#Live: King Princess dominates the floor in Detroit
King Princess officially kicked off our fall season when she made a stop on her Girl Violence tour. The cold weather did not deter the fans who patiently waited to get in. One thing we noticed on this tour, amongst past King Princess tours, was the dedication that these fans had for this tour. We chatted with a fan who traveled to several shows (including Atlanta) not to miss a single moment. Which meant we were in for a great night. The night started with Sasami, who got us moving and thrashing from the moment she ran on stage with her fringe-covered French horn. The vibes were a mix of punk scene days and a hint of after-school theater kid troublemaker.
Then it was time for Mikaela, with the reveal of the mural wall and graffiti of past cities on the tour, we watched as she jumped on the platform, kicking off the tour with Cherry, Jamie, and I Feel Pretty. One of our favorite moments was when she noticed a fan's sign that said, “I shave everything but my bush (Just in Case).” She had to clarify if it was true and said maybe for jumping into I Feel Pretty. The rest of the show was nothing but good music and questionable dance moves. King Princess wraps up the show by spray-painting "Detroit" on the mural during RIP KP. Her encore songs were PS5, 1950, and Let Us Die.
BUY & LISTEN TO GIRL VIOLENCE NOW
Tour Dates
November 7 - The Salt Shed - Chicago, IL
November 8 - Uptown Theater - Minneapolis, MN
November 10 - The Pageant - St. Louis, MO
November 11 - The Truman - Kansas City, MO
November 13 - Ogden Theatre - Denver, CO
November 14 - The Depot - Salt Lake City, UT
November 16 - Showbox SoDo - Seattle, WA
November 17 - Roseland Theater - Portland, OR
November 19 - The Regency Ballroom - San Francisco, CA
November 21 - House of Blues - Anaheim, CA
November 22 - The Wiltern - Los Angeles, CA
December 3 - Vicar Street - Dublin, Ireland
December 5 - Queen Margaret Union - Glasgow, Scotland
December 6 - Beckett - Leeds, UK
December 7 - New Century Hall - Manchester, UK
December 9 - Brixton Electric - London, UK
December 13 - La Madeleine - Brussels, BE
December 14 - Le Trianon - Paris, FR
December 16 - Melkweg Max - Amsterdam, Netherlands
December 17 - Astra Kulturhaus - Berlin, Germany
Tracklist
1. Girl Violence
2. Jaime
3. Origin
4. I Feel Pretty
5. Cry Cry Cry
6. Get Your Heart Broken
7. Girls
8. Covers
9. Say What You Will
10. RIP KP
11. Alone Again
12. Slow Down and Shut Up
13. Serena
More on King Princess & Girl Violence:
Sometimes no matter how hard you try, your life can still fall apart. Girl Violence, the third album from King Princess, is the sound of Mikaela Straus picking up the pieces of a world left shattered.
“Girl violence is very sneaky,” Straus says. “It's not physical, it’s deeply emotional, spiritual, and spooky. Women are both amazing and sinister—including myself—and it's my curiosity to understand all the love, loss, and changes that come out of my love for women. Why are we so inclined to cause and receive chaos? If you've experienced even an iota of it, then you'll have a story to tell. And these are mine.”
The songs on Girl Violence are probing and vulnerable, but also nuanced, sensual, and bold; a product of her physical homecoming — leaving LA after seven years for Brooklyn where she was born + raised. “I was not loving life, I didn't feel grounded at all. I realized my feet were dangling for years,” she says of her end-stage time in LA. “Once I was back in the arms of the city I love, I started to feel easier and lighter about hard decisions that were actually in my best interest.”
Accordingly, the album brims with an exhilarating sense of freedom, stemming from Straus’ decision to leave behind the major label system that had defined much of her story up to this point. While not strictly a “breakup record” in the traditional sense, Girl Violence was in part born out of a newly-found romantic freedom following the end of a long relationship. Finally feeling at home and left to her own devices, she was able to tap into the force that fueled some of her earliest creative excitement and breakthroughs.
She zeroed in on it: one studio, a tight-knit NYC crew, and a few months of immersion. She found kindred-spirit collaborators in Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Jacob Portrait (credits include Lil Yachty, Alex G), and Aire Atlantica (breakthrough: SZA’s “Low”) and inspiration in tracks by IDLES, Massive Attack’s Mezzanine (her bedrock reference for production/mixing/vibe), and Beatles live sessions. Girl Violence slowly started to take shape.
This collection may be “a celebration of the craziness of femininity, in awe and admiration of the derangement,” but it also stands as a document of Straus’ multifaceted evolution. She’ll always be in motion with her quicksilver humor and curious, open heart.
“It's about recognizing that we have an abundance of love in our life,” she says. “I don't think I will ever lose the ability to stop loving or creating big loves. You can have crazy fallouts and breakups, but you aren't incapable of loving, if anything, I think it makes you more capable.”
Although Girl Violence centralizes relationship dynamics in all their cerebral, emotional, and carnal glory, above all else she interrogates the shifting sands of self. How you view yourself and move through the world, what you understand and acknowledge, and the logic you still decide to abandon—for desire, for adventure, for the ride. Through it all, she offers up Girl Violence not as an answer, but as an echo—one that’s yours to claim, distort, and make your own.
