It’s Slayyyter season

Few are having a better 2026 than Slayyyter.

On a recent afternoon, the St. Louis-born and New York City-based artist arrives at The FADER’s offices in a stiletto-clad sprint after back-to-back appointments. She’s been busier than ever since releasing “BEAT UP CHANEL$,” her “recession pop” single that quickly broke through her chronically online, largely queer fanbase. A gonzo promo campaign that included surrealist fancams and a healthy amount of shitposting on X have made the rollout of her new album, WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA, out March 27 via RECORDS/Columbia, one of the most successful of her career.

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“Things will only get busier, which is very scary,” she says. “But I'm ready for it.”

The growing buzz is a surprise for Slayyyter who says that she sincerely was considering a pivot away from music after years of being labeled an “up and comer” by the industry. But after a last fuck it creative burst gave her this album — and a deal with a major — she’s stepping into this era with sincere excitement. “Maybe it was a sign from the universe that there's more music to be made and not to throw in the towel just yet,” she says.

Slayyyter’s past albums, 2021’s Troubled Paradise and 2023’s STARFUCKER, deployed irony and artifice to delicious effect (see Troubled Paradise’s “we’re not in Kansas” anymore bit or STARFUCKER’s winking nod to Hollywood striving), but her new album is coated in grit and grime — pop chaos at a Missouri dive bar. “I'm not a Hollywood star,” she says of her last era. “I'm quite the opposite. I’m dirty, with messy hair, and Missourian.”

WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA is still a Slayyyter record, which means there’s plenty of humor. “CRANK,” its buzziest single outside of “BEAT UP CHANEL$,” is a prototypical track by the sometimes-rapping diva with lyrics that became instant meme fodder. “I get so gay off that Tequila,” she sings. Its momentum on streaming and socials was powered by a mash up of her song with the Judy Garland classic, “The Trolley Song,” a creation that she calls incredible. “God bless Stan Twitter.”

Ahead, read a conversation with Slayyyter as she talks about finding her St. Louis roots, discovering her favorite music via the iTunes Free Single of the Week, and her thoughts on the conversation around pop music’s “khia asylum.”

The FADER: What has this rollout been like for you so far?

I made all this music thinking everything was done for me, which is a crazy thing to say. Starfucker had a lot of big pop songs that I thought were gonna hit. After that, I was kind of like, “I'm gonna make one more album. I'm gonna make it really crazy and make what I want to hear. And then maybe I'll figure out different things to foray into.” I don't want to just do music forever. I love fashion and directing. I just made this project with crazy wacko shit, and thought, “Cool, that'll be that.” But everyone is responding to it and I'm like, “Holy shit.” I feel surprised because it's not your typical dance pop [project]. It's very different from my last project which people really liked a lot.

In your press materials, I sensed some criticism around your last album. I notice pop stars often reject their last era as they enter their next. Are you doing that?

When you make something it's such a creative release so the next thing you're focused on becomes all consuming. I feel like that's why it’s so common for people to hate their last album in the press. But I love Starfucker. I feel like that was what served me at the time. A lot of the songs on it felt like building blocks for things on this current project, like “I Love Hollywood" and "Erotic Electronic." I found a love for electroclash on that project.

Tell me about who you were growing up in St. Louis?

I was weird and artsy in high school. After dropping out of college, living back in St. Louis, I would go to the bars all the time and get so drunk and dress so crazy. I would wear big Spice Girls shoes and pink corsets. My hair was platinum blonde and I worked in a hair salon. I felt like a parody of the small town girl who's like, "I want to be a star one day." I would do really creative things from my bedroom, be chronically online, find music and SoundCloud producers, steal their instrumentals, and write pop songs on top of it. I would do these photobooth photoshoots. I was creative and was in my own world. I loved St. Louis but I wasn't ever really a part of the music scenes there. I kept to myself, but I love my hometown. I feel like people don't appreciate St. Louis.

This record was based on what you were listening to on your iPod in high school. What were you listening to?

