"Cheap Queen" King Princess Gives a Priceless Performance

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“This is the smallest show you’ll ever see me at again in my entire life,” Mikaela Straus better known as King Princess declared to her colorful audience at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale Wednesday night.

Though RL crew may have taken offense to KP’s comment, the doting crowd below her, myself included, offered support of Straus’ determination by way of uncontrollable applause.

The show was the last for leg 1 of the New York singer’s headlining tour in support of her debut album Cheap Queen that came out last month. It’s a feat she’s immensely proud of. “Do you like my album?” she sweetly asks in between songs, “it’s the best thing I’ve ever made.” At an age that sees most of us in our junior year of college, KP has amassed a devoted following (one that counts Harry Styles as a fan) for her honest and catchy soft-pop with an unwavering queer gaze.

Love, in all forms ranging from exciting and true to unrequited and toxic, plays possibly the biggest role in the narrative of King Princess. By subverting the conventions of the typical love-song to cater to a predominantly lesbian/queer female audience allows for an arguably greater emotional punch. Take a track like “Trust Nobody,” an aching synth-ballad that chronicles a relationship between two girls that remains mostly secret in public but proves to be more delicate and complex behind closed doors. For the live performance, Straus extended the song to nearly 10 minutes to highlight its relevance as a common situation in the LGBT+ community.

If I keep referencing the queer-ness, it’s because it’s a relevant factor that not only informs KP’s music but also the audience that she draws in as well, and she knows it. By booking a local drag queen to warm the crowd up before her set, as well as demanding we cheer her on with a “yes Miss King” throughout the show, Straus made it her goal to promote an inviting and encouraging atmosphere. “God told me to tell you, the gays of Fort Lauderdale, that he loves you,” she insisted to her adoring crowd, “don’t kill the messenger.” Why, Miss King, we wouldn’t dream of it.

Shianne Salazar