King Princess Gets Cozy With A Replacement Love In ‘Talia’ Video
May 16, 2018
In late February, young songwriter King Princess dropped her aching debut single "1950," which quickly caught the attention of Harry Styles (and plenty of others). About a month ago, we heard her follow-up, a moody and lovesick cut called "Talia" that utilized the same massive, pulsating low end.
On Wednesday (May 16), the "Talia" video arrived, and prepare yourself: It's an emotional ride through heartbreak and the perpetual fear of being without someone, all conveyed with the aid of one essential prop — a sex doll.
One could argue that the doll in question here is, in fact, not a prop but its own character in the loose narrative. After all, as King Princess (real name: Mikaela Straus) gnaws and smokes her way through losing someone special, the doll acts as an emotional stand-in. In this video, which her pal Amandla Stenberg edited and was colorist for, the pair roll around just like they're lovers and even find a evening romantic evening together on the beach.
In her first big interview as an artist, Straus broke down one very key songwriting decision she made early on for i-D.
"I reached a point in my life where I was like, well, am I gonna gender my songs?" she told the magazine. "And I decided, yeah, I'm gonna put fucking female pronouns in my songs. It doesn't make any sense for me to hide that part of myself."
On "Talia," she sings, "I can taste your lipstick, I can lay down next to you / But it's all in my head / If I drink enough I swear that I will wake up next to you." Watch that heartbreaking line, and the entire song, come alive in the mesmerizing video above.