King Princess, Brooklyn queer pop royalty, is ready for the throne.
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Mikaela Straus is upstate, riding a horse.
Shed been scheduled for an interview right now, yet the information didnt make its way to her.
Straus was raised in Brooklyn.
Straus grew up around music recording, so its a lucky thing shes super-talented at it too.
After school, she would record backup vocals for artists who passed through her fathers space.
When she was 11, Virgin dangled a record deal.
(Prewritten Grammy acceptance speech aside, she turned it down.)
Strauss EP,Make My Bed, soon followed.
Straus has a sense of humor about it.
The album is fucking sad, girl, she deadpans, when we connect from Grandmas place.
First, we must address yourincredible remixofMeryl StreepsBig Little Liesscream.
You mark your calendar, Meryls scream is gonna come back.
I have one with Katy Perry singing in Simlish.
I have Tyra Bankss iconic epic meltdown.
I have Kim Cattrall scatting.
Every once in a while you watch something and see it happen in real time.
I was watching that [Big Little Lies] episode as it aired and was like,Oh fuck!
Thats my next remix.
I knew I wasnt popular so I never fucked with social media.
SoundCloud was my place to experiment.
Now its my haven.
As I put out music officially everything is so fucking serious.
And my music is predominantly sad.
The remixes are salty and joyful.
The first song on the album is called Tough on Myself.
Are you?Ill tell you the story of that song.
Mark [Ronson]s such a fucking asshole.
He goes, You should write some more songs because you only have 1950 and Talya.
I started crying, like,Fuck you.
Then I wrote Tough on Myself, and he went, There you go!
It was for him.
When is having Ronson on the team most helpful?At the end.
Hes the fire wall.
Im like, Mark, what do you think about this?
Now, if that was a different snare, it would be a hit.
Thats what I love about him.
There are moments when I feel like I know everything.
There are moments when I feel lost in a sea of talented people.
He is that grounding presence.
You come off as so confident.
Is it self-protective?IknowIm really good at music.
Doubting your art is the hardest thing, and I dont doubt my art.
Humor is a defense.
I have absurdity, and I have talent.
From 1950 to now, what have you learned most about yourself?1950 blew up in three days.
I decided to write whatever I want.
I wrote this album chronologically with what was going down in my life.
Efforts are often made in the industry to clean up [real] moments like that.
The album contains so much distress.
Watching My Phone was in the moment.
That shit pops off because I was like,Im gonna die.
But before I die, Im gonna write this.
People might assume that song is about afamous exof yours.
Was that ever a concern?Heres the thing: My second single was called Talya.
Shes not the queen of subtle!
Whether a relationship is public or not, its real.
Your heart gets decimated.
This is my therapy.
What the fuck else am I gonna write about?
Going to the club?
Im gonna write about getting my heart smashed.
When did the song Cheap Queen arrive?
To me, its an ode to your friends.Its very much an ode to my friends.
Cheap Queen was an interlude.
I was going to name the album after the interlude because it was so cute.
And [my team] was like, No, bitch.
So I made it a full-length song.
Its an homage to my community.
We are all cheap queens.
Thats how I feel.
It seems as though youve had big opportunities presented to you.
The biggest thing I learned this year is who my people are.
Being critical of whos in your life is essential.
I will take any free shit you have to give me.
Thats some cheap-queen shit.
But it is a fucking mantra.
Why create your own vernacular words likejujandgak?Black people and gay people created vernacular.
Thats the most fun part of language: You have these code words with your friends.
Me and my gay friends are the gickity-gak.
We say shit no one else understands.
There was a reason for coded language in history; now its become mainstream.
What better way to unify your community than to use language to familiarize yourselves with each other?
In You Destroyed My Heart, you say, Im a better fag, and youre an amateur.
Why did you decide to use that word?Ive been called a faggot.
My friends are fags.
To me, that word is not dirty.
For me, to say Im a better fag and youre an amateur is gay prowess.
Thats my favorite line on the record.
Im not a fucking package, and neither are those people.
I will talk about being gay till the sun comes up.
But Im only interested in good music.
I dont care if its gay or straight.
Listen to my heart break, honey.
Listen to my sadness, and it will reflect your own sadness.
Well be less alone together.
My grandma says hi, by the way.
Cheap Queen(Columbia/Zelig Records) is out October 25.
