Pop artist Mikaela Mullaney Straus, otherwise known as King Princess, recently released her new album “Hold On Baby.”
The Origin of the King Princess
Straus’ father was a recording engineer, which allowed Straus to gain valuable experience in the music industry at a young age. Through her father’s studio, she learned multiple instruments, including the bass, guitar, piano, and drums. She wrote many songs in her youth, which landed her in the University of Southern California and even a record deal at the age of 11!
However, Straus had her own vision for her own musical journey. She dropped out of college to pursue a musical career rather than just studying it.
King Princess’s Career
Debuting her first single “1950” in 2018, Straus took on the stage name “King Princess”, and immediately garnered some attention. Following up on this success, she has been primarily pumping out singles and EPs ever since, with her previous EP being “Change the Locks” in mid-2022.
King Princess has performed at many famous conventions such as Lollapalooza and Coachella in 2019, as well as an opening act for Harry Styles’ 2020 concert tour.
She has also performed a track from “Hold On Baby,” her newest album, on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
A Gentle Way of Singing
Straus’ sings in a soothingly subdued tone. Her instrumentals, while completely unique and has a different tone in every track, consistently keeps up the acoustic feel of Straus’ music. Even as her instrumentals pick up in pace or intensity, Straus’ soft, gentle voice cuts through, feeling like a warm whisper caressing the back of your neck.
This style is clearly apparent in Straus’ new album. In “I Hate Myself, I Want to Party,” Straus’ voice is barely a whisper at times, yet she still keeps up the intensity of the song with just pure emotion.
Her songs move forward, not dragging you along for the ride, but mesmerizing you into coming along anyway.
An “Introspective” Album
King Princess released “Hold on Baby” as a way to grapple with quarantine and the crisises happening in the world recently. When talking about this album, Straus says: “I don’t know if I really like myself.” You’re so distracted when s***’s moving. And then when you’re still, you’re like, “Oh, I didn’t deal with all this mental health s*** that’s been going on for f***ing years.”
This album shows Straus’ thoughts very clearly. The most obvious is from the lyric “I hate myself, I want to party” in the song with the same title. But in other songs, there are also some tones of self-hatred, annoyance with others, and themes of death, as seen through the lyrics
“If the only way to love you is to let us die / Drive the car right off the cliff and let us dive / and it’s not to say that I wanna live without you / But I will if I have to” in her song “Let Us Die.”
Straus says that this album was her way of processing all these complicated emotions and thoughts: “And the only way I know how to really assess things — besides seeking therapeutic help — is to do my therapy, which is writing. Which I did. And that’s how the album was formed.”
Straus will be on tour throughout America for the rest of the year, visiting everywhere from New York City, to Boston, to Charlotte. Her future tours can be found by clicking here.
