‘SNL’ Musical Guest King Princess: Everything to Know

Saturday Night Live‘s latest musical guest is a rising star in pop music, as well as an icon in the queer community. King Princess will make her debut on the Nov. 23 episode of the long-running variety sketch series.

The performance comes at the same time as Will Ferrell returned to the series for his fifth time as host, joining the iconic Five-Timers Club. The season has been banking on the star power in recent weeks, and will only get more iconic with future episodes. When the show returns Dec. 7, Jennifer Lopez will serve as host alongside musical guest DaBaby. Scarlett Johansson will then host with musical guest Niall Horan and Eddie Murphy will wrap up the 2019 episodes on December 21 alongside musical guest Lizzo.

Ahead of tonight’s episode: Here’s everything you need to know about the King Princess.

Rise to Fame

The 20-year-old singer, whose real name is Mikaela Strauss, first rose to prominence when she released her 2018 EP Make My Bed, including hit song 1950.

The singer also recently released her debut album Cheap Queen on Oct. 25. She is originally from Brooklyn, New York.

‘SNL’ Gig

The singer has been celebrating her exciting since news were first revealed earlier this month. She took to Twitter to cheer for her debut performance, with the message quickly going viral.

Fans were overjoyed at the news and begged her to play some of their favorites.

“play ‘trust nobody’ I’M BEGGING,” one user commented.

“u better remember us when ur big pop star ok,” another fan joked.

Mark Ronson Connection

Princess has been signed with Ronson’s Zelig Recordings label since the release of her debut single. Hollywood Life reported Zelig is a joint venture with Columbia, where Harry Styles is signed.

Styles recently celebrated his double-duty gig on the NBC series, hosting and performing songs from his new album during the Nov. 16 episode.

LGBTQ Icon

“1950” is a queer love anthem and cemented King Princess as an icon for the LGBTQ community.

“I’ve always been kind of a genderqueer person,” she told them in 2018. “It’s something I kind of came into later ’cause I didn’t really think about it as an identity as much as the way it had to do with the people I loved and the way I dressed… I like that I can ride that line on the periphery of femininity. I don’t always have to be an active participant. I think that’s really freeing.”

Harry Styles Is a Fan

Styles helped build buzz for Princess in march 2018, when he tweeted out his love for her debut single. 

“I swear, there was nothing planned about that,” she told them. “It was wild. I woke up, and I was like, oh shit. This some sh-t.”

Princess also revealed in a clip in 2018 that the former One Direction member once asked her to open for him at Madison Square Garden in New York City. However, she said no, saying she was “not ready” for such a big venue. It seems that now she has grown, as she will be opening for Harry during his 2020 tour.

Not Her First Chance at Stardom

Princess did not just say no to Styles early in her career. The singer once opened up about turning down her first record deal at the age of 11 to focus on school.

“I took some meetings when I was 11,” she told NME. “I think what was interesting about being a young kid in environments like that was people were like, ‘You’re so sure of yourself! You’re so confident!’ And I was like, ‘I’m 12.’ Now I’ve got to this place where I’m like, ‘This is who I am.’ I’m so grateful for those experiences where I got to sit there and be like, ‘What the f— is this shit?’ ‘Cause I stopped feeling like that after a while. I stopped feeling lost in meetings, or I stopped feeling like people were telling me where to go and listening to invalid opinions.”

Famous Family

Princess’ musical talent runs in the family. Her dad, Oliver Strauss, is a recording engineer, and the owner of Broolyn’s Mission Sound.

Hollywood Life writes the engineer has worked on albums by Pink, Cat Power, Monster Magnet, The Residents, Taking Back Sunday, The National and many others.

Are you ready for King Princess’ debut performances? Saturday Night Live airs weekly at 11:30 p.m. ET on NBC. The show will return December 7 with host Jennifer Lopez and musical guest DaBaby.