Kim Petras at London's Hammersmith Apollo is an absolute party

Words: Ali Shutler.Photos: Frances Beach.

After years of flitting between the different corners of pop and trying to find something that felt right, Kim Petras released her empowering, playful 'Slut Pop' EP. She followed that up with a guest spot on one of the biggest songs of the year, 'Unholy', and a newfound sense of freedom came into focus. "This is the first time I can confidently be myself and not get shoved in different directions or do things to impress people," she told Dork shortly afterwards.

That sense of liberation can be felt across Kim's debut album 'Feed The Beast' as well as swift follow-up records 'Problematique' and 'Slut Pop Miami'. The past twelve months have very much been an era that's seen Kim gleefully "doing the absolute most I can", and tonight's show at London's Hammersmith Apollo is no less maximalist.

After a melodramatic opening video that leans heavy into the worlds of fantasy and sin, Kim appears onstage for the first of tonight's five acts. As well as celebrating her debut album, this opening foray explores rebellious freedom through soaring art-pop but ends with Kim being unceremoniously beheaded offstage. Nothing a quick costume change can't fix, though, as the second act takes on the bold, garish world of 'Slut Pop' via whips, chains, a t-shirt cannon, early internet culture and every innuendo for sucking dick you could possibly imagine. It's a far cry from the deliberate, scarlet-soaked opening, but it's no less defiant while the 'Problematique' portion reworks that smirking sense of fun and finds new space to play.

The hits portion of the show continues to show off Kim's range, with both 'Hillside Boys' and 'Can't Do Better' adding bristling sentimentality to her ever-expanding repertoire while a closing run of 'Coconuts', 'Alone 2.0' and 'Heart To Break' rounds out an evening of euphoric escapism with mass singalongs.

Kim has always delivered a fabulous sense of celebration with her live gigs while pulling heavy inspiration from the pulsating world of club music. From beginning to end, tonight's show is an absolute party, but it's more than a rapid-fire set designed to get pulses racing. The whole show is far more considered than anything Kim's done before, with those very different corners of her extensive back catalogue used to create a focused, unapologetic world where self-expression is king. "Being in a room full of people who understand you and your music is the most incredible feeling in the world," Kim once told Dork, and tonight, she does everything in her power to spread that connected feeling.