Elle King, Rob Schneider daughter, coming to Lexington Ky

A “Cadillac problem” is described as a problem that’s not really a problem, a dilemma that arises out of, as one online source terms it, “phenomenal possibilities.”

Elle King appears to be in such a situation as she enters 2022. The Grammy-nominated artist who has spent much of her young career balancing the worlds of country music and rock ‘n’ roll has an avalanche of new music ready to unleash.

Her “problem,” per se? Whether to release two separate recordings that clearly establish the stylistic differences in her songs or just issue the whole lot as one massive project aimed at her entire fanbase.

In short, it’s good problem to have.

In town on Jan. 19 for a mostly acoustic concert at the Lexington Opera House ahead of a headlining tour that will commence in February, the singer known for the 2015 hit “Ex’s & Oh’s” as well as two high-profile duet singles with Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert spent much of the past year in the recording studio. The sessions weren’t merely a way to ward off the pandemic. The singer wanted to complete as much new music as she could ahead of the birth of her first child last September.

“I worked my ass off while I was pregnant to make an entire record so that I could enjoy the first six months of my baby’s life. Obviously, I am a creative person, so I have been in and out of the studio since the baby was born, but I’ve recorded enough music for two records. I just have to see, now that I am making country music as well as pop music, do we release two separate releases – one of my pop stuff, one of my country songs – or do we combine it. It’s kind of what we’re looking at right now, but I have tons of music ready to go.”

While many artists, especially modern country performers, borrow liberally from the sounds and styles of other genres, few have become so mutually yet specifically popular with multiple audiences as King.

“In all honesty, most of the best things in my life I kind of tripped and fell into. I never thought, I never dreamed, I would have such great success on country radio, especially because when I came out of the gate, I wanted to do rock ‘n’ roll. But at the same time, I’ve always had kind of a Southern, bluesy aspect to my music.

“My first record had banjo. It had country, it had pop, it had rock, it had hard rock. Still, nobody has really tried to fit me in a box. I don’t think I could fit if they did. Now that I kind of walked successfully down so many different platforms, it’s like, ‘How do we tie it into one thread?’ But I think I’m the common thread. That’s my Cadillac problem.”

Maybe one reason why King’s music flows so freely through multiple genres is because her upbringing exposed her to multiple lifestyles. The daughter of one-time “Saturday Night Live” star Rob Schneider, she was introduced to myriad aspects of a life in show business at an early age.

But her youth was also spent with her mother and stepfather in Ohio, where more roots-directed inspirations of country songs, along with multiple generations of rock ‘n’ roll records, helped shape her blooming musical voice.

“I was a bad student,” King said. “I really struggled in school. I went to nine different schools. I wasn’t like every other kid. People have such an easy way of narrowing in on how a kid learns. If a kid’s different, they’re not a bad kid. They’re just different. So my mom always kept me involved in some kind of a lesson. I started playing violin when I was four years old. That really taught me a lot. Then I wanted to try piano. I wanted to try cello.

“When we moved to New York City from Ohio, Justin, my stepdad, paid his friend he was in a band with to teach me some guitar songs. That really changed my life when I was 12 years old. I started writing music when I was 13. By the time I was 15, I was playing bars in New York City.

“Everybody knows that my dad is a famous actor and comedian. I grew up on movie sets. I grew up going to Hollywood actor parties and I met musicians. I learned at a young age that musicians have more fun. I struggled trying to find who I was as a person, so when I finally did, I really wanted to celebrate that about myself. I felt like I could be the real me and the truest form of me when I was singing and writing music. It was a great, great outlet for me.

“I’ve got really, really big emotions. I’m a big feeler, so songwriting was a huge cathartic release. It really helped shape me into who I am because I could learn about myself every time I would write a song. It was just this beautiful thing that has become the greatest love of my life. Music is everything to me.”

King’s 2015 debut album “Love Stuff” (which included “Ex’s & Oh’s”) nabbed a pair of Grammy nominations. That brought her to the attention of country star Dierks Bentley, who was looking for a duet partner for what would become a massive 2016 hit, “It’s Different for Girls.” It proved to be King’s full-on introduction to the country music camp.

“I grew up with classic country that my pawpaw played in the shed,” King said. “He was a carpenter, so he always had old classic country music playing. But I never knew anything about modern country music. Modern country was not that big in New York City. My brother knew who Dierks was. I didn’t. So when the call came in, I asked my brother, ‘Do you know who Dierks Bentley is? He wants to do a song with me.’ And my brother was like, ‘Honey, that is so cool.’

“From there, Dierks just became my friend. He’s the sweetest, most charming, most lovely, most warm individual. And he was so, so kind to me. I think a huge reason why I love country music is because of Dierks Bentley and because of how he showed it to me – his version of country music, which is kindness, love, family.”

It was Bentley who later introduced King to Miranda Lambert. She recruited the young singer as part a 2019 all-star cover of the ’70s pop/soul hit “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” and a subsequent tour. Then, just a year ago, King and Lambert re-teamed for the party anthem “Drunk (and I Don’t Want to Go Home).”

“Miranda is another person I look up to so highly. In the same way as Dierks, she’s such a hard, busy worker and takes such good care of her people.

“Miranda brought me on board because she knows I like to party. You want to have fun while you’re away from home, away from your families. Your touring family is a family. You’ve got to have good vibes, you know? It was just so, so much fun singing with her every night. The more wild I got, she loved me even more. We just grew a friendship.”

A self-confessed “wild” lifestyle had its downside, as well. As her career escalated, so did a lifestyle that eventually bowed to divorce, substance abuse and exhaustion. Now as a new mother, King feels an affirmed confidence about her work and life, but she isn’t apologetic about the pitfalls she faced or the lessons she learned from them.

“Listen, the universe only gives you what you can handle, but sometimes it can feel so, so big. You can get through anything, though. It takes a lot of work and a lot of introspection, but everything is a lesson, everything can teach you and everything can bring you closer to your truer self.

“I mean, would I go back and change a few things? Probably. Would I like to have made certain things easier on myself? Yes. Most of the things that I’ve gone through in my life I’ve brought upon myself. I’m very, very stubborn, so I’m learning to be patient with myself. But if I hadn’t gone through all that BS … I don’t know. I don’t think I would be who I am today. And maybe if I didn’t learn a lot of lessons in my younger age because I was so wild and crazy, I don’t think I would be so comfortable in who I am in my early 30s, you know?”

Elle King and Friends

When: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 19

Where: Lexington Opera House, 401 W. Short

Tickets: $39.50-$198.50 at ticketmaster.com