With a debut single released in February this year, Mikaela Straus, better known by her pseudonym “King Princess”, made her way under the alternative music spotlight.

King Princess is the first artist to make a deal with Zelig Records, a new label founded by Mark Ronson. Her debut song, titled “1950,” is an honest exploration of unrequited love, demonstrating King Princess’s ability as a songwriter and a musical talent — she plays every instrument on the track, and does all of the vocals. She delivers the song in an effortlessly cool way, contrasting the often shy nature of the lyrics (at one point, she asks the object of her affection, “did you mean it when you said I was pretty?”).

With the public, the song is doing extremely well, and with over 42 million plays on Spotify, helped to launch King Princess into alt-pop success. With such a strong start to her music career, there were a few concerns that King Princess might be a bit of a one-hit wonder. But her powerful new song, “Talia,” proves that she’s anything but.

“Talia,” released on the 13th of April, is a world of femotion, neatly packaged into a radio-ready synthpop song. Lyrically, the song feels incredibly deep. Despite being written about a heartbreak Straus personally experienced, the urge one might get to sing along to the chorus as though it were written about his or her own heartbreak is definitely strong. The lyric “when you left, you took my bestest friends away… I hope you’re happy anyway,” certainly evokes emotion. The poppy melody and chorus don’t detract from the authenticity of the lyrics, and the beat blends with King Princess’s vocals in a way that makes for another strong release from her.

At times, it’s clear that King Princess is inspired by the synth pop sounds of The xx and Shura, but overall, her style is entirely her own. Her music brings a softer, more vulnerable side to the genre, and it’s exciting to think about what she has in store for the future. King Princess’s debut EP is scheduled to come out later this spring, and will include both “1950” and “Talia.”