King Princess is back in New York City and having the time of her life.
The 26-year-old musician, born Mikaela Straus, left Los Angeles a couple years ago (and her major label Columbia) after “full ego death” and moved back home to Brooklyn, to the apartment she grew up in. She’s now in rock star mode, promoting her newly-released album Girl Violence (out now), acting in shows like this summer’s Nine Perfect Strangers, and attending Liberty games and queer parties (and even throwing a few herself).
“I'm a part of a queer community in a way that I haven't ever been before in Brooklyn,” King Princess tells Teen Vogue over brunch at Nem’s Japandi Bistro in her neighborhood. “That was a huge salve for a lot of this stress and anxiety, because I think I felt really isolated from my own people. Being here and being around my friends and their chaos and their craziness and their breakups, it's so comforting.”
She’s not interested in being more private just because she’s famous, or in separating herself from queer fans who also are in her community. “I was a gay kid who did not have a big community of queer people, and I'm still unlearning and undoing a lot of that trauma,” she says. “Part of that is being out and around people. So I'm not afraid of that. And I don't want to ever be afraid of that. Because it means the f*cking world to me. And I'm not better than that. I hate when people act like they're better than them. It's frustrating.”
Below, King Princess talks to Teen Vogue about the making of Girl Violence, the strength of queer community, and her ability to be candid as hell.
King Princess: It's been pretty good. I spent a month upstate, which I always do. And I find it... It's very confronting, but good. It's actually really grounding.
KP: Yeah. It's actually truly my least favorite part of the entire process of being a musician, is putting out the music. I really struggle with it. The only difference this time is that the label and the team around me is just so down to hear about how I feel about it, which is just so fabulous. We had our weekly call, and instead of going through the itinerary [they were] like, "Do you want to just talk about your feelings?" And I was like... “Yeah.” Because it's so emotional. But I'm just excited to get on tour. For me, that's when it becomes fun again. Get on that stinky bus with my stinky boys and we just travel this horrifying nation and play all of the shows.
KP: Well, my mom's a star. She's a diva and a star. I think the part of me that's able to do this type of stuff and get on the stage and has a want to be in magazines and have their photo taken, that all comes from my mom. And then my dad I feel like it's more like my obsession and my gear-minded brain. Recording software makes sense to me. Hardware equipment makes sense to me. Instruments make sense to me. I can't describe it other than that. The way that some people are like, "Math makes sense to me," or "Science makes sense to me." Music just, I get it.
KP: Yeah. I think it's easy to say this is all from my dad and growing up in the studio, but my mom's personality is a huge reason I'm the way I am. She was the special sauce for the wanting the celebrity portion.
KP: Oh my God. No, I love famous. It's so much fun.
I think that it was different when I was 18, 19, 20 and the reality set in that I was this lonely unlikable kid, who then all of a sudden people liked and wanted to be around. That was obviously a mindf*ck. I think I then became the worst parts as a result, probably out of fear and anxiety. But now at 26 I'm like, “No.” "We got this covered." I already acted like an as*hole at 19. I did it. It's done.
Walking here, this lady was like, "I love your music." And I'm of the mind that when someone says that to you, you did something that made someone feel confident enough to say that to you. Some people really hate that. I love it. Please come up to me. It feeds me. It fuels me. I think that's so sweet. I don't get offended or I like, want my privacy. I don't need privacy. I'm fine. I'm a loner enough.
KP: All I can say is love is love. [Editor's note: King Princess has denied the rumors, she and the iconic actress are co-stars and platonic friends.]
KP: I remember meeting her and being around her and talking to her, and I was so enamored with the fact that at 73 years old, she did not bring any type of attitude towards a 26-year-old who had never acted before in the same show as her. I was looking at this woman who was genuinely interested and excited for me. And I was like, that's the goal, is to be somebody who's had an incredible career and also completely willing to usher in new people into that career, without judgment.
