New Album, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Ahead for Kim Petras

Transgender German pop star Kim Petras will be covering the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue even as her major label debut album, "Feed the Beast," drops.

Billboard reported that Petras, 30, will be part of a quartet of celebs covering the annual Sports illustrated swimsuit issue, with the other three being Martha Stewart, Megan Fox, and Brooks Nader.

"To celebrate her groundbreaking cover, the recent Billboard Women in Music Chartbreaker honoree – who's also on the May/June cover of Out – is set to perform a special concert presented by Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Friday (May 19) at Hollywood, Fla.'s Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood," Billboard added.

"Petras is only the second transgender woman to cover the magazine in its history," People Magazine noted.

In an exclusive with People Mag, the pop singer said, "It's super exciting to have my Sports Illustrated cover and album announcement happening at the same time!"

The magazine expressed excitement in its turn, sending out a tweet with a cover image of the pop star and declaring, "As if being a Grammy-Award winning artist and history maker wasn't enough, Kim Petras is now adding SI Swimsuit COVER model to her list of accomplishments."

Petras described the experience of covering the venerable magazine.

"Yu Tsai and the whole team at Sports Illustrated made me feel really comfortable and like I belonged there," Petras told People Mag. "I had the best time and, honestly, it was a huge confidence boost."

As for "Feed the Beast," Petras took to Twitter to share the album cover and its release date.

"The story begins on June 23," Petras tweeted.

Petras' major label album debut had been previously announced under a different title, but that album was scrapped last year, Rolling Stone recalled. "I know for the fans, it was very hard to see a whole album go away – for me, too," Rolling Stone quoted Petras telling Billboard at the time.

"That original album got me through the pandemic," Petras explained. "But I also realized in that process that I was just doing what I always do; I was writing escapist pop songs about wanting to get away from everything. It was, once again, 'The world is ending, let's party.' I love that, but I'm at a different place now."

She certainly is. "In February, Petras made history at the Grammys when she and Sam Smith became the first openly transgender and non-binary artists, respectively, to win the award for best pop duo/group performance for their hit 'Unholy,'" People Mag recounted. "And earlier this month, she attended the Met Gala wearing Marc Jacobs."

"Following the success of 'Unholy,' Petras released a string of singles ('If Jesus Was a Rockstar,' 'brrr') before dropping her Nicki Minaj collab 'Alone,' which samples Deejay's iconic 1999 trance smash 'Better Off Alone,'" the magazine noted.

The new album is expected to include Petras' recent singles among its lineup, Billboard said.