Girl Violence by King Princess

King Princess Girl Violence

80
ChoruScore Critic consensus / 100

Released Sep 12, 2025 section1

Established consensus 7 professional reviews Updated Oct 1, 2026

Broadly positive consensus

King Princess's Girl Violence arrives as a bruised, theatrical statement that trades tidy resolutions for combustible emotion, and across seven professional reviews critics largely agree it succeeds.

How ChoruScore works

Critics' Top Tracks

The songs critics returned to most

01

Cry Cry Cry

7 critic mentions

“Cry Cry Cry,” released as the album’s second single, is quite the departure” — Paste Magazine
02

Girls

6 critic mentions

“And to let you back in / That would be violence / That would be chaos,” — Paste Magazine
03

Serena

2 critic mentions

“Standout ‘Serena’, meanwhile, is far more sober in its approach” — DIY Magazine
Full critic consensus

King Princess's Girl Violence arrives as a bruised, theatrical statement that trades tidy resolutions for combustible emotion, and across seven professional reviews critics largely agree it succeeds. With a consensus score of 80.29/100 from seven reviews, the record stakes out a place between alt-rock swagger and confessional pop, balancing New Wave textures, feedback-soaked guitars and vocal grit to dramatize queer melodrama, heartbreak and self-inflicted cycles.

Reviewers consistently highlight a clutch of standout songs that answer the frequent query about the best songs on Girl Violence. Critics praised “Cry Cry Cry” as an earworm with snarling delivery, “Girls” for its anxious-romantic tug and rock/waltz dynamics, and “RIP KP” for its lusty, dub-tinged self-eulogy; others point to “Slow Down and Shut Up” and the closing “Serena” as peak moments. Across professional reviews, commentators note recurring themes - violence used as metaphor, sapphic emotional mess, desire versus anxiety, and femininity tangled with chaos - and they credit Straus's ability to make melodrama feel like catharsis rather than indulgence.

Not all critics agree on every move: some flag the title track's cinematic flourishes as occasionally indulgent, while others celebrate those very shifts as evidence of confident stylistic eclecticism. Overall the critical consensus suggests Girl Violence is worth attention - a stylistically adventurous, emotionally raw follow-up that foregrounds self-exploration and queer indignation while delivering memorable, provocative songs. Below you will find the detailed reviews that map how these tensions—pain versus pleasure, polished production versus raw vocal grit—make the collection compelling.

Track Ratings

How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.

View:
1

Girl Violence

6 mentions
82
02:15
2

Jaime

5 mentions
88
02:23
3

Origin

1 mention
—
02:14
4

I Feel Pretty

3 mentions
56
03:02
5

Cry Cry Cry

7 mentions
100
02:58
6

Get Your Heart Broken

4 mentions
57
02:42
7

Girls

6 mentions
100
03:01
8

Covers

3 mentions
58
03:01
9

Say What You Will

3 mentions
42
02:01
10

RIP KP

6 mentions
95
02:18
11

Alone Again

3 mentions
52
03:00
12

Slow Down and Shut Up

4 mentions
86
02:53
13

Serena

2 mentions
100
03:04

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What Critics Are Saying

Deep insights from 7 critics who reviewed this album

Critic's Take

King Princess's Girl Violence reads like a giddy, bruised manifesto: the reviewer's voice revels in how tracks such as “Jaime” and “Cry Cry Cry” hit hardest, equal parts funny and devastating. The critic leans into the album's contradictions - louder, hornier, sadder, freer - and singles out “Jaime” as the crush anthem of the year while praising the scorched-earth bite of “Cry Cry Cry”. The tone stays playful and ferocious, noting how the theatrical “Girls” and the seductive “RIP KP” add texture while the stormy closer “Serena” cements the record's emotional arc. The reviewer frames these best tracks as both immediate and durable, songs that grab you by the collar and refuse to let go.

Key Points

  • The best song is 'Jaime' because the reviewer calls it the 'crush anthem of the year' and highlights its painfully relatable pop heart.
  • The album's core strengths are its embracing of contradiction, bold queer melodrama, sharp hooks, and emotional range from comedy to devastation.

Themes

queer melodrama sapphic emotional mess contradiction - raw vs polished nostalgia camp and cringe

Critic's Take

The review casts Girl Violence as a sneaky, feminist exploration of chaos and desire, with the calm, luscious title-track opener setting suspense through foreboding synths. Girls is singled out as the clearest encapsulation of the album’s angsty–romantic push-pull, its rock/waltz dynamics and smooth–gritty vocal shifts mirroring indecision. RIP KP stands out as a lusty, dub-tinged self-eulogy, its cracked vocals and unsettling synths showing Straus’ refusal to seek approval. The bratty diss track Cry Cry Cry and the provocative hook of Get Your Heart Broken underline her disruptive, taboo-testing pop instincts. Overall enthusiasm is high, with the strongest praise reserved for tracks that dramatize tension without tidy resolution.

