I had just landed in Austin and KING’s Pitchfork performance was my first stop of the week. In the chaos that is SXSW, there was a calm looming over the stage. As they weaved through their discography, the crowd seemed to be in the type of awe where you can only muster up the strength to stare, mouth agape. I mouthed the lyrics quietly throughout, or so I thought. After their finale, an older woman next to me leaned over saying, “You know every word. How have I never heard of these girls? They’re phenomenal. Tell me everything about them!”

KING dropped their debut EP, The Story, back in 2011 and it spread like wildfire. The R&B trio soon found itself with a legion of fans and cosigns from artists like Prince and Erykah Badu. “It was really encouraging to hear all of that. There wasn’t a lot of pressure,” vocalist Amber Strother admits. “We just wanted to do it right and have fun in the process.” After the initial success, KING seemed to have disappeared from the musical landscape, save for the release of “In the Meantime” two years later. 

Mallory Turner/Myspace

But even with the radio silence, KING’s fanbase stayed devoted as ever. This was beyond evident at Brooklyn’s Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Arts’ sixth annual Soul of Brooklyn festival in 2015. The crowd swayed and rocked as KING went through their set, but the atmosphere completely shifted once they launched into “Hey” from The Story project. Slowly, people began to stand, then left their seats, rushing the stage. Von King Park had morphed into a blue light basement party with couples slow bopping in unison. “That was almost overwhelming,” producer Paris Strother divulges. “It was to the point where I was moved to tears because it was so moving. That was the most live crowd. It was such a good time because it was affirmation that it reached people on a different level.” 

Sitting with KING slurping noodles and munching salad at Austin's Koriente, it was clear that moment was still real to all of us. It was electricity in that space that could never be recreated. Their eyes lit up as we discussed that day. The call and response of energy between KING and their audience is magic. 

Mallory Turner/Myspace

You just know a KING song when you hear it. Paris, who serves as the production arm of the group, has created a signature drum pattern that can move you to do everything from dance to cry. Amber and Anita Bias’ vocals are always stacked so tightly that they sometimes morph into one sounding more like a meditational hum. 

“The sound comes from the three of us putting our best ideas forward and really loving each song as an individual piece of work,” Paris explains. “We just spend a lot of time with layering. It’s never just a track someone sings over. It’s always like someone will sing something and then I’ll play something. Based on that, they’ll write something else to sing. It’s very layered like a puzzle.” Their style is best served up on songs like “Red Eye” and “Carry On.” 

The original four KING songs found themselves on We Are King as well, although in lengthier form. The songs are incredibly timeless, but theirs new life breathed into the album. “For us, the songs had been growing up,” Paris says. “We had been doing them live and hanging out with them so long, doing acoustic and full electric performances. There were all of these new parts that we started doing to keep it interesting for us. They were a lot of fun and we wanted to give the same feeling to our fans. This is a song that’s familiar, but giving it a new spin to make the whole album new. We didn’t want anyone to skip it saying, ‘Oh, I know this song already,’ we wanted to add something special to the ones that have been out since the beginning.” 

Mallory Turner/Myspace

KING’s sound has even found its way onto another album we’ve been waiting for with bated breath. Corrine Bailey Rae released “Green Aphrodisiac” two weeks ago to much fanfare. On the track, Rae sounds more confident and fiercely sensual than ever before. The production itself feels lush and fuller than previous music from the British artist. With that being said, it was a no brainer KING was behind it all. After meeting a few years ago via Esperanza Spaulding, the women talked about books and music. While talking, the term “green aphrodisiac” came up and the seed was planted. KING worked on six songs on Corrine’s upcoming The Heart Speaks in Whispers (so you may want to take a break from reading to pre-order what is sure to be a game-changing album). 

KING has carved out a lane that feels overwhelmingly organic and personal. Through The Story and We Are King, Amber, Anita, and Paris unlock the door to who they are, while simultaneously informing us of ourselves. Listening to KING is no passing casual activity. Their voices invite you to a full-on experience of traversing galaxies within and around you. As our conversation wound down, Amber said something that has been ringing in my ears since I left the table. “I think it’s beautiful that at the end of the day, you get to release an album and that element of seeing it spread. You’re traveling with your sisters. You’re creating with your sisters. You’re experiencing with your sisters. So it’s a life for us.”