Slayyyter, one of the most exciting pop figures since debuting in 2018 with a string of buzzy, candy-coated singles and slick ’00s electropop production, has fought her way for eight years to earn her spot as a cult-favorite icon, and this year marks the start of a new chapter for the pop disruptor. With one self-titled mixtape and two studio albums under her belt, she’s gearing up to release her third full-length project, WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA, out March 27 via RECORDS/Columbia. Asked what the title means, she doesn’t dress it up: “It’s exactly what I feel like.” The announcement alone was enough to send her most devoted, if not chronically online fans, into a spiral, with the far corners of Stan Twitter (X) declaring everything from “Jesus announces the continuation of the Bible,” to “AOTY,” and, of course, the inevitable “Mother is coming.”

Sonically, Slayyyter describes the album’s direction as “distorted indie electronic” and, more tellingly, “iPod music”—a nod to the songs she lived with as a teenager, ripped and replayed endlessly. The gaze backward to the not-so-distant past has become one of pop culture’s favorite fixations. The early 2000s and early 2010s tap into that loop perfectly; a time when indie pop ruled, Tumblr and Twitter still felt underground, and cultural life hadn’t yet been flattened by algorithms or global dread. From suburban St. Louis to independent SoundCloud uploads, the feeling is exactly where Slayyyter is planting her flag. Infused with the distorted Americana of her Midwestern roots, she calls the creative style “backwoods ballerina,” a phrase that feels as contradictory and specific as the music itself. “I began referencing a lot of moments from my teen years or memories from my childhood and putting it all through a dreamy filter,” she explains. 

That sensibility comes through immediately on the album’s debut single, “BEAT UP CHANEL$.” A crunchy, electropop banger, it pairs snarled lines about wanting “sex, money, bitches, and the stickiest weed” with a deliciously sleazy video that dives right into the album’s feverish world of danger, grit, and twisted glamor. “I started playing with color in visuals more and styling myself,” she says of the project’s aesthetic. “The visuals have come together as such true representations of the music. I wanted to treat each one like a movie trailer, or have them feel more cinematic than a typical video.”

That cinematic instinct deepens with “CANNIBALISM!,” a grungy pop track built around a dirty guitar lick and a low vocal growl. The self-directed video finds her in the dressing room of a grimy burlesque club wearing vintage Moschino and Chanel heels, surrounded by the haze of showgirls and drag performers, singing at a junkyard, performing in bunny ears in front of a man tied to a chair, and delivering a hypnotic burlesque act in a bedazzled two-piece she made herself.

Then there’s “DANCE…,” a seductive, adrenaline-fueled dancefloor manifesto. The accompanying cinematic video opens with Slayyyter sneaking back into her house through a window, only to be confronted by a disapproving, menacing father figure. Tension builds before she grabs a double-barreled shotgun and fires it straight through the door at him, right as the beat drops. “When making these songs in the studio, these visual ideas are immediately what popped into my head,” she says. “I remember listening to the ‘DANCE…’ intro over and over and imagining a shotgun blast right at the drop. If a song doesn’t evoke a visual idea, I usually don’t want to put it out as much.”

Even the album artwork pulls straight from the iPod-music era she’s channeling. Featuring a red dollar sign inside a circle, the cover nods to the visual language of records like MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular and Justice’s self‑titled debut. Unsurprisingly, it sparked debate online, but Slayyyter didn’t shy away from the reaction. “I tried not to say too much other than poking fun at it a bit on Twitter,” she admits. “I loved seeing how polarizing the cover was. It has so much meaning and symbolism to the music, and I enjoy watching people write think pieces or try to figure out what that meaning is. It’s the perfect visual representation of this music.”

When asked what’s inspiring her right now, she rattles off a list: “old horror films, the Olsen twins’ 2010 street style, John Waters, 60s psych rock, Brittany Murphy in Uptown Girls.” It all tracks. As WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA prepares to land, Slayyyter is leaning fully into a world that feels defiant, self-referential, and more authentically her. This spring and summer will see her hitting festivals and select shows—including her first-ever Coachella performance—before kicking off the newly announced WOR$T GIRL IN THE WORLD TOUR, with dates across North and South America, the UK, and Europe beginning this fall. “Hopefully we’ll get back on the road again next year,” she adds. “We’ll see.”

This story appears in the pages of V159: on global newsstands now!

Photography Dario Castello

Fashion Tabitha Sanchez

Interview Christian Rosa

Makeup Marco Campos (Forward Artists)

Hair Andrew Chen (The Only Agency)

Editor Kev Ponce

Fashion Market Editor Copelyn Bengel

Photo Assistants Loul Rafael, Luna La Sirena

Styling Assistants Spencer Bronfman, Angelina Aliano, Juliet Bernard-Rovito

Production Assistant Payton Liddell, Sarine Gabriel, Chase Williams

Location PARAGON