Kim Petras's Track-by-Track Breakdown of Her Halloween Mixtape Turn Off the Light, Vol. 1

Budding pop star Kim Petras has been teasing something spooky for the past few weeks with cryptic photos, and now we know why: at midnight on October 1, Petras dropped a banging Halloween mixtape, Turn Off the Light, Vo1. 1. The eight-track project is a departure for Petras, whose bright and bouncy escapist pop gets twisted on tracks like "Tell Me It's a Nightmare," "TRANSylvania" and the title track, which features none other than Halloween queen Elvira — yes, fucking Elvira! Turn Off the Light sounds like the soundtrack to a campy 80s horror film — Thriller from a femme perspective. It's darker and sexier than anything Petras has released, and also features her first time singing in German (her native language) on standout "In the Next Life," giving Petras her "Scheiße" moment on a track that fuses her pop sensibility with pounding techno.

We chatted with Petras — who is currently on tour with Troye Sivan — about the mixtape, which she said she loves to "get stoned and listen to in full" It's a new side of Petras, whose music so far has been "very bright and bubblegum, which I love...but I love all kinds of music and I have different sides to me. And I just feel like this is the way that I'm showing people that I'm not just extremely sugary, even though it has it's really sugary moments. " Petras gave us an exclusive track-by-track breakdown of Turn Off the Light, Vol. 1, including which track is her favorite and what it was like to have Elvira featured on one of her songs.

"Omen"

"It's very inspired by the soundtrack of Halloween...[it] puts you in the mood.

"Close Your Eyes"

"['Close Your Eyes'] started the mixtape, the idea for it. It's really sexy, really synth-heavy. It's just like 'give in to the horror of having sex with me.'"

TRANSylvania

"Synth dance track. Really love it. So like, 'I want to get really fucked up and drink a bunch.'"

"Turn Off the Light (feat. Elvira)"

"The speech is Elvira, which is so crazy...very like inspired by Britney's Blackout era and "Monster Mash" and yeah, it's spooky music. I loved the transition on that one, the way it starts with the banging on the door, kind of pulling up to a Halloween party. That's one of my faves."

"Tell Me It's a Nightmare"

"That one is really special, it's about, damn, I killed you, but you made me, like you wanted this."

"I Don't Want to Die"

"'I don't want to die, I just want to live!' So just live your best life to it. Put both your hands in the sky and do the little white girl dance."

"In the Next Life"

"My favorite track! Just a very theatrical, Freddy Mercury-inspired song about being in the next life and accepting that you're evil. [My character on the mixtape is] kind of a killer. I have my moments on this with remorse and feeling like 'what have I done?' The character for this one was definitely just evil Kim. It's just evil Kim attacking me and I can't stop her from coming through."

"Boo! Bitch!"

"I debated calling [the mixtape] Boo Bitch. I debated calling it Boo Ah. "Boo! Bitch!" has my favorite "woo ah" that I've ever done.





