Clarity

After months of drip-feeding her first full-length project to fans—devising her own release schedule and dropping a new song each week—German-born pop superstar Kim Petras presents the full, glittering package. Clarity is baked in ’80s bubblegum nostalgia—it’s neon, cartoonishly girly, and largely apolitical—but isn’t without layers. Underneath the raunch and sass of Madonna-inspired bops like “Broken” and “Do Me,” Petras offers glimpses at her own empowering journey through gender reassignment surgery and self-discovery. Sometimes, she tells that story through an outstretched hand: “From the bottom you come up/From haters to lovers/From nada to Prada/You know you’re the star that you are,” she belts on closing track “Shinin’,” which feels like an it-gets-better anthem for LGBTQ+ kids and outsiders. “If you’re lost/Don’t get down/Don’t give up now/You should know just what you are.”