Kim Petras Samples Iconic Dance Song for New Nicki Minaj Collab: 'I Wanted to Be a Raver' as a Kid

Kim Petras is back in the club on her latest single.

After teasing her latest single on TikTok for weeks, the pop star dropped "Alone," a dance banger featuring Nicki Minaj, on Friday.

The euphoric track — on which Petras sings about letting go of inhibitions — samples Alice Deejay's iconic 1999 trance smash "Better Off Alone," a callback to Petras' German roots.

"I'm from Germany. So it's kind of a no-brainer that I love Euro pop. That song 'Better Off Alone' by Alice Deejay has been around. It was probably playing the first time I went to a club, and I probably made some bad decisions to that song and had some great moments to that song. So that's why I have so many memories with it," Petras, 30, tells PEOPLE exclusively.

She adds: "I'm really honored that they let me have the sample because it's just a freaking club classic. And I've just always loved dance music. I feel like I have a strong connection to it. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a raver really badly. And then once I was old enough to actually rave, that whole phase was kind of over in Europe so I get to live my little teenage dreams here."

Meanwhile, the collaboration with label-mate Minaj was a long time coming — and a dream come true — Petras says.

"I originally pitched the song to Nicki to be on her album, and she liked it, but nothing ever really happened, so I made it my own. And then I sent it again and asked her, 'You want to do a feature on this?' And she said yes, and she loved the song. And that just made me so proud and incredibly honored," Petras says. "I look up to her so much, I feel like she only gets better, and I'm such a fan. I'm such a Barb. And that's how it came about."

"Alone" is the latest single from Petras, who first broke through in 2017 with her single "I Don't Want It At All." Petras made history at the Grammys earlier this year when she and Sam Smith made history, becoming the first openly transgender and non-binary artists, respectively, to win the award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for their hit "Unholy."

The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart last October, and the feat "is a huge middle finger to all the [record] labels that were like, 'We don't know how to market you,' and to everyone who doubted me and said I couldn't achieve this because of my gender identity," Petras told PEOPLE in November. "Look at me now, bitches!"

At the time, she added: "It's a huge reminder that everything will happen on its own timing. I've been doing this for years and years and years, and I've always just cared about the most important thing: that the music is good, that my catalog is good, that there's not songs that I'll be embarrassed by in the future and just making sure everything I do is better than the last thing. It's cool that that philosophy remains true — and it paid off."