King Princess says being gay gave her ‘more respect’ in music business
King Princess at the 2019 Lollapalooza Music Festival. (Josh Brasted/FilmMagic)
King Princess, the 20-year-old singer of ‘Pussy Is God‘, got “more respect” from men in the music industry because of being queer.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, King Princess spoke about growing up around her father’s Brooklyn recording studio.
“Being gay gave me more respect than I saw given to a lot of straight women in similar situations,” she said.
King Princess added: “It eliminated that sexual nature in working with men.”
The Brooklyn-born singer, whose first album ‘Cheap Queen’ is due out on 25 October, also said that she’s seen more women producing their own records, which is good because men were “mutilating” them.
“Ten years ago, not a lot of women were producing themselves,” she said. “They’d record a whole album, then come back with the edits from the label, and re-record everything all over again. It was startling to watch music get mutilated.”
King Princess – real name is Mikaela Straus – also opened up about her stage name and feeling genderqueer.
“A friend of mine used to call me that [King Princess], and it just felt right. I wasn’t fully formed into my genderqueer self at the time and couldn’t comprehend all the levels—but I am a King Princess. It’s very in-between and fluid,” she said.
The singer, who was nominated for a BBC Sound of 2019 award, also talked about how she is now “kind of” less nervous to play live shows “because I’m usually stoned”.
King Princess also revealed that she is currently dating someone.
“The hardest part of juggling a relationship is allowing yourself to miss someone, and to know that missing someone is healthy,” she said.
She used to date Amandla Stenberg, who became known for playing Rue in The Hunger Games film franchise, before becoming a passionate LGBT+ rights campaigner.
The actor, who uses they/them pronouns, came out as gay in June 2018.
