Slayyyter on Making Songs About Plastic Surgery and Drugs: 'If You Do Stuff, Be About It' (Exclusive)

The rising pop star tells PEOPLE about her new album 'STARF---ER,' living out her Los Angeles dreams and unapologetically expressing her sexuality through art

Slayyyter loves Hollywood.

“There’s something really glamorous about a city that people move to because they want their dreams to come true,” the 27-year-old rising pop star tells PEOPLE as she sips an iced pumpkin spice latte in her home. “It’s kind of dirty and kind of tragic, but also really beautiful.”

The city’s alluring affluence and sleaze heavily inspired Slayyyter’s second album STARF---ER — released Friday — a thrilling electro-pop affair filled with insights on love, fame, sex and more, crafted after she arrived in Los Angeles three years ago from St. Louis, Missouri.

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Before relocating to the West Coast, the singer (whose real name is Catherine), lived at her parents’ house and worked as a waitress, salon receptionist and online cam-girl, all the while making music in her closet and hoping to turn her dreams of pop stardom into reality. Since uploading her first tracks online in 2018, she’s done exactly that and garnered a devoted, largely queer fanbase in the process — thanks to bombastic and often sexually charged songs like “Mine,” “Daddy AF” and “Throatzillaaa.”

Having now experienced Hollywood firsthand, Slayyyter embodies the sexy, glamorous, boundary-pushing diva of her dreams on STARF---ER starting with the album’s cinematic cover, which features her  near-nude in a sheer black dress, smoking a cigarette in a penthouse. Then, of course, there’s the record’s explicit title, which has to be censored nearly everywhere.

“I feel like everything I do has a little bit of vulgarity to it, so I expected it to be censored,” admits Slayyyter, who considers the cover artwork her proudest work. “I don’t see a lot of people taking it there anymore, and I think it’s kind of provocative and fun.”

Slayyyter is in full control of her art and whether or not it’s R-rated, her erotic lyrics and daring imagery initially came with road blocks, as she felt some male figures in the business looked at her as “some kind of whore” they didn’t need to take seriously.

“I feel like it made me kind of a target for harassment,” she explains. “That would happen a lot where someone I would look up to would be talking to me, it would turn kind of sexual, and I'd be like, ‘Ew, that's not the vibe here. We're here to talk business.’”

Today, Slayyyter has a trusted team of supportive individuals who not only empower her spicy ideas but help her execute them. For instance, she recently walked down Hollywood Boulevard completely naked to film the music video for STARF---ER track “Erotic Electronic,” shocking other pedestrians, some of whom took pictures and even slapped their onlooking significant others.

“We had a robe ready, but I was actually naked,” she says of the video. “I didn’t know what people would say, but I feel like it’s almost a commentary on being a pop artist itself — being naked and open for the world to ogle and say what they want to say.”

Upon starting work on the album about two-and-a-half years ago, Slayyyter was living with her ex-boyfriend, fellow musician Colin Sick, and looking to move away from the hyperpop sounds of her previous album, Troubled Paradise. They watched Brian De Palma’s iconic thriller films together, and he introduced her to the L.A. punk scene. Combined with her own taste for “beat-driven” music like Gesaffelstein, the eclectic influences birthed the edgy sonic and visual themes of STARF---ER.

The pair broke up amid the record’s creation, but ended on positive terms, and she’s grateful to have “learned a lot” from the relationship, which had a major impact on the album.

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“There's some gritty, tongue-in-cheek club tracks, but then there's also these really somber, crying-on-the-dance-floor songs that definitely capture the two moments,” she says. “It's like, ‘Hollywood's so fun, what a party,’ but then I'm an artist, and I'm losing this relationship that I care a lot about. It's devastating — but I'm just going to keep partying and dancing anyway.”

From sexuality to relationships, there’s not much Slayyyter is looking to hide. She’s also a rare star who’s ready to speak candidly about plastic surgery and drug use, the subjects of new songs “Plastic” and “Purr,” respectively. “If you do stuff, be about it,” she declares, proving herself against the stereotypical fakeness of L.A.

“It's almost like an accessory to be like, ‘Yeah, I got my lips done. They're settling in. Love them.’ I think that's a lot cooler than hiding it,” Slayyyter explains. “I think that messaging is so stale and stupid, so I wanted to make a track for all the surged-up divas and princesses.”

Bold artistry combined with genuine talent have earned the “Miss Belladonna” performer an impressive resume: collaborations with Big Freedia and Pussy Riot, songs featured in movies and TV shows and world tours with the likes of Charli XCX and Tove Lo. She’s gotten her fair share of press, from glitzy cover stories to — one of her personal favorites — a tabloid photo of her performing on stage in a dress taken from below with a star covering her underwear.

“I almost wonder if the photographer was like, ‘Her underwear's showing. Let me sell this to a magazine,’ and I couldn't even believe anyone would care,” says Slayyyter with a laugh. “But I love that kind of stuff. I’m such a tabloid junkie, I bought 10 copies.”

Those moments mean a lot to the musician, partially because her mom helped introduce her to celebrity culture by purchasing weekly magazines at the grocery store — including PEOPLE, which she recalls her mom calling “the most reputable one.”

Having watched her go from performing at-home shows for family as a child to a successful performer and recording artist in Hollywood, Slayyyter’s mom is likely her biggest supporter. “I think that since I was the college dropout of the family and worked all these funky jobs, she was really nervous that my life wouldn't turn out [OK],” she says. “Of course, she kind of rolls her eyes when I have vulgar lyrics and stuff, but she's really proud of me.”

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