Key Points

  • Girls is the best because it most vividly stages the album’s tension—romance versus chaos—through shifting dynamics and vocal textures.
  • The album’s core strengths are its sneaky, feminist lens and genre-eclectic subversion that refuses tidy resolutions.

Themes

femininity and chaos self-exploration genre eclecticism romance vs. angst

Critic's Take

King Princess opens Girl Violence with the ghostly title cut and then leans into the album’s bruised romance, making the best tracks feel like bruised anthems. The voice is alternately wounded and defiantly theatrical, so the best songs sound like confessions sang from a barstool. Overall, the record’s strongest songs turn melodrama into something grand and oddly convincing.

Key Points

  • ‘Serena’ is the best song for its sober, grand pop-rock affirmation of sincere romance.
  • The album’s core strengths are its committed melodrama, alt-rock atmosphere and emotionally candid vocals.

Themes

heartbreak melodramatic love self-indulgence alt-rock/soft-rock sonics romantic suffering

Critic's Take

King Princess’s Girl Violence slyly stages its best songs as small moral detonations, and you hear that most clearly on the title track “Girl Violence” and the bruised brat-pop of “Cry Cry Cry”. Attila Peter writes in a conversational, analytical register, noting how the record alternates between sultry restraint and eruptive chaos, with “RIP KP” adding a dub-tinged self-eulogy that cements the album’s dangerous glamour. The best tracks on Girl Violence are ones that balance sensuality and menace, songs that make you flinch and smile in equal measure, because Straus refuses to tie up any loose ends. This is an album where the standout moments are less hooks than provocations, and those provocations are what make the best tracks on Girl Violence linger.

Key Points

  • The title track is the album’s tonal linchpin, a calm, foreboding opener that establishes its sneaky violence.
  • The album’s strength is its willingness to be provocative and unresolved, blending sensuality with stylistic range.

Themes

femininity violence as metaphor relationship dynamics sexuality stylistic eclecticism
Paste Magazine logo

Paste Magazine

Unknown
Sep 18, 2025
77

Critic's Take

King Princess leans into wounded clarity on Girl Violence, with the best songs like “Girls” and “RIP KP” crystallizing her knack for messy, beautiful confession. The record’s highs - the anthemic swagger of “RIP KP” and the bruised vulnerability of “Girls” - show why listeners ask about the best tracks on Girl Violence. Strauss balances pop immediacy and jagged guitars so that the best songs land as both catharsis and statement. This is an album that owns its chaos and makes that ownership its greatest strength.

Key Points

  • The best song, "Girls", is the emotional centerpiece because it ties the album’s themes together with raw confession and musical heft.
  • The album’s core strengths are honest, sapphic storytelling and a flexible musical palette that mixes pop immediacy with jagged, rock-tinged edges.

Themes

heartbreak sapphic intimacy pain vs pleasure self-inflicted cycles identity/gender exploration

Critic's Take

Pitchfork singles out Cry Cry Cry as the record’s standout earworm, powered by Straus’ snarling, gravelly delivery. The trio of producers hits a sweet spot on Slow Down and Shut Up, a rousing, airtight rocker. Get Your Heart Broken and Girls showcase her growling, devilish vocals at the border of eroticism and transgression. The lead single RIP KP lands with a macabre, Halloween-y outro, while Say What You Will floats as a woozy interlude with a notable Joe Talbot feature. The title track Girl Violence is the rare miss, dinged for an indulgently cinematic drop.

Key Points

  • Cry Cry Cry is crowned the standout earworm, driven by Straus’ snarling, tape-scraping vocal.
  • The album’s core strengths are its rock-forward grit, macabre flair, and a consistent vocal character that unites pleasure and pain.

Themes

queer indignation rock-forward pop disillusionment and desire vocal grit

Critic's Take

Rolling Stone spotlights “Slow Down and Shut Up” and “Cry Cry Cry” as the album’s peak moments, praising their Earth-swallowing hunger and anthemic punch. The opener “Girl Violence” sets the tone, shifting from a murmured thesis to introspective catharsis once the beat drops. “Jaime” charms by stretching a schoolyard sing-song into a vulnerable crush note. Together, these songs showcase Straus’ blend of feedback-soaked New Wave and confessional pop. The review frames the record as a confident new chapter driven by openness and self-preservation.

Key Points

  • “Slow Down and Shut Up” stands out because it’s singled out as a triumphant, closing-credits-sized anthem and one of the album’s best moments.
  • The album’s core strengths are New Wave-smeared textures, feedback and languor, and candid writing that balances desire with anxiety and self-preservation.

Themes

post-breakup self-discovery self-preservation desire vs. anxiety New Wave textures and feedback