Mikaela Mullaney Straus, known by her stage name King Princess, is an American singer, songwriter, instrumentalist and producer from Brooklyn, New York. She is signed to Mark Ronson's label Zelig Records, an imprint of Columbia Records. She rose to fame in 2018 with her singles "1950" and "Talia", before her debut albumCheap Queen was released in 2019.
Early life
Straus was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York; she is the daughter of recording engineer Oliver H. Straus Jr. and Agnes "Aggie" Mullaney. Her parents divorced while 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; they were from German Jewish families, who immigrated to the United States from the Kingdom of Bavaria and Rhineland-Palatinate. The couple died in the sinking of the passenger ship RMS Titanic. However she has had to clarify on multiple occasions that she is not an heiress and that she did not inherit any of their money; telling Rolling Stone, "I didn’t inherit any of this money." She has also clarified this information on her social media platforms. 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's inspiration in those years had come from the rock music of the bands Led Zeppelin and T. Rex, as well as Jack White. She attended high school at, a private school in Manhattan, and played volleyball. 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 favour of her music career.
Career
A music label offered to sign Straus at the age of 11, but she refused to do so. Straus refused because of her experience watching other artists work with a music label in her father's studio. The labels would control the artist's product, 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. In February 2018, King Princess released her debut single "1950". "1950" is a tribute to the 1952 novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, to the LGBT community and to queer love. The song reached a wide audience when British singer Harry Styles tweeted a lyric from the song. Straus followed this with her second single "Talia" in April. She released her debut extended playMake My Bed on June 15, 2018. Later that year, she earned Breakout Pop Artist of the Year honors from Vivid Seats. In 2019, it was announced that King Princess would perform at Lollapalooza and Coachella. She played The Park stage at the 2019 Glastonbury Festival and was joined by Mark Ronson for a performance of their collaboration "Pieces of Us" from his 2019 album Late Night Feelings. Zelig Recordings released King Princess's debut album Cheap Queen on October 25, 2019. In November 2019, King Princess was announced to be the opening act for the European leg of Harry Styles' planned 2020 concert tour, Love On Tour. King Princess performed as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on November 23, 2019. She released a deluxe edition of Cheap Queen on February 14, 2020. The release included five previously unreleased new songs, including "Ohio".
's International Music Awards celebrate the best of music. Winners are selected by artists and experts. The first edition is set to take place in 2019.
