King Princess has released her third full-length album, Girl Violence, out now via Section1. The album marks a significant evolution for the 26-year-old artist, who rose to prominence with her breakout single ‘1950’ and two acclaimed LPs that cemented her as one of Alt Pop’s most subversive and stylish voices. This release follows a three-year hiatus and arrives in the wake of a major shift in the mainstream embrace of Sapphic pop.
Born Mikaela Straus, King Princess has long defied genre categorisation, crafting a sound that fluidly blends pop, R&B, and indie rock, while always foregrounding emotional honesty and sexual agency. After parting ways with longtime collaborator Mark Ronson and leaving the Columbia imprint Zelig, Straus now operates with renewed independence. Still backed by high-calibre collaborators in the production, including Jake Portrait (Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Lil Yachty) and Aire Atlantica (Doechii, SZA), Girl Violence takes a darker, sharper turn than previous releases, embracing volatility with a sonic sheen of softness.
Girl Violence sees Straus embracing a gritty, guitar-driven palette and a voice that stretches from seductive to snarling. Tracks like ‘RIP KP’ and ‘Cry, Cry, Cry’ lean fully into rock theatrics, while moments like ‘Say What You Will’ (featuring an unexpected vocal cameo from Joe Talbot of IDLES) plunge into murkier ambient atmospherics and sink deeper into emotional territory. Across the record, Straus documents the fallout of romantic and professional breakups with swagger, bitterness, and searing flashes of vulnerability. Rather than offering tidy narratives, Girl Violence revels in the chaos – emotionally messy, unapologetically vulnerable, and oozing with limerence and lust.
