Wednesday, April 24, The Wonder Ballroom buzzed with energy as fans anxiously awaited one of Portland's most anticipated shows of the month.
Mikaela Straus, aka King Princess, while only 20, has already built a kingdom for herself, selling out the 778 person venue almost immediately. However, the multi-instrumentalist and producer is no stranger to a sold-out show, selling out all 20 dates her North American Pussy is God tour. Supporting her was pop singer and producer Banoffee.
The ballroom was nearly full as Banoffee confidently took the stage at 8. Originally from Melbourne, Martha Brown has been making music under the name Banoffee since 2012, while she was still playing in a band with her sister Hazel and drummer Kishore Ryan. Seven years into the project she has learned production and relocated to L.A. pursuing the project full time, and it's paid off.
As Brown bounced around on stage sharing her electronic house and pop-inspired beats, her vocals vocal began to float over the repeating samples and march-like pulses. Playing some of her most well-received singles such as Bubble and Ripe, timid fans began to loosen up, during her completely solo set. She ended with her 2016 release, I'm Not Sorry, highlighting her production skills as she constructed parts of the breakdown live, letting the music build. You can check out her facebook page to see all her upcoming show dates here.
Local drag queen, FLAWLESS Shade graced the stage next and did not come to play. Fans ate up a flawless, dip filled performance to Demi Lavato's Sorry Not Sorry. Featuring local drag performers has become one of Straus' traditions on tour and pays homage to the roots of the gay rights movement, while giving local queer artists access to a platform they don't always get to utilize.
Straus took the stage soon after, and was greeted warmly by fans, going straight into two unreleased songs, Useless Phrases and Cheap Queen. Straus' debut album is slated to be released later this year, so the majority of songs performed were unreleased, or had been released on her debut EP, Make My Bed.
While it may look like Straus is new to the industry, she has been in the studio since she was a child. Her dad, Oliver Straus runs Brookly's Mission Sound Studio, and Mikaela grew up sitting in on studio sessions, learning production, instruments, and the woes of the industry through the bands that came through. She was offered a contractual record deal with Virgin Records at the age of 11, but in a collective decision with her family decided to turn it down. It wasn't until producer Mark Ronson had dinner with her in 2017 that she agreed to sign to his label, Zelig Records, an imprint of Columbia.
Next, Straus played Upper West Side, a song toying with the idea of being obsessed with someone obsessed with themselves, before launching into her biggest hit yet, 1950. Released in February 2018, the song got a huge boost when Harry Styles, unknowingly to her, emerged from the depths of Twitter tweeting the lyrics "I love it when we play 1950." The song is a homage to unrequited queer love and was inspired partly by Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt.
Unreleased tracks Prophet and Tough on Myself, were next and before each Straus playfully yelled to her drummer, "give it to me Antione." Both songs could be described as sad bangers; however, despite the sad nature of her music, her personality is much more comical. She is the self-coined queen of gak, defined by her as fantastic, gay and fabulous, and the word encompassed her stage presence as she joked around with the crowd, her bandmates, and about not being able to hit her JUUL due to venue policy, between every song.
The single the tour was named after Pussy is God, proved to be a hit with fans in a live setting just it has been online. Straus' played two more unreleased songs, Forget About It and Trust Nobody, before playing her final released track, Talia, and exiting the stage.
Her encore, featuring unreleased tracks If You Think It's Love and my personal favorite, a heavily rock influenced song, Ohio, capped her setlist at 13 songs, an impressive feat for an artist with only six released songs.
Overall, the set was diverse, well played, and established King Princess as an artist on the rise. Straus' carefree personality, ability to build an LGBTQ+ save-haven and immense musicianship have already won many fans and industry professionals over, and the release of her album will likely only accelerate her reign. She doesn't have any remaining tour dates in the U.S., but she'll be on the road playing festivals all summer. You can check out specific dates here.
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