Mikaela Mullaney Straus[1][2] (born December 19, 1998), known by her[a] stage name King Princess, is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Brooklyn, New York. She is signed to Mark Ronson's label Zelig Records, an imprint of Columbia Records.[3] In February 2018, King Princess released her debut single "1950", from her debut extended play (EP) Make My Bed, released later that year. The song was a commercial success, charting in multiple territories, and was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[4] Her second single, "Talia", was certified gold in Australia by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). King Princess released her debut studio album Cheap Queen in 2019 to widespread critical acclaim.
Early life
Straus was born and raised in the New York City borough of Brooklyn; she is the child of recording engineer Oliver H. Straus Jr. and Agnes "Aggie" Mullaney. Her parents divorced when she was young. On her mother's side, she is of Irish, Italian, and Polish descent. On her father's side, her great-great-grandparents include Isidor Straus, a U.S. Congressman and co-owner of Macy's, and Ida Straus; she was descended from German Jewish families, who emigrated to the United States from the Kingdom of Bavaria and Rhineland-Palatinate. The couple died in the sinking of the British passenger linerTitanic.[5][6][7] However, Straus stated in a Rolling Stone interview that she is not an heiress and did not inherit any fortune.[8]
Straus spent much of her childhood following her father to work at his recording studio, Mission Sound. There, she learned several instruments, including bass, guitar, piano, and drums, as well as music-production techniques and insight into the music industry. Straus' inspiration in those years had come from the rock music of the bands Led Zeppelin and T. Rex, as well as Jack White.[9] In 2012, she received a scholarship to attend Avenues: The World School, a private school in Manhattan, after submitting a CD of songs she had written.[10][11][12]
After high school, Straus moved to Los Angeles to study at the USC Thornton School of Music. However, after a year, she dropped out in favor of her music career.[9]
Career
King Princess performing at Royale in Boston, Massachusetts, 2018
A record label offered to sign Straus at the age of 11, but she refused to do so because of her experience watching other artists work with a music label in her father's studio. The labels would control the artists' products and change the feel of the music. She did not want to sign with a record label until she had a definition of her music, how she wanted to run the production, and with whom she would work.[13]
In February 2018, King Princess released the debut single, "1950".[3][14] The song is a tribute to the romance novel The Price of Salt (1952) by Patricia Highsmith, to the LGBT community and to queer love. The song reached a wide audience when English singer and songwriter Harry Stylestweeted a lyric from the song.[9] Straus followed this with a second single, "Talia", in April.[15] She released her debut extended play, Make My Bed, on June 15, 2018.[16] Later that year, she earned Breakout Pop Artist of the Year honors from Vivid Seats.[17]
In 2019, it was announced that King Princess would perform at Lollapalooza[18] and Coachella.[19] She played The Park stage at the 2019 Glastonbury Festival and was joined by Mark Ronson (dressed as King Princess) for a performance of her collaboration "Pieces of Us" from his 2019 studio album Late Night Feelings.[20] Zelig Recordings released King Princess' debut studio album Cheap Queen on October 25, 2019.[21] She produced much of the album itself, including programming many of the instruments.[22] In November 2019, King Princess was revealed to be the opening act for the European leg of Harry Styles' planned 2020 concert tour, Love On Tour.[23] King Princess performed as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live (season 45, episode 7) on November 23, 2019.[24] She released a deluxe edition of Cheap Queen on February 14, 2020. The release included five previously unreleased new songs, including "Ohio".[25]
In October 2020, King Princess released a new single, "Only Time Makes It Human", followed by "PAIN" in November. In a November 2020 interview with Zane Lowe, she confirmed that she was working on her second album with Mark Ronson.[26]
On July 29, 2022, King Princess released her second album Hold On Baby and from July through October 2022, she embarked on her Hold On Baby North American tour with openers Dora Jar and St. Panther.[27] She also featured guests, such as Julian Casablancas at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, where they covered "You Only Live Once".[28]
Personal life
Straus is a lesbian and genderqueer.[29][30][31][32][33] During 2018, she dated actress Amandla Stenberg. In early 2019, Straus began a relationship with Quinn Whitney Wilson, the creative director of rapper and singer Lizzo; they broke up at the end of 2023.[34]
Regarding her gender identity, she has said in an interview with W magazine, "I like being a woman sometimes. I would say 49 percent of the time I love my titties. But I'm not fully a woman. I'm somebody who falls center on the gender spectrum, and it changes from day to day. It's just not in me to decide."[35] In 2023, Straus posted, "I'm tired of pretending I am normal. I am non-binary!!!" on Instagram, and has also made a number of other posts about gender.[36] Regarding pronouns, King Princess stated to Rolling Stone in 2022 that she "never felt offended [by] the pronoun situation... He. She. It. They. Xenu."[37]
In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ pride parade, Queerty named her among the fifty heroes "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people".[94][95]
