Interview: Inside Kid Sistr’s “American Teenage Prophecy”

Photo by Tanner Deutsch

Los Angeles trio Kid Sistr aren’t easing into 2026 quietly. With their new single “American Teenage Prophecy,” the band leans hard into messy feelings, reckless attraction, and the kind of romantic chaos that only exists when you’re young enough to believe love can rewrite the world.

But underneath the rush is a deliberate vision. Kid Sistr frames the song as a reimagining of teenage romance where queer love isn’t political or controversial, it’s just life. First kisses, prom nights, dorm room heartbreak, all the rituals that pop culture has historically reserved for straight love stories get reclaimed and expanded. Inspired by a late-night watch of The Runaways, the single imagines an alternate lineage of rock romance and asks a simple question with massive weight: what stories could exist if nothing stood in the way?

Following their punchy previous release “Shitshow,” the new single signals a year where Kid Sistr is clearly done playing small. Having already shared stages with artists like K. Flay, Willow, and Carly Rae Jepsen, the trio channels that live-wire experience into a track that feels cinematic, rebellious, and strangely tender. “American Teenage Prophecy” isn’t nostalgia. It’s a rewrite.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNDz91REPj0

American Teenage Prophecy” imagines a world where queer love is treated as ordinary and celebrated. When you were writing it, did it feel more like fantasy, protest, or a glimpse of a future you genuinely believe is coming?

Writing this song definitely felt like reaching into a fantasy of a different past. I had just rewatched the 2010 Runaways biopic. I was left with this vivid image in my head of two '70s-era American girls kissing under city lights. I combined that with an internal question I was struggling with at the time: how would my life be different if I had my first queer relationship at 17 instead of 27?   When I was coming into my identity in my mid 20s, it was really hard to accept that I would never have the thrill of a teenage romance with another girl. There was a lot of grief with that. So the song became a space where I could retroactively imagine it for myself. The other elements (of protest and global aspirations for queer joy) just came out naturally when I took myself to that place. 

The song captures that reckless, instant attraction energy. How do you balance romantic chaos with emotional honesty in your songwriting without it turning into cliché?

Clichés rock!! Honestly, trying to stay away from a cliché can sometimes be a death trap with writing. So many themes centered around love and attraction are cliché, but that’s what makes them so relatable and honest. I think the trick is to just trust yourself as a songwriter while you’re working, and you can always edit after. Anyone listening to the song will relate to it in their own specific way with their own specific memories. 

You’ve cited The Runaways as inspiration. What does rock history get wrong or overlook about queer stories, and how are you trying to correct that through your music?

The history of rock music and queerness is very entangled IMO. Artists were highly celebrated for adopting a gender bending style because it was counter-cultural. However, they were marketed as heterosexual sex symbols regardless of their queer appearances. Take KISS, for example; KISS was literally doing insane flamboyant drag, but all of their songs are about the graphic sexual pursuit of women. On the other end of the spectrum, tomboys like Joan Jett and Chrissie Hynde were sold to male audiences as sexy, left-of-center bad girls. It’s disorienting and disappointing to look back at this stuff, but luckily, we are living in a time of huge queer visibility in music. I think what has been really corrective is seeing archetypal queer images that in the past were marketed as hetero, now paired with queer artists. We are really hoping to accomplish that with the music video for American Teenage Prophecy, which is out now on YouTube!

After “Shitshow” and now this release, there’s a clear sense of momentum. How has performing with bigger artists shaped the way you approach your sound and identity as a band?

Thank you! Momentum is good, lol, and that’s definitely thanks to our amazing management and label team, as well as our incredible producer Suzy Shinn. Suzy is a complete genius and worked painstakingly with us to complete these songs. We sent her American Teenage Prophecy as a half-written voice memo, and she encouraged us to work on it; she walked with us every step of the way from voice memo to final master. The amazing thing about living in LA and doing music is that the work is collaborative in nature. Suzy, our team, and our incredible friends inspire us every day to do what we do. It’s an amazing ecosystem.

If Kid Sistr could write the ultimate coming-of-age movie soundtrack for queer teens, what themes or scenes would absolutely have to be in it?

It’s cheesy, but I’d love a prom scene. I imagined going to prom specifically while writing ATP. Getting drunk for the first time. I’d also love to see a girlie roll up on her girlie’s shitty boyfriend to rescue her so they could ride off into the sunset in her Chevy two-door. 

Cutting each other’s hair with kitchen scissors. Femme girl cuts femme girl's hair, turning her into MASC BADDIE. Definitely a swimming scene, probably in undies and sharing playlists and headphones