King Princess, the project of Brooklyn-born vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, and actor Mikaela Strau, released her triumphant third record, Girl Violence, on September 12.

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, life can still fall apart. Girl Violence is the sound of Straus picking up the pieces of a world left shattered.“Girl violence is very sneaky,” Straus says. “It’s not physical, it’s deeply emotional, spiritual, and spooky. Women are both amazing and sinister, including myself, and I’m fascinated by all the love, loss, and change that comes out of my love for women. Why are we so inclined to cause and receive chaos? If you’ve experienced even an iota of it, then you’ll have a story to tell. And these are mine.”

The songs on Girl Violence are probing and vulnerable, yet nuanced, sensual, and bold, shaped in part by a physical and emotional homecoming. After seven years in Los Angeles, Straus returned to Brooklyn, where she was born and raised. “I was not loving life; I didn’t feel grounded at all. My feet were dangling for years,” she says of her final stretch in LA. “Once I was back in the arms of the city I love, I started to feel easier and lighter about hard decisions that were actually in my best interest.”

That renewed sense of freedom pulses throughout the album, fueled by her decision to leave the major-label system that had defined much of her early career. While not a traditional breakup album, Girl Violence was shaped in part by the end of a long-term relationship and the romantic freedom that followed. Finally feeling at home and left to her own devices, she reconnected with the creative spark that powered her earliest breakthroughs.

King Princess took Girl Violence on the road, kicking off at Austin City Limits in October, followed by a hometown show at the Brooklyn Paramount and a U.S. finale at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. She’s now touring across the UK and Europe through December.

Her second-to-last U.S. show at the Anaheim House of Blues was pure magic. The room felt intimate but alive, with fans decked out in cherry hats and ready to party the second KP hit the red-orange lit stage. Opening with “Cherry,” the night was playful, personal, and electric from the first note. Hits like “Jaime, I Feel Pretty” and “The Bend” kept everyone moving, singing, and smiling.