At the ripe age of 19 years old, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer King Princess has a lot under her belt already including her buzz worthy EP Make My Bed but up until July 23rd she hadn't played in SF. She conquered that feat easily, with two back to back sold-out headlining shows: first debuting at Popscene then playing at Great American Music Hall the next night.
By 9:00 on Monday night Popscene was stuffed to the gils with young show goers. Filling in for Popscene founder/house DJ Aaron Axelsen was DJ Dallas who spun more modern tunes than I'm use to hearing at Popscene but the crowd seemed to be feeling it. There was hardly room to turn to talk with a friend let alone dance as youngsters relentlessly pushed closer attempting to wedge themselves as close to the stage as they could.
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| King Princess at Popscene 7/23/2018 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
It was an early night for Popscene with the main act hitting the stage more or less on time at 9:45 to a polite uproar of cheers. The set started off slow with Mikaela tucked in a dark corner on keys for the title track "Make My Bed" before finding her way to the front of the stage. Sporting an oversized Backstreet Boys shirt, her all black outfit was very lack luster which kind of suited her nonchalant stage presence. She automatically clicked with fans as she chit-chatted between songs. Being a Bay native myself I like to think that I'm openminded, open hearted and creative. I'm straight but I grew up with a gay mother and I have many gay friends. With that being said, hearing the leading lady of King Princess, someone a who's part of the LGBTQ community, refer to San Francisco as a "gay city" and say that everyone in the room that night was "just a bunch of faggots and dykes" struck a nerve with me. I was almost offended. No city is gay or straight, black, white, asian, hispanic, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, etc. A city is itself just like people are themselves and everyone should be allowed to be whoever they are, where ever they are. That's what we're fighting for, especially now under the Trump administration. Especially women and minorities. But King Princess fans were un-phased by those same words coming from a young, privileged, gay, white girl and the show continued with out a glitch.
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| King Princess at Popscene 7/23/2018 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
With only one EP out to date, they played all five songs from it, the most noteworthy of the night being "Talia" and of course the claim to fame single "1950". Mikaela and her band play seamlessly well together, a comfort you can hear in their meticulously hazy indie rock. King Princess herself was gracious and kind and her singing was passionate. She wasn't bashful about being onstage but I don't think she's found herself in that way quite yet. Much like her outfit, her stage presence was a little lack luster. It will be interesting to see she her develop as a performer and really come into her own. It was great being back at Popscene for another SF debut show of an up and coming artist.
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| King Princess at Popscene 7/23/2018 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
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