King Princess feels like she has finally found her tribe of fellow “artistic nerds” roughly a decade into her professional music career.
The Brooklyn-based indie pop star — who will be performing at Boston’s House of Blues on Nov. 2 — recently signed with record label Section 1, under which she released her third studio album, “Girl Violence,” on Sept. 12.
“This is the first time I’m doing it this way with an indie label,” she told MassLive. “I was at the same label for six years, and it was a major label. It was a different vibe.”
Not only did the 26-year-old describe Section 1 as “fierce,” she also said the label “values an artist’s perspective and creativity” more than her previous label.
“I’m loving it,” she said. “It’s a very ‘Yes and’ mentality. And I’ve been really enjoying it … It feels like the beginning of a new era a little bit because I’ve never put out music this way and this is the first of many records with them, I hope.”
Brooklyn-based artist King Princess is getting a new lease on life after she recently signed with indie record label Section 1. She released her first studio album, and third overall, called “Girl Violence” under the label on Sept. 12.Conor Cunningham
King Princess, whose birth name is Mikaela Straus, rose to stardom when she independently released her debut single “1950” in 2018. The success of the queer-anthem led Straus to signing with Zelig Recordings, under which she released her debut studio album “Cheap Queen” on Oct. 25, 2019 and sophomore album, “Hold On Baby,” on July 29, 2022.
Straus said the organic success of her platinum-certified debut single “was a complete fluke,” given that it blew up without the support of a label.
“It was the right place, right time,” the musician said. “It just happened. And I was new.”
Nowadays, Straus doesn’t concern herself with chasing that same level of success because she feels like “there’s no difference anymore between indie and major.”
She’d rather focus on making music that she, and her new team, identify with that also resonates with fans.
“I’m with a bunch of artistic nerds who want to put out cool [expletive] and just continue to write with the people I love to write with and make music with the people I love to make music with,” Straus said. “I feel like I’m just making the music I want to make and should be making. And it’ll come when it’ll come. That’s where you got to go after you have a viral success out the gate. It sets an ungodly precedent that I’m not really interested in participating in.”
The artist continued, “It doesn’t really matter what type of label you’re signed to. All that matters is the fans and what they like and what is popping on the internet. So, for me, if anything, I just see myself being in a place where I get to explore my artistry and write the songs that I’m supposed to be writing. And the genre doesn’t really matter to me. It’s really about the integrity in the music and not trying to write with the intention of success, but write with the intention of personal success.”
On top of dropping “Girl Violence” — and an accompanying EP called “Cherry” on Oct. 17 — Straus has had her hands incredibly full this year. She most recently played Austin City Limits Music Festival earlier this month, which she compared to “an adult Disneyland.”
ACL was also an ideal testing ground for Straus’ new material.
“It felt really good to play the new record live and I also feel like the response was really awesome,” the singer said. “The second weekend was super locked in too. It’s always fun doing two weekends because the second weekend is just like balls to the wall. It was awesome. I loved it. I love to perform.”
ACL was also a good warmup for the “Girl Violence” tour, which kicks off Saturday, Oct. 25 in Nashville, Tennessee. Consisting of 29 stops, the tour includes a show at House of Blues in Boston on Sunday, Nov. 2.
Brooklyn-based artist King Princess is getting a new lease on life after she recently signed with indie record label Section 1. She released her first studio album, and third overall, called “Girl Violence” under the label on Sept. 12.Conor Cunningham
The tour and album coincide with Straus’ television debut as she starred in the second season of the Hulu series “Nine Perfect Strangers” alongside Nicole Kidman, Christine Baranski, Murray Bartlett and Annie Murphy, among others. Straus played the part of Tina, the girlfriend of Wolfie, who was played by Maise Richardson-Sellers. The musician described the characters’ dynamic as “the most toxic Lesbian relationship possible” in an interview with Deadline back in June.
“Our goal was to make a really flawed relationship between these two characters [where] you’re rooting for them, but you kind of aren’t,” Straus told the outlet.
“It was important to us that these characters are both likable and unlikable in certain ways,” she added. “At certain moments, you’re like, ‘Oh, just break up.’ That was important to us because, again, it’s complex, it’s weird. We’re finding these people — they don’t like each other. They love each other, but they don’t like each other, and we’re meeting them six years in.”
Straus will make her film debut later this year with Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson in “Song Sung Blue.” She also just finished filming another movie called “One Night Only” that stars Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner.
Acting has been a pretty seamless transition for Straus. She told MassLive she feels that “all musicians want to be actors, and all actors want to be musicians” because of the “symbiotic” relationship between the two art forms.
“You’ve got onstage performances, you have music video performances — which is basically acting — and then you have songwriting, which feels very similar to character building,” the artist said. “In my head, I see a lot of parallels, and I just think one makes the other better. So I’ve been enjoying it.”
Straus added that she has had “the sweetest deal ever” because she has gotten “a master class” from these highly acclaimed actors at no cost.
“I am getting the same education, but for free through them, which has kind of been incredible,” she said. “I get to be a student. I get to learn from these people who know a lot more than I do, and it’s been really great.”
Brooklyn-based artist King Princess is getting a new lease on life after she recently signed with indie record label Section 1. She released her first studio album, and third overall, called “Girl Violence” under the label on Sept. 12.Conor Cunningham
However, the transition hasn’t been all that easy. Straus has had to make some pretty significant adjustments in her sleep schedule so she can get to set on time.
“The music industry doesn’t start before noon,” the musician joked. “To go from playing an ACL where you’re like, ‘I’m going to wake up at 2 p.m. for a 4 o’clock show or whatever…to then like, ‘OK, your call time is 5:15 [in the morning]’ and you’re like, ‘Oh.’ Like that’s honestly the part that I was like, ‘What an incredible endurance training experience.’”
“Song Sung Blue” hits theaters nationwide on Dec. 25 while “One Night Only” is slated for release in 2026, according to Deadline. In the meantime, fans can listen to “Girl Violence” on all streaming outlets or purchase a physical copy of the album on Straus’ website.
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