Pop music but I also loved a lot of indie electronic music. On my iPod would be Lady Gaga from The Fame and then it would be Metronomy and Gossip. I loved anything that was the iTunes Free Single of the Week. I loved Kid Cudi. I loved Black Eyed Peas. It would be major pop music and then the Tumblr-ey side of indie electronics like Crystal Castles, Ed Banger, and Justice. I loved finding indie music on blogs and then going to school and being like, "Oh you guys have never heard of this before," which is so annoying.

I was really struck by "CANNIBALISM!" and your rocker era. Was that all live instrumentation?

Yeah, that was they pulled from this folder of real drum loops and basslines. It was so groovy. I was like, “We should make something that's like Jack White, The Cramps-vibe.” I've been exploring that direction more on like the next wave of stuff [I’m making]. That's something I played with a lot on this album that I hadn't really previously. A lot of songs are very electronic, but there's still real guitar or real drum samples. I love "CANNIBALISM!". That's my favorite thing I've ever made, both the video and the song.

"CRANK" is going crazy online. Why do you think this one’s resonating so much on social media? Was it the Judy Garland meme?

There's a weird meta thing about that. I never really got “the TikTok song.” That's what labels are gunning for. Artists very pointedly try to make lyrics and things that go off on TikTok. I've never attempted to do that, so I'm surprised that this is the one everyone's loving. It’s such a hard song. I love everyone's getting into it.

Do you get so “gay off that tequila?"

I do, famously. That’s my best one-liner on that song. We made that in New York actually, so maybe that's the New York energy. [I] wrote it in 30 minutes, really quick.

How did this deal with RECORDS/Columbia deal come about?

Like I said, I thought this would maybe be my last project. I feel like when you think you're moving a certain way in life, things change and it always goes the opposite way.

I went through a period of being really depressed. I'm turning 30 this year. It was years of people being like, “Oh, up-and-coming artist, Slayyyter." I'd be like, “Oh my god. How many more years is that going to be my title?” Maybe this isn't for me. Maybe this isn't in the cards. I made this album being, If this is like the last album I made, what would I say? How would it sound? What would the messaging be? How deep and personal is it going to go?

Then everything changed. I signed to Columbia and they've been so incredible with letting me keep my vision and directing videos myself. Being older now, I know exactly what my project is, who I am as an artist, what I want the visuals to look like, and I’m not afraid to be stubborn about it. I'm not going to quit music now, but I definitely was in a period where I was just over it.

You are a very online person and your fans are very online. Do you ever enjoy stan culture of it all?

I really do. I’m chronically online. I love Twitter. I love Tumblr. This project started with me going on these ramblings on Tumblr and Q&As. There were a couple years where it was forced dance trends and videos of people being like, "Oh did your boyfriend break up with you? Listen to my song." I'd be like "I'm too damn old to be doing this." But I found my way of being online.

The concept of the “Khia asylum.” Does it come up for you in your career, especially at this moment as some online are saying that you’re breaking out of it?

I always make a joke: The Khia Asylum? No girl, I'm in the psych ward.

How do you feel about this narrative stans have online around pop girls breaking out?

I get it. I've seen articles talking about how there's no middle class of artists anymore. The terminology Khia Asylum is so funny because there used to be a time where you would be a mid-level or even an upper-mid-level indie electronic artist and still be considered huge. You could still play like SNL even if you weren't number one, Beyonce-level. The goalposts for success have shifted. You're either doing arenas or you're a Khia . I'm really happy with where my career is. I can sell out shows and I have people who are engaged in my music and the world building and the visuals. Would I like more people to get on board? Sure! Would I like to be a bigger artist? Sure, who wouldn't? But if I'm a “Khia,” then what?

What does success with this album look like for you?

People enjoying it and responding to it, or feeling inspired by it. Anytime I make anything I just want people to feel inspired to do their own thing. This project is so near and dear to me in a way that albums, projects, and visuals have not been in the past, because it feels so reflective of my actual life story.​​ There's so much of me as a person.