''Cheap Queen'' is the debut studio album by American pop singer-songwriter

King Princess Mikaela Mullaney Straus (born December 19, 1998), known by her stage name King Princess, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician from Brooklyn, New York. She is signed to Mark Ronson's label Zelig Records, an imprint of Columbia Records. ...

, released on October 25, 2019, through

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He is best known for his collaborations with artists such as Duran Duran, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, Robbi ...

's imprint of

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, Zelig Records. A deluxe edition of the album with five additional tracks was released on February 14, 2020. Straus began a tour in support of the album on September 20, 2019.

Background

The album was written chronologically, with Straus stating that she named the album ''Cheap Queen'' after the drag term for a queen that is "resourceful, making something out of not very much". While Straus started her career with songs like "

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

" and "Pussy Is God", ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' remarked that she swaps out those "queer pop anthems for understated ballads". Straus explained that the album's sound came about as she was "dealing with the most vulnerable year of my life" after the popularity of "1950", as she was under "complete stress and anxiety, and not knowing what to do with myself or with my body, and then also being in love". Straus released a deluxe edition of ''Cheap Queen'' on February 14, 2020, which included five new songs.

Critical reception

''Cheap Queen'' received universal acclaim from music critics. On review aggregate site

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

the album received a rating of 81 out of 100 from 13 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". The album's sound has been compared to the works of

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...

Richard Hawley Richard Willis Hawley (born 17 January 1967) is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. After his first band Treebound Story (formed while he was still at school) broke up, Hawley found success as a member of Britpop band Longp ...

Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings publi ...

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

Lorde Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (born 7 November 1996), known professionally as Lorde ( ), is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. Taking inspiration from aristocracy for her stage name, she is known for her unconventional musical styles and i ...

, James Blake,

Robyn Robin Miriam Carlsson (born 12 June 1979), known as Robyn (), is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. She arrived on the music scene with her 1995 debut album, ''Robyn Is Here'', which produced two Billboard Hot 100, ''Bil ...

Imogen Heap Imogen Jennifer Heap (born 9 December 1977) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Her work has been considered pioneering in pop and electropop music. Heap classically trained in piano, cello and clarinet starting at ...

Fiona Apple Fiona Apple McAfee-Maggart (born September 13, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. She has released five albums from 1996 to 2020, which have all reached the top 20 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart. Apple has received numerous awards an ...

Billie Eilish Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell ( ; born December 18, 2001) is an American singer-songwriter. She first gained public attention in 2015 with her debut single " Ocean Eyes", written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell, with whom ...

Maggie Rogers Margaret Debay Rogers (born April 25, 1994) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer from Easton, Maryland. Her big break came when her song "Alaska" was played to Pharrell Williams during a master class at New York University's Cli ...

Clairo Claire Elizabeth Cottrill (born August 18, 1998), known professionally as Clairo, is an American singer-songwriter. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, and raised in Carlisle, Massachusetts, she began posting music on the internet at age 13. Clairo rose ...

, and

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and musician. One of the most successful and widely known Rock music, rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and "electric" stage ...

. Matt Collar of ''Allmusic'' praised how Straus examines themes of gender and sexuality "with a low-key sensuality that combines masculine hip-hop confidence with a soulful, feminist point-of-view". Max Gayler of ''

The Line of Best Fit ''The Line of Best Fit'' is an independent online magazine based in London, concentrating on new music. It publishes independent music reviews, features, interview, and media. Founded by Richard Thane in February 2007 and currently edited by P ...

'' praised the album's "eclectic instrumentation and bold production" and the "one-two punch" of the album's closing two tracks, saying "King Princess hasn't reinvented pop, but she is bridging its most exciting chasms." Aimee Cliff of ''The Guardian'' complimented the "

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

-driven" "Hit the Back", as well as King Princess's voice, which Cliff described as "often intimately close in the mix, brushing up against your ear, unglamorous and unadorned."

Accolades

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians

– lead and background vocals (all tracks), songwriting (all tracks), production (all tracks), bass (tracks 1–4, 7–12, 14, 16), programming (tracks 1–10, 13, 14, 16–18), synthesizer (tracks 2, 4, 5, 7, 13, 14, 16), keyboards (tracks 3, 10–12), guitar (tracks 4–7, 10, 11, 14, 18), drums (tracks 9, 11–14) *Mike Malchicoff – production (tracks 1–7, 9–12, 14–17), assistant producer (tracks 8, 13, 18) *Nick Long – songwriting (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 14, 16, 17), guitar (tracks 1, 4, 7, 9, 11, 16) *

Homer Steinweiss Homer Steinweiss is an American drummer, songwriter, and producer known as a prominent drummer in the New York soul revival scene. He is a founding member and drummer of groups including Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Lee Fields & The Expression ...

