King Princess Girl Violence Review: Nobody Mentioned That Girls Can Be Violent
Inspired by the chaotic lesbian community, toxic masculinity, and heartbreak, Girl Violence is an unapologetic album from a raunchy and recovering King Princess.
Released under the indie record label Section1, Girl Violence was written and produced almost entirely by Mikaela Straus (King Princess) with a couple of friends in her Dad’s New York studio. Since their last album, Hold On Baby, in 2022, King Princess has experienced a lot of change in just a few years, a fact that is clearly reflected in the new record.
At just 19 years old, King Princess was given a spotlight when they released their debut single, 1950, written about the censorship of queer love as inspired by the 1952 novel, The Price of Salt, by Patricia Highsmith. She looks back on the song now and reflects on its relevance to Girl Violence. The success of 1950, she argues, is because there was a lack of lesbian artists using she/her pronouns in songs at the time… and, also because Harry Styles tweeted the lyrics.
Since then, King Princess has become a queer icon within the music industry, as a gender-bending, talented and unafraid artist, who embraces silliness and chaos, whilst openly exploring the confusion of individual identity.
Girl Violence feels a lot more emo-pop than many would perhaps have anticipated, with ideas of yearning and heartbreak echoing the sounds of the 2000s boy-’rock’-band through the lens of a Gen Z lesbian. The album reckons with the sounds and rhetoric of their previous releases, Cheap Queen (2019) and Hold On Baby (2022), arriving at an intensely chaotic yet introspective indie-emo-pop-rock destination.
The title track, Girl Violence, starts the album off on a synthy and pessimistic note, slow building into a debate King Princess frequents: what does true love feel like?
This slower beginning is combatted by the hasty, boisterous tracks that follow, but is revisited on track nine. Among the track list, Say What You Will (featuring Joe Talbot) is the one that breaks away most clearly in sound. The use of autotuned, vague vocals over twinkly keys echoes in the darkness of an alluring and hypnotic landscape. As the shortest track on the record, at only 2:01, the emptiness of Say What You Will lets us take a moment to breathe before jumping into the more chaotic, RIP KP.
RIP KP, Jaime, Cry Cry Cry, Get Your Heart Broken, and Girls fit into the louder category of Girl Violence, emulating anger, yearning, and horniness.
Released on 4 June, RIP KP was the first single of Girl Violence, starting Pride Month off with a raunchy lesbian banger. In the ‘making of’ video for the RIP KP music video, King Princess says that the visuals and story encapsulate the aura of Girl Violence. In the grotty bathrooms of a college in the Bronx, King Princess finds herself stuck in purgatory with insane women.
The symbol of a cherry is smacked across King Princess’ face, imprinting her with the same Cherry character found in the cover art for the three pre-album singles: RIP KP, Cry Cry Cry, and Girls. King Princess describes Cherry as an ancient demon who possesses women and forces them to act crazy; the character was made to represent the concept of Girl Violence.
Cry Cry Cry is a track filled with rage, as King Princess rants about an ex-friend in the music industry over a pop-rocky backing. Unapologetically shaming the other for their behaviours, King Princess is determined to come out on top from this failed friendship. “I’m always gonna be too tough for you, you’re always gonna make things hard, and they’re always gonna just kiss up to you. It’s never gonna get you far,” she cries.
Girls, the third single, brings a brutal twist to the cover art – Cherry is crushed under an anvil, her remains scattered across the ground. It seems the weight of the loving women is too much for King Princess to handle. The self-proclaimed chaotic lesbian once again struggles to understand her infatuation with girls and the subsequent relationships that come from it. King Princess has played with this sentiment many times, with the 2020 single PAIN coming to mind. Girls highlights King Princess’ voice stunningly. The painfully slow drawl and gravelly husk give so much to this song.
The singles of Girl Violence, however, are not wholly representative of the album, with much of it dedicated to a chilled pop vibe. Lo-fi beats, shimmering strings, and ethereal harmonies make Origin the album’s calmest track—a brief escape into inner peace
Along Again is a very cliché-sounding heartbreak pop song, reflecting on the faults of an ex-relationship. “Screaming through the phone, should’ve probably known. Now, I’m alone again”
King Princess has openly admitted that their love life is a catastrophe, which is not hard to see when skimming the lyrics of Girl Violence – or any of her discography for that matter. Although tonally, Alone Again is a gut-wrench breakup anthem, it does not feel overly sad, with King Princess seemingly coming to understand that the red flags should’ve been a breaking point.
Covers is another stand-out moment of Girl Violence, in which King Princess dreams about haunting their ex. The ghostly essence to her voice and echoing harmonies, paired with the upbeat drums, is a playful take on the stereotypical notion of the death of a relationship. The irony of Covers lies within the idea of wanting someone else to miss you, wanting them to feel haunted, because you, yourself, are haunted by them.
At just under 35 minutes, Girl Violence is a relatively short album. Yet, there is enough substance here to satisfy fans both old and new. Girl Violence calls out the romantic and platonic warfare between women, which is unforgiving and feral. It unpacks the rawness of recovery and attempts to understand the origins of love and lust.
Themes of violence, heartbreak, lust, yearning, and destruction are threaded throughout the 13 tracks. There are slower tracks like Serena and Say What You Will (featuring Joe Talbot, frontman of the IDLES), as well as louder anthems, like Jaime and Cry Cry Cry, to satisfy all listeners. But unfortunately, by the end of the 13 tracks, it does feel quite samey, with the last two on the album being a slight disappointment. In saying this, Slow Down and Shut Up – track 12 – and Serena – track 13 – pick back up on the Girl Violence energy that fans have come to know and love.
Coming into their own, as a chaotic lesbian with a messy love life, King Princess seems to be thriving under the attention of a new label, with Girl Violence feeling authentic to themselves. This album seems to mark a turning point for King Princess, who is consciously making the effort to shed old habits and learn from past mistakes.
