K.Flay
Kristine Meredith Flaherty (born June 30, 1985), better known as K.Flay, is an American singer, musician, songwriter, and rapper. She has released five studio albums: Life as a Dog (2014), Every Where Is Some Where (2017), Solutions (2019), Inside Voices / Outside Voices (2022), and Mono (2023).
K.Flay
Kristine Meredith Flaherty
June 30, 1985
Wilmette, Illinois, U.S.
- Singer
- musician
- songwriter
- rapper
2003–present
- BMG
- Bummer Picnic
- Interscope
- Night Street
- RCA
- Humming Records
Life as a Dog peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart and No. 14 on Billboard's Rap Albums chart. Every Where Is Some Where was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical, while its lead single "Blood in the Cut" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song. K.Flay is also known for collaborating with artists such as Dune Rats, Grandson, Mike Shinoda, Party Favor, Tom Morello, Travis Barker, Vic Fuentes, and X Ambassadors.
Early life[edit]
K.Flay was born Kristine Meredith Flaherty in Wilmette, Illinois, on June 30, 1985.[1] She attended New Trier High School.
Flaherty's parents divorced when she was seven years old and her mother soon remarried, bringing in a stepbrother and a stepsister, with her stepfather later adopting her.[2] When she was 14 years old, her biological father died of undisclosed causes related to his alcoholism; many of her songs include references to him.[1] She has described herself as a tomboy during childhood, preferring baggier clothing and rejecting "all things girly".[3] In 2003, she enrolled at Stanford University, pursuing a double major in psychology and sociology. She has said that many people she met at Stanford influenced her musical style.[4]
Musical style and influences[edit]
K.Flay has cited a wide range of musicians such as Royal Blood, Missy Elliott, Garbage, Lauryn Hill, Tame Impala, Jeremih, Metric, M.I.A., OutKast, Liz Phair, Cat Power, and Shlohmo as influences.[51][52][53] Her work has covered genres including hip hop, alternative hip hop,[54] indie,[55] and pop rock. She has described her sound as "genre-defying" and draws from lo-fi pop and hip hop with a strong indie component in her sound.[55]
Personal life[edit]
Flaherty resides in Los Angeles. She has hinted at being bisexual in her lyrics and interviews, and was in a relationship with fellow musician Miya Folick from 2018 to 2021.[56][57]
In September 2022, Flaherty revealed that she had recently experienced sudden sensorineural hearing loss and labyrinthitis, causing her to undergo multiple forms of hearing therapy.[58] In October, she revealed that the treatment had been unsuccessful and that she had gone completely deaf in her right ear.[59] After she began releasing music again later that year, she admitted that she was initially concerned about her ability to keep making music while being totally deaf in one ear, but was adapting to the condition.[45]