As Slayyyter popped onto Zoom for a chat, the St. Louis native was about to start rehearsals for major festival performances at Coachella in California, New York City’s Governors Ball, and Lollapalooza in Chicago. Born Catherine Grace Garner, the artist was energized and full of passion as she talked at length about her new album, WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA, her Midwestern roots, and touring with Kesha.
Her palpable excitement and optimism were a far cry from how she felt following the 2023 release of her second studio album, STARFUCKER. “For the previous album, I had attempted to make something that I thought would do really well commercially, and that felt like big dancefloor/pop music,” she says. “I feel like it didn’t hit in the culture in the way that I thought it would. It grew my audience, and people loved the album, but I had expectations that it would be the album that [I’d] break through with. When that didn’t come, I had to take a look in the mirror.”
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Disillusioned with the music industry and her place in it, Slayyyter had to make peace with the fact that the “pop star thing” might not work out. But determined to give it one last chance, Slayyyter decided to throw away the need to make something that she thought would be commercially successful and focus on her own creative fulfillment.
This journey for authenticity inevitably led Slayyyter back home, where she reconnected with her St. Louis roots. Growing up in Kirkwood, she always dreamed of something bigger, regularly telling her mom that she’d be a star one day—even if she didn’t always see her dream as an actual possibility.
“I’m from St. Louis—you don’t grow up with having a lot of Hollywood connections in such a place. I think that my surroundings informed my artistry quite a bit, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I make music and I talk the way I do because of where I’m from, and it gives me a different perspective,” Slayyyter says.
While working as a hair salon receptionist in Des Peres, Slayyyter started to release music on SoundCloud and Twitter, where she gradually grew an audience with songs such as “Swimming Pool,” “Babyyy,” and “BFF.”
With her latest album, WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA, Slayyyter sought to create something as true to her life story as possible. She wanted to return to the authentic place those first songs came from. “Even though I didn’t record this project in St. Louis, I definitely tapped into movies and references that are about portraits of the Midwest. I got into moodboarding things from my childhood or teen years, like going to Kirkwood Park and smoking weed with my friends. There’s something very nostalgic about all of this,” Slayyyter says. “This album is very reflective of me as a person and my life, and it’s less of that pop-escapist fantasy or playing a character as I’ve done in the past. It’s very true to me. It’s true to stories of my life, my childhood.”
In support of WOR$T GIRL, Slayyyter is spending her spring and summer making stops at major U.S. festivals. First up: Coachella, where she shares the Friday lineup with the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Ethel Cain, KATSEYE, Turnstile, Devo, and fellow St. Louis-born artist Sexyy Red. Audiences can expect to see a new side of her as she takes to these major stages. Slayyyter gained experience and confidence as an opener during Kesha’s Tits Out tour, and she’s ready to put her new skills to the test.
“You have to earn your dinner. When people don’t necessarily know your music, you have to fight for them to be engaged and pay attention. I was screaming and going psycho and running around and doing push-ups to get attention,” Slayyyter says. “I am learning how to amp up the crowd. Every time I’m learning different antics to get people to go wild.”
In the time between nearly quitting music and before taking some of the nation’s biggest stages, Slayyyter has been revitalized. Her star is rising, and she’s prioritizing authenticity above all else. “I am trusting my gut on what’s cool and not trying to follow any trend,” Slayyyter says. “The way that I made this album…I want to keep this: not having the intention of other people liking something and just making it. They will like it 10 times more than if you’re just trying to make something that sounds like a hit.”
