Girl Violence

About

The third album from the Brooklyn-born pop provocateur took shape during a period of upheaval: In one turbulent summer, the artist born Mikaela Straus left her longtime label, her Los Angeles apartment, and her four-year relationship. Instead of fighting the chaos, the musician embraced it, resulting in what could ostensibly be called a breakup album. But on <i>Girl Violence</i>, King Princess swaggers rather than sulks, streamlining her formerly eclectic sound for a slinky, sexy deep dive into the havoc women wreak upon each other’s lives. “Why does nobody mention that girls can be violent?” she growls on the title track, concluding: “I hate it, but I kinda like it.” After moving back to NYC in 2023, Straus began working with a pair of Brooklyn-based producers: Jacob Portrait of the psych-rock band Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and Joe Pincus, who’d made beats for SZA and Doechii. Together, the trio crafted a sound steeped in late-’90s electronica and reverb-heavy rock, using heartbreak as a springboard for questions about human nature. Doo-wop meets dream pop on “Girls,” a slow-burner for the down-bad on which Straus yowls in her smokiest rasp: “To let you back in/That would be violence/That would be chaos/I wanna try it.” Luckily, all that drama builds character. On “Origin,” a sultry downtempo number, she begins to get her groove back: “I’ve had to face fire, fight fear/And spend a lot of time in the mirror/And I’m cool, I’m weirder/I’m hot, I’m deeper/I’m starting to feel myself again.”

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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