King Princess Turned Down Opening For Harry Styles At Madison Square Garden

King Princess

King Princess is one of the biggest rising stars in pop music. The 19-year-old singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist is the first artist signed to Mark Ronson’s label Zelig Records and is selling out venues all over the world. That would be impressive for any artist, but especially so for one who only released her debut major label single this year.

Straus’ star is rising fast. When I was in town to see Harry Styles at Madison Square Garden, I had the opportunity to catch one of Straus’ first-ever shows as King Princess at Elsewhere in Brooklyn. Her confidence as a new artist was astounding — she’s spent a lot of time in studios and recording, but I was amazed at how assured she was onstage. The crowd was an obvious cross-over from Styles’ audience at Madison Square Garden earlier that weekend. Young women were camped outside Elsewhere for hours, and I recognized some faces from Harry’s lines. Back in March, Styles gave Straus’ single a huge boost by tweeting lyrics to her debut single, “1950,” introducing all his devoted fans to KP’s queer synth-pop.

At a show in Australia last night, King Princess told fans that Styles asked her to open for him on tour. Straus said, “I DM-ed him, I said ‘Thank you so much for offering for me to open […] That’s a massive f*cking venue, I’m not ready.” Straus had just started touring as King Princess that week — it’s understandable that she wouldn’t feel ready to jump from club venues to two sold-out nights at Madison Square Garden.

Straus also recounted to fans her appreciation for Styles. “Also, thanks for loving the gays! Side note, we have the same hair.”

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