K.Flay

K.Flay

K.Flay is the stage name of Kristine Meredith Flaherty, an American singer, songwriter and rapper from Wilmette, United States. Born in 1985, she grows up in Wilmette, Illinois, and attends New Trier High School. She later studies at Stanford University, where she enrols in a double major in psychology and sociology.

She begins making music in 2003 after experimenting with hip-hop songwriting and recording on her computer. Her early releases include the 2005 mixtape Suburban Rap Queen, the 2010 self-titled EP, and the 2011 mixtape I Stopped Caring in '96, which she later identifies as a turning point in her career. In 2012 she signs to RCA Records and releases the EPs Eyes Shut and What If It Is, the first of which includes songs produced by Liam Howlett of The Prodigy. She leaves RCA in 2013 after creative differences.

Her debut album Life as a Dog is released independently in 2014 after a PledgeMusic campaign. The album reaches No. 2 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart and No. 14 on the Rap Albums chart. After its release she tours widely, including headline dates and support slots with AWOLNATION, Third Eye Blind and Dashboard Confessional, and she also appears on Warped Tour.

In 2015 she collaborates with Louis the Child on “It’s Strange”, a track that appears on the FIFA 16 soundtrack and reaches No. 38 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. In 2016 she releases the single “FML” and the EP Crush Me. Later that year she signs with Interscope Records as the first artist on Dan Reynolds’ Night Street Records imprint. The song “Blood in the Cut” from Crush Me appears in XXX: Return of Xander Cage, BoJack Horseman and an NFL promo.

Her album Every Where Is Some Where follows in 2017, led by “High Enough”. The album is nominated for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, while “Blood in the Cut” is nominated for Best Rock Song. She also opens for Imagine Dragons on the North American and European legs of the Evolve Tour. In the same year she publishes Crush Me, a book made up of notes from fans.

In 2019 K.Flay releases the album Solutions after first unveiling “Bad Vibes” and announcing the Solutions Tour. During 2020 she issues the three-track EP Don’t Judge a Song by Its Cover, consisting of versions of “Break Stuff” by Limp Bizkit, “Self Esteem” by The Offspring and “Brain Stew” by Green Day. In 2021 she starts livestreaming on Twitch, where she interacts with fans, hosts live interviews with other musicians and creates and mixes songs in real time. That year she also releases the EPs Inside Voices and Outside Voices, and performs at the 2021 Grey Cup halftime show with Arkells and The Lumineers. In 2022 the combined album Inside Voices / Outside Voices is issued with two additional tracks, “The Muck” and “Good To Drive”.

Her music draws on alternative hip hop, alternative dance, alternative pop, alternative rock, art pop and electropop, with links to indie, hip-hop and pop-rock. She cites Royal Blood, Missy Elliott, Garbage, Lauryn Hill, Tame Impala, Jeremih, Metric, M.I.A., OutKast, Liz Phair, Cat Power and Shlohmo among her influences.