Mikaela Mullaney Straus (born December 19, 1998), known by her stage name King Princess, is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York. She is signed to

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, record producer, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year for Amy Winehouse's album '' Back to Black'' (2006), as well as two for Record ...

's label Zelig Records, an imprint of

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. In February 2018, King Princess released her debut single "

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

", from her debut

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

(EP) ''

Make My Bed ''Make My Bed'' is the debut extended play by American singer-songwriter King Princess. It was released on June 15, 2018 through Zelig Records and Columbia Records. It was promoted by the singles "1950" and " Talia". Critical reception The EP ga ...

'', 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 The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA). Her second single, " Talia", was certified gold in Australia by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...

(ARIA). King Princess released her debut studio album ''

Cheap Queen ''Cheap Queen'' is the debut studio album by American pop singer-songwriter King Princess, released on October 25, 2019, through Mark Ronson's imprint of Columbia Records, Zelig Records. A deluxe edition of the album with five additional tracks wa ...

'' in 2019 to widespread critical acclaim.

Early life

Straus was born and raised in

; 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 Isidor Straus (February 6, 1845 – April 15, 1912) was a Bavarian-born American businessman, politician, and co-owner of Macy's department store with his brother Nathan. He also served for just over a year as a member of the United States House ...

, a U.S. Congressman and co-owner of

Macy's Macy's is an American department store chain founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. The first store was located in Manhattan on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, south of the present-day flagship store at Herald Square on West 34 ...

, and

Ida Straus Rosalie Ida Straus (née Blün; February 6, 1849 – April 15, 1912) was a German-American homemaker and wife of Isidor Straus, U.S. Congressman and co-owner of the Macy's department store. She and her husband died during the sinking of the ' ...

; she was descended from

German Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...

families, who emigrated to the United States from the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria ( ; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1806 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German Empire in 1871, the kingd ...

and

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

. The couple died in the sinking of the British passenger

liner Liner or LINER may refer to: Line drawing * Eye liner, a type of makeup * Marker pen, a porous-tip pen with its own ink source * Multiple lining tool used in engraving * A sable brush used by coach painters Linings * Acoustic liner, a no ...

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

''. However, Straus stated in a ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' interview that she is not an heiress and did not inherit any fortune. 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 Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

and T. Rex, as well as

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...

. 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. After high school, Straus moved to Los Angeles to study at the

USC Thornton School of Music The USC Thornton School of Music is a private music school in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1884 only four years after the University of Southern California, the Thornton School is the oldest continually operating arts institution in Los An ...

. However, after a year, she dropped out in favor of her music career.

Career

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. In February 2018, King Princess released the debut single, "

". The song is a tribute to the romance novel ''

The Price of Salt ''The Price of Salt'' (later republished under the title ''Carol'') is a 1952 romance novel by Patricia Highsmith, first published under the pseudonym "Claire Morgan." Highsmith—known as a suspense writer based on her psychological thriller ...

'' (1952) by

Patricia Highsmith Patricia Highsmith (born Mary Patricia Plangman; January 19, 1921 – February 4, 1995) was an American novelist and short story writer widely known for her psychological thrillers, including her series of five novels featuring the character T ...

, to the

LGBT community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ people, LGBTQ individuals united by LGBTQ culture, a common culture and LGBTQ movements, social movements. These Community, comm ...

and to queer love. The song reached a wide audience when English singer and songwriter

Harry Styles Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. His showmanship, artistry, and flamboyant fashion have had a Cultural impact of Harry Styles, significant impact on popular culture. Styles's musical ca ...

tweeted A tweet (officially known as a post since 2023) is a short status update on the social networking site Twitter (officially known as X since 2023) which can include images, videos, GIFs, straw polls, hashtags, mentions, and hyperlinks. Around ...

a lyric from the song. Straus followed this with a second single, " Talia", in April. She released her debut extended play, ''

'', on June 15, 2018." Later that year, she earned Breakout Pop Artist of the Year honors from

Vivid Seats Vivid Seats Inc. is an online ticket market place and resale company that uses its technology platform to connect fans of live sports and entertainment events with ticket sellers. It is the official ticketing partner of numerous sports teams and ...

. In 2019, it was announced that King Princess would perform at

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

and

Coachella Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music festival, music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valle ...

. She played The Park stage at the

2019 Glastonbury Festival The 2019 Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts took place between 26 and 30 June. The three headlining acts were Stormzy, the Killers and The Cure. This was the last regular edition until 2022 when the subsequent two editions wer ...

and was joined by

(dressed as King Princess) for a performance of her collaboration "Pieces of Us" from his 2019 studio album ''

Late Night Feelings ''Late Night Feelings'' is the fifth studio album by English and American producer Mark Ronson. It was released on 21 June 2019. It is his first album in four years, following '' Uptown Special'' (2015). Its lead single, " Nothing Breaks Like a ...

