A story, by the way, that Straus feels she was born for. She uses the word “cunt” in almost every sentence, so much that her publicist is worried her quotes will be unusable for this story. With her feathery, shoulder-length chocolate-brown hair and extensive knife collection, she exudes a rock-star persona as purely savage as anyone in her generation - she could be Marc Bolan reincarnated or a long-lost cousin of John Lydon, dropping brazen one-liners in between hits from her vape pen. This is what it’s like to converse with Mikaela Straus, the indie-pop visionary behind King Princess. “I was like, ‘Cunt!’ That’s exactly what I’m going for!” the 23-year-old musician says. But the description that really nails “Change the Locks” - the one that makes King Princess beam as she shares it - came from someone in the studio, who said it sounds like menstruating at Lilith Fair.
It’s a breakup song that starts out soft and dreamy before erupting into a scorched-earth mid-Nineties rager with the biggest chorus she’s ever belted. King Princess has a new song she can’t wait to talk about.
