When I first heard “Unholy”, I hated it. Maybe you hated it, too. It took me a dance remix and several listens to finally get into the song. But whatever you think about “Unholy”, you have to admit that something interesting is going on. For one thing, it’s just so… weird. Like, since when do creepy choirs get such a prominent role in pop music? Why is this song written in a Persian scale? Is the main character feeling guilty? Or smug? Or both? And wow, that opening synth really hits like a truck.
There’s also the broader context. “Unholy” recently went #1 in the US, making Sam Smith and Kim Petras the first non-binary and trans artist respectively to have a #1 hit. Either one of those achievements would be notable on its own, but the fact that both of those milestones were crossed at once made “Unholy” a whole new level of event. And it’s a major shift for both artists: Smith is known for his heartfelt ballads, while Petras is known for her bubblegum tunes. “Unholy” is neither, which raises interesting questions about what their future music might sound like. But there’s a more interesting question buried inside of “Unholy”: when is it ethical to work with slimy people? And what price should we be willing to pay for fame?
Kim Petras. Dr. Luke. Dr. Luke. Kim Petras. Ever since the start of her career, pop star Kim Petras has been tainted by her association with Dr. Luke, the infamous music producer who fell from grace after his pop protege Kesha accused him of sexual assault. Dr. Luke’s return to pop music was largely driven by the success of smaller acts like Petras who allowed him to take them under his wing. A smaller stage gave Dr. Luke space to experiment outside of the spotlight, enabling him to put out some of his best music in years. With fresh hits under his belt, Dr. Luke managed to convince industry insiders to take another chance on him despite all that baggage. Many (with good reason!) blamed Petras for allowing Dr. Luke worm his way back into the music industry. Some of those people boycotted Petras from the start. Others had reservations but struggled to balance their opposition to Dr. Luke with their desire to support the biggest trans pop star there had ever been. In any case, the discourse was hard to miss: any early online thread about Kim Petras had some sort of Dr. Luke-related criticism. But most music listeners don’t pay attention to producers, so Kim Petras grew a following despite the baggage. Even though her debut album *Clarity* failed to make waves, Petras scored a pair of hits when both “Unlock It” and “Coconuts” went viral on TikTok in 2021. It seemed like she was on the cusp of fame: the right play could send her into the stratosphere, similar to how her peer Doja Cat (also a frequent Dr. Luke collaborator) broke into the mainstream in 2020 after a string of viral hits. She signed with Republic Records with a plan to release a shiny new album by the end of the year. And then… Republic Records didn’t really know what to do with her. The lead single “Future Starts Now” for that shiny new album was okay, but it was forgettable and failed to emulate the aspects of her music that made her successful in the first place. Later in the year, Petras released an ill-conceived EP called *Slut Pop*, which was a bad idea even before you consider the fact that every song was written by Dr. Luke (yikes!). And then the unthinkable happened: Petras’ debut album Problematique leaked and was cancelled by Republic Records. From the outside, it appeared that the label just wasn’t that invested in her career. It seemed like her dreams for superstardom were dead in the water.
And then “Unholy” happened. People didn’t really know what to expect from a collaboration between the long-dormant Sam Smith and the now-fallen Kim Petras. But the public ate it up: “Unholy” spread through nightclubs and TikTok like wildfire, getting a boost from Disclosure along the way. The song hit #1 less than a month after release. And just like that, Kim Petras went from facing the collapse of her career to her highest point yet.
So how do “Unholy” and Dr. Luke relate? In an interview with Kelly Clarkson, Petras said that the song is “about being part of someone’s secret that you don’t want to be a part of”. She continues, “in the music industry, I’ve spent a lot of time with a lot of guys and a lot of dirty pigs”. She doesn’t name any names, but she doesn’t have to. Petras has rarely addressed the issue head-on, and her public comments should be taken with a grain of salt considering the nature of their relationship. But in this interview, Petras makes it seem like she saw her work with Luke as a “deal with the devil”: an unfortunate thing she had to do to get ahead. Petras has alluded to trouble with finding collaborators in the past, so she may have had to choose between tainted fame and no fame at all. Does this justify her actions? It depends on your morals and what you think about the Dr. Luke case, but it certainly adds another layer of meaning to “Unholy”.
So in the end, “Unholy” stands for two pairs of people. There’s the troubled fictional characters in the song: a married man living a double life and the prostitute with whom he shares his problems. And then there’s Kim Petras and Dr. Luke: a rising pop star and a music industry power player with secrets that she never wanted to be a part of. The pairing is both toxic and symbiotic. Petras needs Dr. Luke to break into an industry hostile towards people like her. And Dr. Luke needs Petras to give him the chance to win back the credibility that he once had. “Unholy” molds adultery, the sliminess of the music industry, and the price of fame into a thorny mess of ethical dilemmas. That’s just one of the reasons to like “Unholy”, one of the most original pop songs of this year. So go give it another listen!