Kim Petras wants out of her record deal with Republic Records, with the pop star unleashing a series of posts on X explaining why she’d rather be an independent artist going forward.
On Tuesday (Jan. 20), Petras wrote bluntly, “I’m tired of having no control over my own life or career.”
“I want to continue to self fund and self curate my own music,” she continued. “This is why I have formally requested to be dropped @RepublicRecords.”
In another post, the German-born musician alleged that her label has “refused” to set a release date for her next album, Detour — which Petras wrote has “been done for 6 months” — and has also not yet paid her collaborators for their work on the record. She also added, “I won a grammy 2 years ago…….. the music is TEA. Still no support. If it’s not a tiktok trend or 80s revival queerbaiting shit these labels have no interest in supporting.”
Billboard has reached out to Republic Records for comment.
Petras signed to the Monte and Avery Lipman-founded label in summer 2021. Less than two years later, she and Sam Smith would win best pop duo/group performance for their Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping collaboration “Unholy,” at the 2023 Grammys, making Petras the first openly trans artist to win a Recording Academy honor.
That same year, Petras would present Republic with the label of the year award at Billboard‘s Power 100 party. Her recent posts on X mark a total 180 from her remarks at the 2023 event, during which she said, “I strongly, strongly, deeply agree with this assessment: Republic Records, best label ever.”
“I thought I was gonna perform on tables in gay clubs for life, but these guys saw something in me and I’m grateful they did,” she continued at the time. “My life has changed so much. Thank you so much for supporting artists and believing in artists and pushing artists to make the best art they can possibly make. I didn’t think a label like you guys would exist.”
Petras dropped just three singles in 2025: “Polo,” “Freak It” and “I Like Ur Look.” She’s been teasing that her third studio album is in the works for the past year, and on the last day of 2025, she shared a photo of a cake on Instagram celebrating Detour‘s “0th birthday.”
But no matter what happens with Republic — which ended 2025 atop Billboard‘s leading three year-end labels charts — Petras says she’s going to make sure her fans get new music as soon as possible. After her string of posts about her issues with her team, the musician closed out with, “I’m dropping Detour regardless.”