But then we started talking and it was like she's from Buffalo, my grandmother's from Buffalo. She's Polish, my grandmother's Polish. So we started talking about that. She's an amazing hang. She's hilarious. I just really love relationships like that. Especially when they're intergenerational because I think there's a lot to be learned from people like Christine, who was a working actor in the New York in the '70s. There's a lot to be learned from someone like that.
KP: A lot of people in my generation do this thing where they're like, “Olds.” I'm not that person. I find that the transfer of knowledge between people who have been doing something way longer than you is incredibly important.
KP: I feel great about it. I would love to do that as much as possible. It's so much fun. To me, it all aids everything else. When I do acting roles, what I've noticed is that I feel better about music. Because it's like I'm learning something. I'm being a student in a different medium, and taking lessons from that medium and bringing it into my OG, which is music. So for me it's just more art, more all the time. As much art as I can do as possible, I'm vibing. I'm just excited to push myself and see what I can do.
KP: I had finished the last leg of the Hold On Baby tour. Before I went and did the last shows for that, I had already kind of made the call that I was going to leave Columbia. I had already in my head been like, "I'm getting out of LA, I'm moving home." So it was like I was making all of these active changes. In the same couple weeks, I found out I booked Nine Perfect Strangers. So the amount of switch up that year, it was a timeline jump. That's what I feel like best describes it.
I was like, "Nothing is working right now." I was miserable. And I just didn't really know how to fix it, other than just to start over. There was too much hurt and distrust and anger happening. At a certain point my therapist said to me, "Are you going to stay miserable or are you going to do something about it?" And I was like, “Okay, read me.”
KP: But also, yeah, you're right. There are things I can do here, but the decisions have to come from me. I just started making those decisions and then I feel like once I did that, it made sense to me to start making music in New York again. No outside perspectives other than my friends and loved ones, and no label perspective. Let me just make a record the way I made the first EP. And then pitch it and see who wants to sign it." It ended up working out, I think.
KP: You're told as a young artist that... I think it's changing now. But when I was coming up as an artist, the only sign of success was a major label deal. You know what I mean? Indies just weren't respected in the same way they are now. Because I think people have realized that major labels aren't the gatekeepers they used to be. Really, it's a fanbase market. And the idea that they can just call the radio, it doesn't happen anymore. No one cares. So I was just like... I've been told this one thing my whole life and that the grass wasn't greener, and then I went and saw the grass and I was like, "No, it's fully green."
KP: F*ck no. I want to be a rock star. I would love to help like… I would do great at brand deals. I could help artists with brand deals stuff. I could be a publicist. I feel like I'd be a great publicist.
KP: As crazy as possible. I feel like this is no holds barred. Just say whatever you want.
KP: The humility aspect to this job is really important. And it's really hard when you're in it to feel that humility, and also to be able to laugh at yourself. That's something I learned over time. People are going to say what they're going to f*cking say. And people are haters. And we live in an internet of cancel culture. So I think that taking the approach of being in on the joke is something that is getting more and more respected. Being an artist who's aware, but confident enough to be self-deprecating. That's something that I think is interesting. I've been really relating to Eminem at the end of 8 Mile when he does the rap where he says all this sh*t that anyone could say about him, so nobody had anything left to say.
KP: Well, because I'm a child of the internet, so I know what's said. I am aware. I'm just over that part of my life where I'm anxious about it. It's not worth it. Might as well just make fun of yourself.
KP: You can see the anxiety, yeah.
KP: Oh, it will be. No, it actually will be out of context.
KP: No, you're going to be like, “King Princess nepo demon sits down with me and is rude the whole time."
KP: I'm really proud of this song called “Serena,” at the end of the record. I think it's a really beautiful song, and it sums up the whole record. At the beginning of the record is this question of why women are so evil, and at the end of the record is like, "Thank God they are. And thank God I live a life where I can experience all the complexities of queerness." It's like, "As painful as all this is, thank God."
KP: There's a cheekiness, a wink and a nod of like, “Yes, this is horribly painful, but we should probably laugh about it or else we're going to kill ourselves.” But I love a lot of the songs. I put my whole p*ssy into this one, so...
