Ava Max raises a toast to all the “Kings & Queens” in her royal Billboard Hot 100 hit from her debut studio album Heaven & Hell.
She takes a line straight out of the Queen of Hearts’ book from Alice in Wonderland when she sings, “Disobey me, then baby, it’s off with your head.” In an interview with Billboard, Max explained how the empowering anthem came together.
“It took about a year because we changed the song so many times. I wanted to make it about female empowerment and inequality, so I was taking my time with it,” the 26-year-old pop star said. “I’m a crazy perfectionist — if I don’t feel it in my bones, I’m not going to release it. I’ve been in five different studios for this song in Germany, [elsewhere in] Europe and Los Angeles. I’m happy I was patient.”