Slayyyter Is Still Listening To Music On Her Old iPod

Slayyyter has been one of pop’s most promising up-and-comers... for the past seven years. The 29-year-old singer has garnered nearly 400 million Spotify streams and built a devoted fan base, but in recent years, her financial strain and lack of label support made her feel “burnt out” and want to give up music altogether — until she said “f*ck it” and made the album of her dreams.

“I was like, ‘You know what? I'm going to give it one last shot,’” she tells Elite Daily. “I'm going to make one last project I feel really proud of, and after that, maybe I'll go back to school or something, because I don't have a degree. I was just like, ‘I can't keep trying so hard.’”

Her new album proves the singer doesn’t need college. Wor$t Girl in America is an electrifying blend of electro-punk, valley girl rap, acid house, and her signature dance-pop, a genre she proudly calls “iPod music.” To get here, Slayyyter channeled her St. Louis roots, rediscovering the MySpace-era music that was on her old iPod — and reliving her childhood insecurities.

“I grew up with a bunch of straight boy skater friends in St. Louis who had this really funny lingo. If someone got too drunk and passed out at a party, they would be like, ‘Oh, worst dude,’” she says. She could relate to feeling like “the drunkest person in the room,” so she decided to reclaim the term. “It felt like a title someone could use against you, or something that could be a term of endearment.”

Slayyyter happily embraces that persona on Wor$t Girl, channeling her angst and self-doubt into unapologetic rage-filled bangers. “I feel like I started having imposter syndrome in this industry, and then it became the opposite where I'm like, ‘No, I'm actually super talented and no one cares and I’m a joke and a clown,’” she says. “That would be my inner monologue constantly.”

By digging into those feelings, she came out feeling more confident than ever. “I kept going into the studio literally saying the phrase, ‘If I die tomorrow, would I be OK with this album being what I left behind?’” she says. The verdict: “Oh, I would be so proud.”

With no plans to leave music now, Slayyyter is fully leaning into this next phase. After making her Coachella and Lollapalooza debuts this summer, she’ll hit the road on her Wor$t Girl in the World Tour, which sold out so quickly that she’s had to upgrade venues. “I feel like I am starting a new era of my live shows, which is really exciting,” she says.

Below, Slayyyter opens up about the artists who influenced her career and Wor$t Girl in America.

The Beach Boys

Slayyyter didn’t become a Beach Boys stan on her own accord. “My mom is the biggest Beach Boys fan ever, ever of all time,” she says. “I have a signed Dennis Wilson album because she used to wait in line like they were One Direction or something. She would always play Beach Boys in the house, and the music she showed me has influenced me in great ways.”

In fact, the Beach Boys directly inspired “CANNIBALISM!,” a surf rock-inflected standout on Wor$t Girl in America. “I feel like there's a '60s surf influence in that song, for sure,” she says. “I would love to expand on that sound a little more. I just love that spooky little groove, you know what I mean?”

M.I.A.

Like many people, Slayyyter first discovered M.I.A. after watching Pineapple Express in 2008. “I had always known of her music,” she says. “‘Paper Planes’ was super huge, and I feel like everyone knew that song when she was blowing up.” However, she became properly obsessed after doing a deep dive during her Tumblr days, saying the rapper’s 2010 album Maya “changed my f*cking life.”

“That album is one of the most incredible, interesting, experimental albums,” she says. “Some of the sounds are grating. It's jarring. The swagger that pumps out of this music is so insane. I always go back and re-listen, and I'll get fixated on a new song. It was ‘Teqkilla’ for a really long time, or ‘Meds and Feds.’ Right now, I'm really into ‘Steppin’ Up’ and the duba, dubba, dubba, dub part.”

Britney Spears

Slayyyter’s devotion for Britney Spears was in part an act of rebellion. “I hope people don’t come for my mom for this,” she says. “I’m from a very Catholic family, and my mom would always be like, ‘I don't like that she has her stomach out. You girls shouldn't be watching this.’ It made me stan her so much more because it felt forbidden. It made me seek out the videos and everything.”

After watching her since childhood, Slayyyter proudly declares Spears “the greatest to ever do it.” “I feel like there will never be a pop star ever again that is on that level with the music, dancing, and cultural moments,” she says. While she’ll always live for her “c*nty Britney choreo,” she’s come to admire Spears for her more vulnerable side.

“‘Everytime’ is such a soft and haunting song that feels so personal and so sweet,” she says. “I feel like she’s been through so much, and that video has another meaning to me now when I watch it. The melodies and piano, it feels like a music box. It's such a beautiful, perfect song.”

Lady Gaga

While Spears was Slayyyter’s “first pop love,” the first CD she ever bought was Lady Gaga’s debut album The Fame. “I remember my sister showed me her because she had downloaded ‘Just Dance’ on iTunes,” she says. “What a crazy thing that we used to purchase songs one by one.”

She recalls being enamored by Gaga’s outfits and personality, which showed most in her old-school GagaVision clips. “This is real OG Gaga fan sh*t, you’re old if you know what I’m talking about,” she says. “She used to post these YouTube videos of her and her two model friends, who would be very statuesque behind her and just sit there. She had all these DIY videos walking down the streets of Hollywood. I just thought she was so weird and cool.”

Like many Little Monsters, Gaga helped Slayyyter navigate feelings of loneliness and being an outsider in school — and made her realize she could be a pop star. “In St. Louis, you're either super counterculture, maybe to a fault, or you are so preppy Lilly Pulitzer,” she says. “She made me feel like it is so much cooler to be weird and strange and artistic than to fit the cookie-cutter mold.”