King Princess Essentials

It’s true that Mikaela Straus puts her identity out front: In a pop landscape where being openly gay and genderqueer are still relatively unusual, her presence as a representational figure is inspiring, even necessary. But as contemporary as Straus can seem, she’s also a classic pop romantic, yoking together the yearning of ’60s ballads with the ambrosia of modern R&B, the bare-all quality of indie folk with the swagger and theatricality of glam—a package that collapses eras and genres into a seductive whole. And somehow, she’s just getting started.