Los Angeles based trio KING sat with Billboard after a show on their home turf at The Sayer's Club, where they performed their latest single "In The Meantime" along with a bit of other material from their forthcoming LP The Story - the long-awaited extension of their three-track 2011 EP of the same name. Sisters Paris and Amber Strother combined with friend Anita Bias to form KING - a group whose short burst of music garnered a massive amount of critical acclaim in a very short period of time. 2011 was a whirlwind year for the group as they caught the attention of major artists - including Erykah Badu and Prince - and even made the media rounds with an exclusive interview on Okayplayer. Since then, the group had been astonishingly quiet. Their absence leaving fans wondering if they would ever follow the teaser of an EP that catapulted them almost instantly after it went viral following the initial release. The people have been begging for more and it seems they are finally going to get it. Take a look at a little of what the ladies of KING had to say about where they've been and what their next steps will be.
Some would say your success happened overnight. Do you think that's a fair assessment?Paris: The part of it that happened overnight was when everyone passed it on to their friends and families and to their favorite artists on Twitter. It grew that way. But, building up to that for about a year, the three of us had been working on writing and producing those songs. It feels like our whole journey has been learning lessons so that when it came time for KING, we knew what we were doing.
Amber: I feel like it's such a blessing to be satisfied with our music and trying to hone in on what we'd like to hear from ourselves that regardless of if it takes 15 years or overnight, it's a beautiful journey because we're really working on making music that we like with people that we love.
Why did you decide to go with "In the Meantime" as the first single from the album?
Amber: We started writing "In the Meantime" as the EP ["The Story"] was coming out, so it really was the fourth song in succession of the full album. It just felt really natural, especially with the play on words. Everyone's been asking about the album so it was fun to say in the meantime here is, "In the Meantime." Also, this song in particular is definitely indicative of what the rest of the album will sound like.
What has been the biggest piece of advice your mentor, Prince, has given you?
Paris: Don't compromise your art. When he contacted us early on, the general theme was just don't sell yourselves short and understand what it is that you have. While we did know it was special, it's amazing when someone like Prince comes and is like, 'No you really need to protect this, this is really important, you can't just give it to anybody, you can't just partner with anybody, you have to really stay true to yourselves.'
KING's forthcoming LP The Story is on it's way, though a release date has yet to be announced. Scroll down to take a look at the rest of their interview with Billboard. Keep your eyes and ears open for more.
