Stream: Halo Kitsch, ‘I Was a Virgin (On Drugs)’

Anita Wills on November 17th, 2023

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Bold and brash, Halo Kitsch continues to churn out blistering singles documenting relationship wars, internal battles and assorted ruminations on L.A. life.

“I Was a Virgin (On Drugs),” out today, arrives on the one-year anniversary of her debut EP, “With You (In Mind).” Staying entirely in overdrive, the new song rages with walkie-talkie-type vocals and a catchy electronic chorus. The song celebrates her strength to overcome a significantly traumatic experience in her life, “I’m still here / I’m just mad as hell.”

“Bottom line, this is a story about a boy who nearly frickin’ ruined a girl,” says the songwriter, born Katrina Kerns. “But the good news is, and the strength resonating through the song is … I’m still here, I’m just mad as hell. So, he failed. I think everyone’s been the daisy before, whether it was life, circumstance or relationships that tried to cut them down. I found forgiveness for myself in this song when I finally admitted that I wasn’t the only one at fault, that in some way, I’d fallen victim and still came out alive on the other side.”

Kitsch told producer-engineer Ben Zelico — with whom she also worked on “Do You Feel Like a Sinner Yet?” — that she “wanted the post-chorus to feel like a high and a comedown. The final result here honestly feels like if the sound of MGK and Kesha had a baby, and I could not be more obsessed with it.”

The single follows her October release “(Momma Said) Not the Rockstar,” a dramatic guitar ballad turned glitch-rock song reminding the listeners that mother knows best: “My momma said ‘look in the mirror, you were the rockstar the whole time.’”

||| Stream: “I Was a Virgin (On Drugs)”