Album Review: King Princess - Cheap Queen

The debut album from King Princess, aka Mikaela Straus, Cheap Queen feels far beyond her 20 years.

At the age of 11, Straus was offered a record deal which she declined - record labels weren’t of interest until she was sure of herself and her musical identity. It’s a good thing she waited, Cheap Queen is an album from an artist whose personality shines bright.

Ain’t Together and Hit The Back are different sides of the same coin, though thematically they couldn’t be further apart. Driven by simple guitars, old-school bridges and Father John Misty on drums, Ain’t Together explores visceral love and lust, stripping away relationship labels. 

Hit The Back, on the other hand, is a self-proclaimed “anthem for bottoms everywhere”. While exploring desire once more, it sees Straus on keyboards before warping into a disco jam. The two tracks are polar opposite queer anthems, and Straus nails them both. 

On Watching My Phone, Straus displays The Carpenters’ penchant for melancholy. She even echoes Rainy Days And Mondays. She teases a drop in the track’s chorus but, unafraid to preserve a slow jam, she beautifully sidesteps modern pop tropes.

Most remarkable of all is that voice. Both sultry and sweet, King Princess ascends beyond her influences and above all expectations.