K.Flay

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K.Flay
Birth name Kristine Meredith Flaherty
Born (1985-06-30) June 30, 1985 (age 38)
Origin Wilmette, Illinois, United States
Genres Hip-Hop
Indie
Alternative
Instruments Vocals
Drums
Guitar
Bass guitar
Synthesizer
Keyboard
Years active 2004–present
Labels Bummer Picnic Records (current)
RCA Records (former)
Website Official website
SoundCloud

K.Flay (born Kristine Meredith Flaherty, June 30, 1985, Wilmette, Illinois, United States) is an American alternative artist, and an alumna of Stanford University in California, where she graduated with degrees in psychology and sociology.[1] An outspoken advocate for higher education, Flaherty encourages students to complete their degree, citing the “supportive community” that school provides.[2]

In 2014, she began to get major recognition following the release of her first full-length album Life As A Dog. She tours extensively and has performed alongside Snoop Dogg, Passion Pit, as well as on the Vans Warped Tour 2014.[3] She thought of Warped Tour as a great learning experience and “was almost like an exercise in becoming a better performer,”.[4] She has also recorded two sessions with Chicago-based music company Audiotree, best known for their in-studio live sessions. The first of these sessions was recorded and released in 2013, and the second was released in August 2015.

Flaherty herself describes her sound as “genre-defying,” and draws from lo-fi pop and hip hop influences with a strong indie component.[5] This lack of genre lends itself well to touring and collaborating with diverse artists, but also led her to conflict within a major label.

K.Flay successfully[opinion] stumbled into the rap game by looking to artists such as M.I.A. and Missy Elliott for inspiration,[5] and by having, as she calls it, “an almost existential level of humor about everything.” This self-diagnosed lack of self-consciousness is a major contributor to the ultimate success that K.Flay has seen over the past decade.[5]

Early life

K.Flay was raised in a suburb North of Chicago, Illinois. Her parents divorced when she was seven, however remarried soon after, making her family a little bit larger with the addition of a step-parent and two step-siblings.

She was a self-described tomboy growing up, often opting for baggier clothes and rejecting “all things girly.” This is reflected in her current style, with an adult twist. [6] It’s this signature comedic attitude and lack of self-consciousness that helped her break the mold of a regular suburban girl growing up, and ultimately what set her apart in the rap game.

Education

K.Flay had mostly abandoned her tomboy ways by the time she arrived at New Trier Township High School at age 14. Her freshman year brought the untimely death of her father, affecting her profoundly. Her father had been an excellent guitarist and a true lover of all music, and many of K.Flay's songs are a tribute to him.

In 2003, K.Flay became a student at Stanford University in California, pursuing a double major in psychology and sociology. At college she met and befriended many people who would later become the backbone of her musical life.

Career

Early career (2003–2007)

Flaherty began attending college in the Bay Area at Stanford University in the fall of 2003. During her freshman year, K.Flay and a friend were discussing modern rap music. Believing that most hip-hop hits on the radio were simplistic, misogynistic, and formulaic, she proclaimed that even she could do a song like that. To demonstrate, K.Flay spent that night writing a song called “Blingity Blang Blang” which she described as "a low-budget rap parody that contained far too many obscenities." Realizing that she enjoyed creating music, she wrote two more songs before the end of the year.

The summer after her freshman year at Stanford was a period of experimentation. She continued to write songs and discovered how to record them on her laptop computer. In the following few years that she spent at Stanford, Flaherty released a mixtape entitled Suburban Rap Queen, which she produced on her laptop, and began performing live in the local scene. This garnered her a lot of local attention.

Self released material, growth, and RCA Records (2008–2013)

After graduation, Kristine Flaherty continued to release music and develop K.Flay’s repertoire. She released a self-titled EP in 2010 though she has cited the 2011 self-released mixtape of I Stopped Caring in ‘96 as the turning point when she realized that music was something she needed in her life.[3] K.Flay grew as an indie artist with definite ties to rap, but ultimately no real genre. She often treads the line between indie, hip-hop, and electronic music. It’s because of this genre-defying style that K.Flay was recruited to tour with acts as diverse as Passion Pit, Snoop Dogg, and Icona Pop.[7]

Through her heavy touring schedule and tendency to continually produce new music, she received attention from and eventually signed with RCA Records in 2012. K.Flay released two EPs under RCA: 2012’s Eyes Shut, and 2013’s What If It Is. Her genre-bending sound is ultimately what led to her parting ways with RCA in 2013, leaving behind 60+ songs she had written while signed, but that she no longer owned the rights to.[8]

Life as a Dog (2014-present)

After leaving RCA, K.Flay wanted to record and release a full-length album; something she had never done before. During her time with RCA, which she described as feeling similar to “an ill-advised marriage,”[8] she struggled to fit the traditional radio format, and felt pressure from the label to be more marketable. Upon leaving the label in 2013, she was finally able to pursue the album they had suppressed for years. She started a PledgeMusic campaign to fund the recording process of the album with great success, ultimately reaching 196 percent of her initial requested amount.[9] Flaherty shared that she desired the project to be “DIY [and] self-motivated.”[10] It was recorded and produced in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, with the final mix produced at SF’s Different Fur.[11] The album is as unique as Kristine herself. All 11 tracks flow with relatable lyricism that describes the feeling of being a female 20-something, and the struggles that come with that.[12]

Life As A Dog was released on June 10, 2014. The album landed at Number 14 on Billboard’s Rap Chart and at Number 2 on Billboard’s Heatseeker Chart.[7] This album was released independently on Bummer Picnic Records. She has subsequently toured extensively since this album was released. She headlined a tour of her own before joining AWOLNATION on the road. She also toured with Third Eye Blind and Dashboard Confessional in the same year. In addition, she toured in Germany and France in 2014 and the response was so overwhelmingly positive that she will be returning to Europe to perform more in the latter half of 2015.[9] The album contains singles, "Make Me Fade," "Can't Sleep," and "Thicker Than Dust."

Musical style and influences

Kristine has cited artists from a wide variety of genres as influences on her sound. Lauryn Hill, M.I.A., Missy Elliott, Metric, Cat Power, Liz Phair, Garbage, Royal Blood, Tame Impala, Shlohmo, OutKast and Jeremih have all been referenced in interviews as important to her musical identity[13][14][15]

Discography

Studio albums

Year Album Chart positions
US US Rap US Heat
2014 Life As A Dog 133 14 2

Compilations and mixtapes

Year Title Other Artist Label
2004 Suburban Rap Queen K.Flay Flayzer Beam
2009 Mashed Potatoes K.Flay Flayzer Beam
2011 I Stopped Caring In '96 K.Flay Flayzer Beam
2013 West Ghost K.Flay Flayzer Beam

EPs

Year Title Other Artist Label
2010 K.Flay K.Flay None
2012 Eyes Shut K.Flay RCA Records
2013 What If It Is K.Flay RCA Records

Collaborative releases

Year Title Other Artist Label
2009 Single and Famous EP MC Lars Horris/Flayzer Beam

Singles

Year Title Album
2011 2 Weak 2 Weak
5 AM featuring SomethingALaMode 5 AM
Fuck & Run Fuck & Run
2012 Rest Your Mind featuring Felix Cartal Rest Your Mind
LA Again featuring Michna LA Again
2013 Hail Mary featuring Danny Brown Hail Mary
2013 Rawks What If It Is
2014 Make Me Fade Life As A Dog

Appearances

Year Track Featured Album
2013 Hail Mary (feat. Danny Brown) Need for Speed: Rivals
2013 Easy Fix This Is the End: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
2015 Telescope (feat. K.Flay) XXIV

References

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External links

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