It was an uncharacteristically warm Friday in late March, in New York City. Slayyyter was scheduled to make a series of appearances that day to celebrate the release week of her third studio album, “WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA.”
Her first pitstop was at Urban Outfitters (UO). Fans of the Missouri-born singer-songwriter lined up at 9am at the Herald Square location to buy the UO exclusive vinyl of “WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA.” The first 250 people to purchase the record would receive wrist bands for an in-store appearance, album signing, and exclusive Q&A with the artist later that day — I was able to secure a copy of the baby blue LP. Fans lined up around the block once again before Slayyyter’s in-store appearance at 11am.
Two white high-top stools were set on a low stage, with a co-branded UO/ Slayyyter banner as the backdrop. On a glass table was the artist’s new UO-exclusive vinyl, as well as a cup full of Sharpies.
Kay Poyer, one of Dazed Magazine’s “faces of trans America,” hosted the Q&A and introduced the artist. Poyer’s humor, quick wit, and laid-back attitude put the crowd at ease, ultimately letting the crowd learn more about Slayyyter as an artist and person.
Poyer’s first question was “How does it feel to be in New York, how are you feeling?”
“It’s been good,” Slayyyter replied, “I feel like everything leads up to this moment; it’s like Christmas morning, like all the gifts are open… like [the album] is out!”
This album release comes after Slayyyter moved to Brooklyn, having released her first two albums in LA, and her eponymous debut mixtape in Missouri.
This interview communicated Slayyyter’s Midwest charm, the elations and frustrations of her musical journey, and her passion for film references. Slayyyter explained how, despite her already nine-year music career, she still gets put on up-and-coming-artist lists. Subsequently, she described that her mentality going into this project was to conceptually distance herself from trying to anticipate what was going to be popular, and instead create one final push that would reflect her artistic compass.
“After ‘Starfucker’, I thought that the kind of dance-pop or club-pop zone [was] just what people would enjoy from me most, and I’m like ‘no, I just want to make really tweaker-y, crazy music’,” Slayyyter explained.
The result was a punk-sleaze, electropop visual album, with trashy yet earnest DIY aesthetics and strong, suburban Midwest roots. This ethos was reflected in Slayyyter’s album signing outift: faded blue jeans, a cropped brown suede jacket with brown cowboy boots to match, and a black trucker hat with a print of an American $50 bill plastered on the front. True to the lead single off her new album, she wore a black quilted-leather Chanel bag.
Slayyyter addressed the audience warmly, exclaiming: “I genuinely am so shocked because in the studio I felt like ‘people are not going to like this,’ and you do! And I’m like wait, I shouldn’t have judged what I thought people would like out of me.”
The spirit of the album—dirty, authentic, and fresh—inspired Slayyyter fans to dress accordingly for the in-store event. The room was clad in leather jackets, camo print, and furs, and it reflected a collective desire to be free, loud, and explicit. One fan even brought a white Chanel bag for Slayyyter to sign (which she did).
Later that night, Slayyyter made a special guest appearance at “THE WOR$T ALBUM RELEA$E IN AMERICA” party, hosted by DJ/producer Luis Fernando at Brooklyn’s “9 Bob Note.” The event was promoted as “featuring The Worst Surprise Guest” on Instagram.
Slayyyter’s album played on repeat alongside other club classics until 4 AM, partygoers dressed in their best worst-girl Y2K, and a tall unsettling-slash-comical furry white bunny man (Lynchian!) occasionally popped up in the corner of your eye.
Just before 1AM, Slayyyter walked into the crowd wearing a dark brown leather jacket, her signature wavy, waist-length bleached blonde hair, and a fur pelt around her neck.
Slayyyter signed autographs, sang along to songs off her new album, and thanked fans for coming out: “I hope you’re having a good night, I hope you’re juiced up, I hope you’re having a great time. It means the world that you would all come, I love you guys. Crank it!”
Below a red scrolling LED banner above the bar that read “I get so gay off that tequila,” we cranked it.
“WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA” is now streaming.
William J. Zhang loves fashion, interviewing, and writing. His early work included fashion design interviews for the Montreal-based fashion incubator LIGNES DE FUITE, published scientific literature in academic journals, and reporting work for the Science & Technology column of the Yale Daily News. William is interested in the interplay between fashion and music, and has since started see shows closer to the stage barricade for up-close views of the artist’s emotion, styling choices, and set design.
In parallel, William is an epidemiologist trained at Yale University and McGill University, and has since worked in consulting under the health economics, outcomes research, and litigation support portfolios. When he is not drafting poems and fashion commentary, you can find William exploring local art galleries and hunting for unique matcha flavors.
William is based in Boston, MA, and travels frequently to New Haven, CT, and New York, NY.