If you haven’t listened to Cheap Queen by now, you’re in for a magical ride with a musical genius. Mikaela Strauss, known better by her stage name, King Princess, dropped her full debut album on Oct. 25, 2019. The sounds in Cheap Queen differ from her previous tracks like “Talia” and “Pussy is God,” yet there’s still not a definite genre that her music falls into.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Strauss spent most of her childhood learning musical instruments in her dad’s studio. Since her debut in the music scene in 2018, this husky-voiced singer has dominated the playground, being compared to singers like Clairo and Maggie Rogers. Her anthems include themes of lesbian relationships that have made her a prominent queer idol in the LGBTQ+ community and music scene.
On the cover of the album, King Princess embraces the drag culture with a full face of drag makeup. In an interview with Consequence of Sound, Strauss says the album is a homage to her friends, about heartbreak and best listened to when you’re “stoned and sad.”
The album itself consists of 13 tracks. It starts off with the song “Tough On Myself,” which discusses Strauss being too hard to herself when it comes it love. The lyrics, “I get too tough on myself/Sitting alone making fun of myself/Is it so wrong to just want someone else,” signifies how there’s a certain type of blame that she takes on when there’s heartbreak.
The title track “Cheap Queen,” comes third in the album. It’s catchy and kind of like a combination of all the songs in the album. According to Strauss, it’s a “drag term for someone who is resourceful, who makes something out of nothing, who is a creator on a budget.” The chorus of the song states, “I’m a cheap queen/I can be what you like/And I can be bad sometimes/I’m a real queen/I can make grown men cry.” As a homage to drag culture, these lyrics embody drag queens and how they can change with makeup, with personality, and with the audience.
Don’t hesitate to give this whole album a listen. Tracks like, “Homegirl” or “Trust Nobody,” are all solid bops. King Princess is a voice that is changing the music industry and creating a whole genre that’s in between pop/alternative/indie.