Clarity (Kim Petras album)
Clarity is the debut full-length studio album by German singer Kim Petras, released on 28 June 2019. Nine of its twelve tracks were released prior to the album, beginning in April 2019. It received acclaim from critics.
Background and composition
Petras has said the album is "about finding myself. It started with 'Broken' and will end with Clarity because it reflects my personal journey over the last two years." Nine of the singles were released in advance of the album, including the "breakup anthem" "Broken", "downtempo" song "All I Do Is Cry", the "hookup anthem" "Do Me", and the "bouncy banger" "Personal Hell".The album contains elements of synth-pop, bubblegum pop, hip hop, contemporary R&B, glam rock and emo pop.
Singles
Petras released the first song from Clarity, "Broken", on 25 April 2019. Petras released one song every week to streaming services after that for ten weeks in preparation for her debut concert tour The Broken Tour. Petras later confirmed on Twitter that the tenth song to be released from the album, "Icy", was the actual lead single.Critical reception
On Metacritic, the album received a score of 83 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim". Variety called the album "sturdy pop songcraft" and compared it favorably to Robyn's 1995 album Robyn Is Here, also making a comparison between Petras' career trajectory and that of Lorde. Comparing the record to the early 2000s pop hits of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, The Guardian gave the album 4 out of 5 stars and praised its power-pop sound. It also wrote that Petras' "addictively crafted bubblegum pop" makes her "sound like a superstar from a parallel universe", and praised her musical experimentation. Writing for Stereogum, Chris DeVille identified the main theme of the album as "looking for release through sex and materialism". DeVille noted that it marks a shift in Petras' content from "sparkling pop sound into a mistier, sadder, more hip-hop-adjacent territory" and praised it as "an impressive collection". Tyler Mazaheri of Flaunt favored the album's nontraditional single-a-week promotion and praised the project for its "catchy choruses layered over danceable beats", adding that "the album is sure to pack all the bops be hearing in the club for the unforeseeable future." In his review of the single "Icy", Michael Love Michael of Paper proclaimed "Kim Petras just might have released one of this year's most compelling pop collections."| Publication | Accolade | Rank | |
| Billboard | The 50 Best Albums of 2019 | 48 | |
| The New York Times | Best Albums of 2019 | 4 | |
| Uproxx | The 35 Best Pop Albums of 2019 | 17 |