''. Zelig Recordings released King Princess' debut studio album ''

'' on October 25, 2019. She produced much of the album itself, including programming many of the instruments. In November 2019, King Princess was revealed to be the opening act for the European leg of

' planned 2020 concert tour,

Love On Tour Love On Tour was the second concert tour by English singer-songwriter Harry Styles, in support of his second and third studio albums, '' Fine Line'' (2019) and ''Harry's House'' (2022). The tour consisted of seven legs spreading over the course ...

. King Princess performed as the musical guest on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' ( season 45, episode 7) 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". 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 Alexander Zane Reed Lowe (born 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence through pr ...

, she confirmed that she was working on her second album with Mark Ronson. In 2022, King Princess joined

Kacey Musgraves Kacey Lee Musgraves (born August 21, 1988) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She began her career in the early 2000s, when she self-released three solo albums and recorded another album as a member of the duo Texas Two Bits. In 20 ...

on her Star-Crossed: Unveiled tour as an opening act. She also opened for

Shawn Mendes Shawn Peter Raul Mendes ( , ; born August 8, 1998) is a Canadian singer. He gained a following in 2013 when he posted song covers on the video-sharing platform Vine (software), Vine. The following year, he caught the attention of artist manage ...

' Wonder: The World Tour and opened for the

Red Hot Chili Peppers The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1982, consisting of Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (musician), Flea (bass), John Frusciante (guitar), and Chad Smith (drums). Their music incorporates elements of a ...

on their Global Stadium Tour. King Princess was also a judge on the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

game show style cooking competition television series '' Is It Cake?'' On July 29, 2022, King Princess released her second album ''

Hold On Baby ''Hold On Baby'' is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter King Princess. It was released on July 29, 2022, through Zelig Records. The album was produced by Mark Ronson, Ethan Gruska, Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, and Tobias Jesso ...

'' and from July through October 2022, she embarked on her Hold On Baby North American tour with openers

Dora Jar Dora Jarkowski (born October 12, 1996), known professionally as Dora Jar, is an American Lo-fi music, bedroom pop musician from Northern California. Jar has released a studio album, two extended plays and three singles as of 2024, and has been ...

and St. Panther. She also featured guests, such as

Julian Casablancas Julian Fernando Casablancas (born August 23, 1978) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the Rock music, rock band the Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since their founding in 1998. Casabl ...

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York C ...

in New York City, where they covered " You Only Live Once". King Princess made the song ''Fantastic'' for the second season of hit animated TV show ''

Arcane Arcane may refer to: Comics and literature * Anton Arcane, a DC Comics character * Arcane Jill Watson, a fictional character in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' franchise * Arcane literature, fictional literature in the Cthulhu Mythos ...

'', which released as part of the Arcane season 2 soundtrack album on November 23rd, 2024. The song is the theme song for the romance between main characters Vi and Caitlyn.

Personal life

Straus is a lesbian and

genderqueer Non-binary or genderqueer gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gender that is differ ...

. During 2018, she dated actress

Amandla Stenberg Amandla Stenberg (born October 23, 1998) is an American actress. She began her career as a child and received recognition for playing List of The Hunger Games characters#Rue, Rue in the action film ''The Hunger Games (film), The Hunger Games'' ( ...

. In early 2019, Straus began a relationship with Quinn Whitney Wilson, the creative director of rapper and singer

Lizzo Melissa Viviane Jefferson (born April 27, 1988), known professionally as Lizzo (), is an American singer and rapper. Born in Detroit, Michigan, she moved to Houston, Texas, with her family at the age of ten. After college, she moved to Minn ...

; they broke up at the end of 2023. 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." 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. Regarding pronouns, King Princess stated to ''

'' in 2022 that she "never felt offended ythe pronoun situation... He. She. It. They. Xenogender."

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Promotional singles

Other charted songs

Music videos

Guest appearances

Awards and nominations

In June 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ

pride parade A pride parade (also known as pride event, pride festival, pride march, or pride protest) is an event celebrating lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...

, ''

Queerty ''Queerty'' is an online magazine and newspaper covering gay- and LGBTQ-oriented entertainment and news, founded in 2005 by David Hauslaib. As of June 2015, the site had more than five million monthly unique visitors. History ''Queerty'' was ...

'' named her among the fifty heroes "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people".

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * {{Authority control 1998 births Living people 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters American women pop singers American women singer-songwriters American multi-instrumentalists American people of Irish descent American people of Italian descent American people of Polish descent American people of German-Jewish descent American lesbian musicians American LGBTQ singers American LGBTQ songwriters LGBTQ people from New York (state) Lesbian singers Lesbian songwriters Musicians from Brooklyn Straus family American non-binary musicians Non-binary singers Non-binary songwriters American feminist musicians 21st-century American LGBTQ people Singer-songwriters from New York (state) American indie pop musicians Singers from Brooklyn Non-binary lesbians