KP: Those were two separate songs that were going to go into each other. And then I was like, "'Alone Again' feels like it needs this kind of cap off of that." Because it's so desolate. That song is incredibly, even though the chords are fun, it's the juxtaposition between the happy chords with a really, really devastating f*cking lyrics. I thought it'd be nice to have this moment at the end where everything goes underwater and in your moment of most emotional congruence, you're like, "Actually, I'm relieved that this is ending."
KP: Definitely a lot of like '90s rock references happening. It just felt like the right tone to approach the concept of girl violence with. And it was just what was coming out. I was using different parts of my voice and a little bit more leaning into what my live show sounds like. My records have gotten progressively rockier from the first one, but then I think there's a lot of callbacks to Cheap Queen on this record.
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KP: I think that if you want to suck dong, you should be able to suck dong as much as you want whenever you want and tell whomever you want. That's fine. My issue is that in a country where we are actively battling homophobic and transphobic legislation, we are being reminded that these rights that we have been given, like our Marriage Equality Act, are not permanent, that there is an impermanence to all of this stuff. That is happening. Queer kids are unsafe in the greater US. And for these people to think that whilst this is going on, it is at all important to complain about how much shit you're getting for sucking dick. That to me is so tone-deaf.
… This year, I've been like, "Oh my God." People are so entitled and selfish that they think in this f*cked up world that we're living in, that it is it all important to infight within the queer community and complain. It drives me f*cking crazy. I'm like, "Are you guys serious?"
[At this point, King Princess’s publicist interjects and says, “When you talk about not wanting there to be infighting, if someone were to make the argument that you speaking out on it is to an extent [continuing to in-fight], what would you say?”]
KP: I thought about this yesterday because I have to be quite honest. I feel like when I step out and speak about things that I find to be unjust within the queer community, that I'm also a part of the problem. I think in this case, I hope that what I said stops, at least in part, people from thinking that it's acceptable to go on podcasts and complain about the queer community while also receiving privilege in a heteronormative relationship. I hope that ends this year. There's been five or six examples of this. And I wanted to say my two cents because hopefully it sends the message that, love who you want to love. Love is love. But please, you're making us look messier. And we're already being looked at like we're disorganized and that the world is able to take us down. They're not able to take us down. I want us to be a strong community that stands together and is okay with differences within our community … and I love our bisexuals. I have lots of bisexual friends who are truly really bisexual and they're just living. They would never say that.
KP: Workshop, workshop … Meanwhile, I'm over here just p*ssy eater extraordinaire, not wavering.
KP: I've always been a really salty b*tch, since day one. So I'm no stranger to writing angry music when I was angry because I do write autobiographically. And all this music, there's no farces in it. It's literally, these are all true stories. But what was nice about having a concept like girl violence is that within that, there's so many different facets to girl violence. There's friendship, there's your work relationships, there's romantic relationships, there's rivalries, there's being an observer to someone else's girl violence, there's yourself being the perpetrator. And I think with that, it does open up a channel of anger and empathy and advice. And so I really just... It was very freeing to do that. And with “Cry Cry Cry,” that happened to me. I tried to be friends with someone and it truly did not work out. And I was pissed.
KP: Well, that song feels like a foil to “Talia.” Because the concept of “Talia” is that when you go through a breakup and the person that you love, when you drink enough that they manifest in front of you, that you can see them, they're sitting on the edge of your bed. With “Covers,” it's the opposite. It's like I suppose that I'm only a ghost and you never want to see me in your room. It's that you become that ghost for someone else. So it's like a flipped perspective on “Talia.” Where in “Talia” I'm being hunted, in “Covers” I'm the hunter.
KP: I feel like I'm constantly both, but I think that it's actually better being the huntee, because there's something to be learned from that. If somebody is manifesting themselves and you're so conscious, then something is clearly not resolved. It's an indicator that there's more to be unearthed and there's more to pour through. If I've learned anything from being this gay for this long, it's that the emotional lessons that have come from my life, however painful, are indicative of how deeply I can feel love. And I am grateful for that pain.
KP: Thank you. Every once in a while I have a thing.
