Kings & Queens

Album

Heaven & Hell

Label

Atlantic Records

Genre

Power Pop

Composer(s)

Aanda Ava Koc;iBrett McLaughlin;Madison Love;Henry Walter;Nadir Khayat;Desmond Child;Mimoza Blinsson;Hillary Bernstein;Jakke Erixson

Entered Chart

Aug 22, 2020

Peak Date

Nov 28, 2020

Released

March 12, 2020

Recorded

2018 – August–September 2019

Catalog #

Max Cut

This female empowerment anthem finds Ava Max calling on men to start championing the queens in their lives. If all of the kings had their queens on the throne We would pop champagne and raise a toast To all of the queens who are fighting alone Baby, you're not dancing on your own Speaking to MTV News about the song, Max said, "It's really just about, if queens ruled the world, the whole world would be a better place." Ava Max penned "Kings and Queens" with songwriters Madison Love and Leland, while the driving production is courtesy of Cirkut and RedOne. The track was made in around ten different parts. It started off as a radically different song with dissimilar melodies and production, before the final version was completed. As a liberated woman, Ava Max doesn't like it when men try to rescue her and ask her to move in. According to a Genius attribution, she tells them. "No, no, no. I didn't ask for your help. I got my own place. I can be independent. I am no damsel in distress." Oh, no damsel in distress, don't need to save me Once I start breathing fire, you can't tame me This lyric came when Ava Max was joking with people in the studio, yelling, "I am no damsel in distress. I wish I could just put that in the song." The other songwriters thought it was a great idea and incorporated the line into the tune. Desmond Child receives a songwriting credit because "Kings and Queens" interpolates the melody of Bonnie Tyler's 1986 single "If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)," which he wrote. Ava Max explained in a Billboard Pop Shop podcast that "Kings & Queens" originated with a verse and pre-chorus penned by Ava Max and Madison Love. Then RedOne came up with the original chorus, which had different lyrics. Finally Leland, Madison Love, Ava Max and Cirkut made it into the song that it is now. Isaac Rentz directed the video, which shows Max portraying an Amazonian queen in a throne room surrounded by dancers. The singer told Billboard that she penned the treatment. "I saw it as royal, but in a modern, futuristic kind of way," Max explained. "I wanted it to feel simple, but not too simple. It's one of my simpler videos." Max released a different version of the song featuring Lauv and Saweetie titled "Kings & Queens, Pt. 2" on August 6, 2020. The collaboration was done by email during quarantine. "They're two very different artists, genre-wise," explained the Albanian-American singer, "and I thought it'd be really cool to mix genres." The song topped the singles chart in several countries, including Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel and Poland. It also reached #1 on Adult Pop Songs in the US, earning Ava Max her first ever leader on a Billboard airplay tally.

If all of the kings had their queens on the throne
We would pop champagne and raise a toast
To all of the queens who are fighting alone
Baby, you're not dancin' on your own

Can't live without me, you wanna, but you can't, no, no, no
Think it's funny, but honey, can't run this show on your own
I can feel my body shake, there's only so much I can take
I'll show you how a real queen behaves, ha ha ha

No damsel in distress, don't need to save me
Once I start breathin' fire, you can't tame me
And you might think I'm weak without a sword
But if I had one, it'd be bigger than yours

If all of the kings had their queens on the throne
We would pop champagne and raise a toast
To all of the queens who are fighting alone
Baby, you're not dancin' on your own

Disobey me, then baby, it's off with your head
Gonna change it and make it a world you won't forget, oh-oh, oh
No damsel in distress, don't need to save me
Once I start breathin' fire, you can't tame me
And you might think I'm weak without a sword
But I'm stronger than I ever was before

If all of the kings had their queens on the throne
We would pop champagne and raise a toast
To all of the queens who are fighting alone
Baby, you're not dancin' on your own

In chess, a king can move one space at a time
But queens are free to go wherever they like
You get too close, you'll get a royalty high
So breathe it in to feel alive

If all of the kings had their queens on the throne
We would pop champagne and raise a toast
To all of the queens who are fighting alone
Baby, you're not dancin' on your own