– drums (track 1) *Leon Michels – keyboards (track 1) *Jonah Finegold – guitar (tracks 3, 4, 9, 11, 12, 14, 17, 18) *Michael Freeman – assistant engineer (tracks 3, 4, 9, 13) *

Amandla Stenberg Amandla Stenberg (born October 23, 1998) is an American actress. She was included in ''Time''s list of Most Influential Teens in both 2015 and 2016, and has received several accolades, including a Teen Choice Award, an NAACP Image Award, and no ...

– songwriting (track 3) *

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop si ...

– songwriting (track 3) *

Carl Sigman Carl Sigman (September 24, 1909 – September 26, 2000) was an American songwriter. Early life Born in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York to a Jewish-American family, Sigman graduated from law school and passed his bar exams to practice in ...

– songwriting (track 3) * Bob Russell – songwriting (track 3) *

– assistant producer (tracks 4, 9, 16), production (track 17) *

Justin Tranter Justin Drew Tranter (born June 16, 1980) is an American songwriter, singer, and activist. Frequently co-writing with Julia Michaels, Tranter has written songs for artists such as Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Linkin Park, Kelly Clarkson, Selena ...

– songwriting (track 4) *Edgar J. Sandoval – violin (track 4) *

DJ Dahi Dacoury Dahi Natche (born March 10, 1983), professionally known as DJ Dahi, is an American DJ, songwriter, record producer and singer from Inglewood, California. Dahi is perhaps best known for producing " Money Trees" by American rapper Kendric ...

– assistant producer (track 4) *

Josh Tillman Joshua Michael Tillman (born May 3, 1981), better known by his stage name Father John Misty, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has also performed and released studio albums under the name J. Tillman. Maintainin ...

– drums (track 4) *Logan McQuade – bass (tracks 5, 17, 18) *Antoine Fadavi – drums (tracks 5, 11, 18) * Romy Croft – songwriting (track 6) *Aron Noah Forbes – songwriting (track 7) * Tim Anderson – production (track 7), songwriting (tracks 7, 18), programming (track 7) *

Tobias Jesso Jr. Tobias MacDonald Jesso Jr. (born July 11, 1985) is a Canadian musician from North Vancouver, British Columbia. His debut album '' Goon'' was released in 2015 on True Panther Sounds. He was included in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the 20 ...

– background vocals (track 8) *

Teo Halm Teo Lucas Halm (born May 18, 1999) is an American record producer, songwriter, singer, and actor. Halm's notable production credits include the Rosalía singles " Con Altura" with J Balvin and "TKN" with Travis Scott, the former which won a Latin ...

– production (track 8), songwriting (track 8), piano (track 8) *

Kid Harpoon Thomas Edward Percy Hull (born 20 April 1982), known professionally as Kid Harpoon, is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Career Already a fixture at local venues in his hometown of Chatham, Kid Harpoon first emerge ...

– production (track 13), songwriting (track 13), assistant producer (track 13), drums (track 13), programming (track 13), synthesizer (track 13) *Martha Betty Glenn Brown – songwriting (track 16) *Banoffee – background vocals (track 16) *Melody Ector – synthesizer (tracks 17, 18) *

Shawn Everett Shawn Everett (born July 6, 1982) is a Canadian music engineer and producer best known for his work with Alabama Shakes, Kacey Musgraves, The War on Drugs, The Killers, and Julian Casablancas. Everett has won six Grammy Awards. Early life Ever ...

– production (track 18)

Technical

Emily Lazar Emily B. Lazar is an American mastering engineer. She is the founder, president, and chief mastering engineer of The Lodge, an audio mastering facility that has operated in New York City's Greenwich Village since 1997. She won a Grammy Award for ...

– mastering engineer (all tracks) *Mike Malchicoff – recording engineer (tracks 1–7, 9, 1–12, 14, 15, 16), mixing engineer (tracks 2, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 14–18) *Oliver Straus – recording engineer (tracks 1, 7) *Rob Kinelski – mixing engineer (tracks 1, 12) *Casey Cuayo – assistant engineer (tracks 1, 12) *

Mark "Spike" Stent Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sheeran ...

– mixing engineer (tracks 3, 4, 7, 9, 13) *Todd Monfalcone – recording engineer (track 4), assistant engineer (track 15, 17) *Teo Halm – recording engineer (track 8) *Kid Harpoon – recording engineer (track 13) *Samuel Witte – engineer (track 13) *Chris Allgood – assistant engineer (tracks 14–18) *Riccardo Damian – recording engineer (track 17) *Ivan Wayman – recording engineer (track 18) *Shawn Everett – recording engineer (track 18)

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2019 debut albums King Princess albums Albums produced by Mark Ronson Albums produced by Shawn Everett LGBT-related albums Indie rock albums by American artists Folk rock albums by American artists Trip hop albums by American artists Lo-fi music albums Contemporary R&B albums by American artists