K. Flay in the Mainstream

I was recently listening to the local radio and heard an oddly familiar voice come across the speakers. I quickly looked down to see if my phone had automatically connected to the car, but it hadn’t – one of my favorite artists, K. Flay was getting some well deserved airplay and I couldn’t be more stoked to hear it.

K. Flay’s single, “Blood in the Cut” which is getting pretty good radio play right now and reached #4 on the Alternative US Music Charts, is not unlike her previously released music. It’s still greatly melodic, intrusively personal, and fun with some heartbreaking lyrics. Her music is something all millennial women in their 20s and early 30s can relate to – trouble with guys, being broke, the hard road of following your dreams, and generally just trying to figure out life.

I imagine the boy she is referring to is still the same guy she references in “Wishing it was you” in her 2014 album “Life as a Dog”. The lyric, “Thought if I was smart / I’d make it far but / I’m still at the start” in “Blood in the Cut” references her on-going battle to make it as a musician, something that most people don’t realize is not easy these days. It’s the same theme of balancing life and working towards your dreams in “Get it Right” also on the “Life as a Dog” album.

Her music has always been therapeutic for me as someone who is also constantly working on different projects with life fluctuating and branching out in ten different directions.

I learned about K. Flay back in 2010, when I was promoting nerdcore shows and working with artists like MC Frontalot, Dual Core, Doc Awk and MC Lars. It was through these interactions I learned about K. Flay’s music, to this day I think she is the only musician I don’t personally know who’s mailing list I subscribe to.

K. Flay got some practice with MC Lars while they both studied at Stanford and produced an album “Single and Famous” which has some of my favorite duet songs to laugh and sing-a-long with, including “The Game” and the title track “Single and Famous”.

Since then she graduated college has been on a few different record labels, most recently signing onto Night Street Records, a subdivision of Interscope Records. It’s been a long road for K. Flay and as someone involved in the music industry, I couldn’t be happier to hear someone who truly deserves to get some airplay on the radio. Maybe next we’ll even see her on a commercial to save with DirectTV – who knows what’s in store for this girl, but I am happy to see a road where she can pay her bills and maybe finally get that dude she keeps pining for.
K. Flay is currently on tour now until mid July with dates in the US, Canada and Australia.