In 2012, King released her debut EP "The Elle King EP" on RCA; one track from that EP, "Playing for Keeps", is the theme song for VH1's Mob Wives Chicago series.
She released her debut album "Love Stuff" in 2015. It produced the US top ten single "Ex's & Oh's", which earned her two Grammy Award nominations. King has also toured with acts such as Of Monsters and Men, Train, James Bay, The Chicks, Heart, Joan Jett, Michael Kiwanuka, and Miranda Lambert. She is the daughter of actor and comedian Rob Schneider and former model London King. King uses her mother's surname to distinguish her career and identity from her father's. "People know who my dad is," she told ABC News, "but I think that my voice and my music speaks for itself: that I am my own person."
King is a four-time Grammy Award nominee, two each in the rock and country categories, and received honors from the Country Music Association Awards and the Academy of Country Music Awards.
King was born on July 3, 1989 in Los Angeles, California, to then-Saturday Night Live cast member Rob Schneider and London King, a former model. Her parents divorced and her mother remarried. She grew up living in Ohio, between Wellston and Columbus. When she was nine, her stepfather, Justin Tesa, gave her a record by all-female hard-rock band the Donnas; she views this as the pivotal moment when she decided she wanted to be a musician. Around this time, she also started listening to the Runaways and Blondie, and she made her acting debut alongside her father in the movie Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo.
At the age of 13, King started playing guitar, immersing herself in the music of Otis Redding, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, AC/DC (she has the phrase "dirty deeds" tattooed on her biceps), and Earl Scruggs. Her interest in the country and bluegrass of Hank Williams and Earl Scruggs inspired her to learn the banjo. During her teenage years, she attended Buck's Rock camp in Connecticut, where she starred successfully in a number of musicals.
King spent her teenage years in New York City, but she has also lived in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Copenhagen, Denmark. Upon graduating from Elisabeth Irwin High School/Little Red School House, she moved to Philadelphia to enroll at University of the Arts, studying painting and film. During these college years, she had an artistic epiphany seeing a live show where the band onstage used a banjo purely for accompaniment purposes, eschewing the bluegrass and country musical vocabulary traditionally associated with the instrument. King then began to use the banjo as a compositional tool. After college, she briefly lived in Copenhagen and Los Angeles, before moving back to New York where she currently resides in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
In September 2014, King released "Ex's & Oh's", which serves as the lead single off her debut album. She released the album, Love Stuff on February 17, 2015. She performed "Ex's & Oh's" the next day on The Today Show to promote it. The song reached number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming King's first top ten single in the United States. "Ex's & Oh's" received two nominations at the 58th Grammy Awards: Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song. In July 2015, King supported Modest Mouse on their UK tour. "Under the Influence" and "America's Sweetheart" were later released as singles for rock radio and mainstream radio, respectively. In 2016, her single "Good Girls" featured on the Ghostbusters soundtrack and played over the movie's credits. In 2016, she teamed up with country singer Dierks Bentley for the song "Different for Girls". They performed this song at the 50th CMA Awards on November 2, 2016, when she and Bentley won the award for Musical Event of the Year.
On March 6, 2017, she premiered a new single "Wild Love" featuring a sparse electronic production, marking a slight departure from her previous style in music.
King released her second studio album "Shake the Spiri", on October 19, 2018, which she made with her band the Brethren. On August 3, 2019, she was featured singing on a version of Lindsey Stirling's "The Upside". Throughout 2019, King served as a guest co-host on the MTV series Catfish: The TV Show opposite lead host Nev Schulman.
In 2021, it was revealed she was pregnant with her first child with tattoo artist Dan Tooker. On September 1, 2021, she welcomed a baby boy. King has several tattoos, and worked at a tattoo company called East Side Ink.
Make You Smile
Elle King Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Your eyes look mighty fine I really think I'm losin' it
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
Pretty boy, don't be shy
Like all your bad ideas
Ain't this a nice surprise to find a man so dear
Oh oh oh
Say you'll be my baby and I'll be your girl and
You can have this heart of mine
'Cause I would walk a thousand miles
Just to make you smile
You taste like sugar mints and cigarettes and beer
I used to hate this town but I'll stay because you're here
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
All them skinny girls are bitter and reserved
If you want a lot of love then I'm just what you deserve
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
Say you'll be my baby and I'll be your girl and
You can have this heart of mine
'Cause I would walk a thousand miles
If you say you'll be my baby, I will be your girl and
You can have this heart of mine
'Cause I would walk a thousand miles
Just to make you smile
Just to make you smile
The first verse of Elle King's "Make You Smile" begins with her expressing her fondness for the person that she is addressing. She admires what they do and how they consistently do it. She then goes on to praise them for their appearance, particularly their eyes. Elle King is so smitten by this person that she feels like she is losing control.
