to pull out of my hat,” she says. “It’s kind of like ‘I want to look like a wizard today, what can I find that fits that?’ I don’t care if it’s comfortable, I have to wear this today.” Giggling her way through anecdotes about her favourite pop stars, blowing all her money in her fledgling career and her need for a video game based off of recent Netflix survival-horror hit Squid Game, Petras is just as charming and idiosyncratic as her tongue-in-cheek lyrics would have you believe.

Feeling inspired to be herself by artists like Lady Gaga and Kylie Minogue, Petras always had dreams of being a pop star, honing her craft in her bedroom as a teenager and recording multiple demos a day while blasting the most cathartic and liberating tracks from her idols. For all of the imaginary concert tours she put on within those four walls, actually achieving the real thing feels all the more natural to her. “It’s hard to perform to a camera after being on tour,” she says of her recent pre-recorded performance at the VMAs. “It’s easier to perform in front of 10,000 people than a single camera, for some reason.”

Petras has spoken extensively about pop music and the boundary-pushing artists who offer a respite for her in her darkest moments, driving her to be the one to provide that escape to others going through the same thing. When Petras faced the mockery of her peers for showing up to school in an extravagant outfit, she could always turn to Lady Gaga’s message of acceptance as she waited to break onto the scene in her own right. “I love the transformative aspect of pop music,” she says. “Bubblegum pop gets looked down upon, but I think it’s an art that you need to take years to learn. When I was a kid, I could put my headphones on and escape my life, and that to me is what art should be. Fun music is the best to forget, and to feel better.”

Of course, all of the most culturally significant pop stars have another job that’s equally important to Petras – bringing new ideas to the forefront and riling people up who can’t take anything that’s just a little bit out of the ordinary. To Petras, pushing people out of their comfort zone is the first step to eventually seeing some kind of growth and progress. Petras became somewhat of a trailblazer for the acceptance and normalization of trans artists in the mainstream, being one of the first to achieve widespread success when she began dropping viral tracks like “Heart to Break” in 2018. “I think my core thing is that I’m pushing people’s buttons,” she says. “I love to dress overly feminine and reveal a lot, because it makes people uncomfortable and that’s what any good pop artist is here for. It’s funny to watch.”