Much of the material derives from her relationship with Stenberg, the non-binary activist and actor best known for roles in The Hunger Games and The Hate U Give. The title track is littered with vocal samples of an anti-lesbian public service announcement from the 1930s, and finds solace in friendship when romantic love burns out, while You Destroyed My Heart takes a more sinister approach: ‘I could get you back and we could probably reenact, but I’m a better fag and you’re an amateur.’ Hit the Back, which Straus describes as a ‘bottom anthem’, is about as frivolous as it gets, invoking the surrender of oneself not just to the rhythm, but also to a lover. Isabel’s Moment, featuring Tobias Jesso Jr, clings to the hope that a romantic flame might just reignite, while D o You Want to See Me Crying? lashes out: ‘I feel better with my heart out, and you’re probably just a fan now, babe,’ she sings. The emotional spectrum of Cheap Queen is vast and messy, a lot like real life. As with any break-up, there are sobering flits of mourning and many manifestations of grief. It’s a ripe, raw rumination on the wreckage of a relationship: what went right, what went wrong, and how you deal with it. Straus wrote, performed and produced much of Cheap Queen, which she released in October. I was like, “This bitch broke my heart, I’m gonna need to write about it.”’ ‘I knew I was going to be politicised, but it wasn’t my thought when I wrote 1950. In the two years since releasing 1950, a mellifluous ode to queer love inspired by Patricia Highsmith’s 1952 novel The Price of Salt (also known as Carol and adapted into a 2015 film), Straus has become a benchmark for the heights that a self- identifying genderqueer gay woman can reach, packaging and selling her queerness in a way that isn’t feigned, but is unapologetic.īeing queer in and of itself is political, even when you don’t want it to be – a fact that Straus was forced to quickly reckon with as her career hit a sudden upswing. At a time when mainstream pop often feels factory-lined, she lays it all bare, writing unshakeable Gen-Z meditations on matters of the heart – especially heartbreak. King Princess speaks her mind, whether you want to hear it or not.
![take me out to the gay bar lyrics take me out to the gay bar lyrics](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/1651E/production/_100722419_trio_lyrics_getty.jpg)
Is it because of her overt queerness? Because she names songs things like Pussy is God? The fact that she’s a woman who produces her own music, a rarity in today’s industry? That she didn’t make an album of radio-friendly hits, which she sometimes beats herself up over? What exactly is it that keeps her from reaching the upper echelon of pop prowess? The album, regarded as one of 2019’s strongest pop records, didn’t do huge numbers, and all of the tracks from the project have diminutive numbers of streams compared to 1950.
![take me out to the gay bar lyrics take me out to the gay bar lyrics](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/03/13/magazine/13mag-music-promo/13mag-music-promo-facebookJumbo.png)
That gig comes two years after the former One Directioner gave her a major boost, tweeting the lyrics to her breakthrough song 1950, a track with 325 million Spotify listens and counting.Īnd yet, she’s still considered an outlier. She’s covered Lady Gaga, effusively praises Selena Gomez (‘Have you heard the song Birthday? I’m shook by it’) and is the opening act on Harry Styles’ upcoming tour in Europe.
![take me out to the gay bar lyrics take me out to the gay bar lyrics](https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a0963504355_10.jpg)
‘You fucking bitch!’ For a remarkably anti-pop pop star, King Princess sure does love mainstream pop. ‘I just missed it?’ she asks her friend, Henry Metcalf, who co-stars in her DIY dance video for Hit the Back. It’s Super Bowl Sunday, and the squad is in a common area watching Demi Lovato finish belting the national anthem, one day after King Princess released a glitchy remix of Lovato’s ballad Anyone to Soundcloud.
![take me out to the gay bar lyrics take me out to the gay bar lyrics](https://d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/726/43b985f181c0a80c836fe669c6510373ca3ca0d0/original/1505527-10153135008318564-4535367607742193813-n.jpg)
Downstairs, after soundcheck, she sinks into a worn tan-coloured sofa in the green room.