In the chorus, she makes a proposition: she will be the person's girl if he agrees to be her baby. She then offers him her heart, saying that she would walk a thousand miles just to make him smile.
The second verse describes the person's taste as being a mixture of sugar mints, cigarettes, and beer. This sensory description of the person is a refreshing approach to describing a person’s character in a love song. She says that she used to hate the town they live in, but now she is content there because he is with her. She then proceeds to criticize other girls in the town for being skinny, bitter, and reserved while praising herself as the one deserving of love.
Overall, the song conveys the powerful emotions that come with falling in love. Elle King expresses her willingness to do whatever it takes to make her partner happy. Her love for this person is pure and unreserved, and she is willing to put in the effort to make the relationship work.
Line by Line Meaning
I like what you do and I like that you keep doin' it
I enjoy everything about you and I appreciate how consistent you are in what you do
Your eyes look mighty fine I really think I'm losin' it
Your eyes are stunning and I am getting lost in their beauty
Pretty boy, don't be shy
Like all your bad ideas
Ain't this a nice surprise to find a man so dear
Don't be hesitant, my charming man. You might have some questionable ideas, but I still find you endearing and this is a pleasant revelation
Say you'll be my baby and I'll be your girl and
You can have this heart of mine
'Cause I would walk a thousand miles
Just to make you smile
If you commit to me, I'll be yours and only yours, and I'll go to great lengths to ensure your happiness
You taste like sugar mints and cigarettes and beer
I used to hate this town but I'll stay because you're here
Your taste is a mixture of sweetness and rough edges, like sugar mints, cigarettes, and beer. I didn't like this place before, but now that you're here, I am willing to stay
All them skinny girls are bitter and reserved
If you want a lot of love then I'm just what you deserve
The skinny girls around here are unapproachable and resentful. If you desire a lot of love, then I am what you need and deserve
Say you'll be my baby and I'll be your girl and
You can have this heart of mine
'Cause I would walk a thousand miles
If you say you'll be my baby, I will be your girl and
You can have this heart of mine
'Cause I would walk a thousand miles
Just to make you smile
Just to make you smile
If you agree to be with me, I am willing to give you my entire heart that is full of love, and I'll go through great difficulties just to see you smile
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Tanner Schneider, Garrett Jacknife Lee
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
C Hope
I like what you do and I like that you keep doin' it
Your eyes look mighty fine I really think I'm losin' it
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
Pretty boy, don't be shy
Like all your bad ideas
Ain't this a nice surprise to find a man so dear
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
Say you'll be my baby and I'll be your girl and
You can have this heart of mine,
'Cause I would walk a thousand miles
Just to make you smile
You taste like sugar mints and cigarettes and beer
I used to hate this town but I'll stay because you're here
oh oh oh
oh oh oh
All them skinny girls are bitter and reserved
If you want a lot of love then I'm just what you deserve
oh oh oh
oh oh oh
oh oh oh
oh oh oh
Say you'll be my baby and I'll be your girl and
You can have this heart of mine,
'Cause I would walk a thousand miles
If you say you'll be my baby, I will be your girl and
You can have this heart of mine,
'Cause I would walk a thousand miles
Just to make you smile
Just to make you smile
J Aaron
Her voice is so good!!!
Josie Bowles
How how is this song not blowing up it deserves it cmon let’s make it blow up our selves
Amy Pace
Such a beautiful voice!
Doug Jaeger
She is all that, her music moves me.
kjeratowski
I. Love. Her!
Rock on, Elle!💓
Myhollywooddaily paparazzi
awesome song !!
Sarah D
This deserves more love
Nikki Richards
If only love was this simple to keep after those first smile
Conor CmP
Why does her songs not get infinite likes?
Please tell me, im intrigued
Tina L. Hennessey
💯
Trying to keep the best kept secret ‘secret’ for financial purposes and for real love.
Low key type in my opinion.