Songfacts®:

• Much of Dasha's What Happens Now? album was driven by a breakup with a guy she was better off without. In this song, she sings about finding herself in California, heartbroken over the split that took place back in Texas. This story, though, is fictional.
  
  "'King Of California' was about my lifestyle, a weird metaphor for being in California," she explained on Amazon Music. "I was making myself the King Of California in that song."
  
  Dasha, at the time, had moved to Los Angeles but was making frequent trips to Nashville to record.
• Dasha's breakout hit was "Austin," where she leaves a guy behind in that Texas city and heads to California. The events in that one were made up, but there really was a guy who caused her all this agita. He lived in Nashville, though, and never planned to move with her to California.
  
  "King Of California" follows this geographic thread, setting the breakup in Texas.
• The song is part of Dasha's second album, What Happens Now? She started releasing music in 2020 during the pandemic. Signed to the small label Quadio, her plan was to be a pop star, and she made inroads, developing a following on TikTok. After her debut album, Dirty Blonde, was released in 2023, she parted ways with the label and leaned into country music, which was what she liked to listen to. "Austin" she released independently as a single, and when it took off on TikTok, the record labels came calling and she signed with Warner, which issued What Happens Now?
• Dasha wrote this song with Louis Castle and James Bairian, a production duo who go by The Gifted. They Also wrote the album's title track with Dasha.