Rich King.
"Hey my love. I buried you a month or two ago. I keep thinking that you're standing on my floor. That you're waiting there for me." I was caught as soon as the atmospheric synth of the brooding, beautiful ballad electronica, 'Talia' by King Princess off the 'Make My Bed' E.P.-that featured the instant classic hits 'Upper West Side' and '1950' too-seeped through my headphones. Playing at random on Spotify following my overplaying of Maggie Rogers' classic album 'Heard It In A Past Life' (it was until this point literally all I listened to on constant repeat this year (can an album of the year come out the first week in January? Of course it can and has)), I was hooked. Not only because I had a new song to match the way I was feeling on repeat for the rest of the hour, day, week, month, remainder of the year I would wile away under its influence, following the previous, similar atmospheric 'Say It' by Maggie Rogers coming into random Spotify play the same way. But because I realized that this year would be dominated by two of the youngest and best women in the industry who both began their mainstream careers with legendary E.P.'s that have now segued into classic albums. And now we've heard it in a past life, we're about to hear from a 'Cheap Queen' who for all the riches is going for the crown like Olivia Colman. Meet your new favourite singer and arguably most important one as the next gay icon whose going to make everyone feel comfortable about their throbbing sexuality. Just like straddling...no cuddling a sex doll for the same 'Talia' video directed by another former flame in 'The Hate U Give' actress Amandla Stenberg, as good as gay legend St. Vincent's 'Pills' video featuring the vocal of her ex Cara Delevingne. And it's still all love like "four drinks I'm wasted", tasting lipstick, "lay(ing) down next to you".
Her majesty's throne awaits in this Sophie Turner game. As this self-titled 'Cheap Queen' on her stellar single makes "grown men cry." "I can be good sometimes" she sings on one of the songs a year...but what's so good about that? "I can be bad sometimes," she counters...and that's more like it. She can be what you like, but she's her own woman. Matching the make-up and lipstick of the iconic, game changing cover for the Brooklyn, New York native who is a drag, at just 20 years of 12 months out her teen age already signed to legendary producer Mark Ronson's Colombia records imprint. She isn't just alt-pop's next big star, but music's biggest this year right now, like Rogers that. This perfect prophecy continues on 'Prophet' a single that sees her take on American Footballers and whistling construction workers like she does sexual stereotypes in media as she 'Hits The Back'. "Cause I can only think about you/And what it's like to walk around you/And why they like to talk about you/’Cause I can only think about you," she sings in epic elision seamlessly before flirting up a storm on 'Back', "I need you to search my clothing/Pat me down and feel the molding/'Cause underneath this table feels so good to me/And I need you to be my motor/And run me 'til I can't go further/'Cause every turn you take is just exciting me." But for all the singles it's the break-up lament 'Aint Together' that fits the pieces between '1950' and 'Upper West Side'. "We say "I love you," but we ain't together/Do you think labels make it taste much better?/Darlin', do you think that if I talk enough/I will make you wanna be mine?/We ain't together," she sings hook, line and sinker on an album of acclaimed LGBT angst ridden anthems with so much more vivid vision and heart in the soul of matters for mainstream modern music of crass chorus recitals today. This bridges the gap. The King, the Queen, the princess...everything.
'Pussy Is God' (the type of song you don't want playing off your playlist whilst using your phone for the music in the coffee shop you work at...but who can deny a classic?), this Princess to Queen once proclaimed. Making this anthem about anatomy, or as Al Pacino in 'Scent Of Woman' wonderfully puts it, "passport to paradise" wholly holy and wholesome. Anything but crude and "I love it" from the 'Holy' singer. And it's this artists heart that canvases this collection set to a new generation of gestures. On the open opener 'Tough On Myself', tougher than the rest, make it the next single, Mikaela keeps it as real as she gets. Admitting, "You want that young love/Like passing me notes, hon'/That shit that you dream of/I'm just sitting at home/Smoking joints like it's my job/'Cause that's what my dream was." 'Useless Phrases' keeps the classics rolling with something that's only above a minute, but is just as classic like this her moment. Give her the Rolling Stone cover now, because this girl is an icon for her generation. But forget a magazine, Instagram tag or billboard, because nothing evokes more eyes are the soul substance in a world constantly changing and swiping for a new style than 'Do You Wanna See Me Crying', for another song that lasts a minute, but lives forever in this infamy, "I think it's cuter when I dance now/I think I'm nicer to my friends now/(Do you wanna see me cry for you?)/I think I'm working through the stress now/I wanna put a million songs out." Then 'Homegirl' brings it all home and Tobias Jessi Jr. joins her for the piano perfect 'Isabel's Moment'. As the terrific 'Trust Nobody' sounds like another ready made single, just like the anthem for a Tinder time, following everyone else's life on Facebook, 'Watching My Phone'. As the Princess sings unfiltered, "And I know I/Can't be the million girls you're gonna meet/And I think that's alright/I apologize/For holding you so tight you couldn't breathe/And thinking you'd be fine", getting vulnerable and honest in a time and trend of medium where you aren't allowed to be either, unless you want to be trolled into obscurity. We need more women that look and talk exactly like this. 'You Destroyed My Heart' cuts even deeper like a dagger to the chambers as she sings, "I could get you back (That's cute)/And we could probably re-enact/But I'm a better fag, and you're an amateur (She seems so lost)/And it's cute you wanna be my friend/It would never work, baby." All before hitting the back and the album closer 'If You Think It's Love' that sounds like it could be produced by 'Yeezus' era West brings the electro beat back one last time. Kanye, being shown that King Princess has the better album out of two classics in the same week as the 'Watch The Throne' rapper tells us that 'Jesus Is King'. But right here, right now it's all about knighting princess. Kneel as she takes the crown dressed like a f###### queen. 'Cheap Queen' is the drag term for a resourceful queen making something out of not very much. But this is really something. Something that affords so much more. Just like the dynamite deluxe edition in Warhol pop cover art canvas, which all queen killer, no cheap filler makes one of last years best even more of a classic record. She gets her Prince on in the 'Back Of A Cab' like a Streep sample and even goes Crazy Horse, Neil Young electric in 'Ohio'. And as she sings "you think you want me, its a no from me/you want to f### me, it's a no from me"- with the banana boat toffee assist from Banoffee-she even gets her American Idol judge on for this anti reality T.V. selection process music. But it's the instant classic on repeat for the next half hour, forget about your evening blusey, remember the one that got away 'All Dressed In White' and the 'Best Friend' that are really special edition, always should have been there, just glad they are now. As this King sings, "now you wanna be my best friend again/call me after two years", followed closely by "I wish I could hate that you've called", we've all been there. And that's so real about this Princess come queen's music as she says at the end of 'Ohio' to all the players, "that was a good one". Talk is cheap, lyrics sing. And this queer queen is everything. Timeless. Like she's really been around since 1950, yet putting those dated notions aside in this neon age. Play it by royal appointment. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Prophet', 'Useless Phrases', 'Trust Nobody'.
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