King Princess - Cheap Queen

The Guardian 80

(Columbia)
Swapping queer pop anthems for understated ballads, the 20-year-old’s debut deals in laid-back confessionals about crushes, loneliness and forbidden love

Brooklyn singer-songwriter King Princess (Mikaela Straus) recently explained that Cheap Queen, the title of her debut album, is a term she borrowed from the world of drag queens. It refers to a queen who’s resourceful, making something out of not very much. That’s the principle that underpins her laid-back title track, where she sings with a light touch about “doing the same shit I’ve always liked”.

Pitchfork 74

The viral phenom’s full-length debut cuts her modern pop sensibility with doses of historicism, embracing opposing energies with effortless swagger.